By Dr. Alex Johnston, Jack E. Stokes, Irma Dogterom

A portrait of early medicine in Lethbridge.

In the nineteenth century, mainstream medicine was more like astrology than science, favouring remedies that have been summarized as “blistering, puking, purging, leeching, cupping, bleeding, and administering poisonous doses of mercury and arsenic.” This age swarmed with pseudo-scientific claims now known to be absurd. Until the formation of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the North-West Territories of Canada in 1886, anyone could label themselves as a medical doctor. Discover Lethbridge’s history of medical practitioners, outright phonies and downright thieves.