#apparently melanin and adrenaline is derived from the same chemical material

[evilautist]

got me a medical encyclopedia from 1972 (reprinted 1978, ISBN 0 14 051 048 6) and its wild

its nowhere near as bad as some other books ive gotten my hands on, especially considering it was written in the 70s as opposed to straight up vile shit like 'idols in the house' (written/published in 2002, ISBN 0-9634307-1-8) ive no conclusion to draw from this post aside from the obvious, i just thought the diction and choices of subject were kind of fascinating

cw for ableism, eating disorders, homophobia, racism, intersexism and sexism, but heres a few notes and quotes from it

'creative men are seldom ideal husbands' (this is in reference to the idea that artists are often promiscuous and/or gay, how they made this connection, i've no clue)

'it would be absurd to call everyone who has such feelings, even if they lead to homosexual acts, a homosexual'

'tics most often affect insecure children'

the book refers to triple x syndrome as 'super-female's (in general the book is very out dated with its terms, still calling intersex people hermaphrodites and the likes)

'it has become easier for a young woman that she is designed for childbearing' (this is on a section about anorexia of all things)

'quarantine is now seldom rigidly enforced' (gd i wish it was more rigidly enforced maybe then covid would be over)

in general the book treats depression, schizophrenia, and autism very alike, especially the latter two- the language used is very dehumanizing and are both defined in the book as a lack of response/emotions

'electroconvulsive therapy is sometimes used. it is not as dramatically helpful with schizophrenia as with severe depression'

lobotomies are referred to as 'leukotomy' and the section on it has this to say; 'people who have had it have altered personalities: they tend to be irresponsible. but most of us would rather be carefree than suicidal' some of the casual remarks on what we now acknowledge as horrific procedures is chilling

vitiligo is described as 'unsightly, especially on a naturally dark skin', which is... a choice. and a bad one.

theres a thing here called 'malta fever' and i just find that funny

in general the book is suffers from its fully alphabetical format, dividing the book into sections would have been much better because going from contraception to corn is quite the whiplash

the book makes casual use of words like 'civilized countries' and 'western medicine', which isnt surprising but is still annoying

on a section of chinese medicine there is the line 'they saw the importance of cleanliness (which is by no means obvious)' like speak for yourself stinky