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When a doctor needs to operate on a patient, it helps tremendously if the patient feels no pain. That wasn't always so easy to ensure.

email article Rohin Francis, MBBS, takes a look back at that time doctors injected themselves with cocaine in the name of science. Following is a rough transcript: Rohin Francis, MBBS: Good evening and welcome back to the Old England Journal of Medicine. It's off to the former colonies today, as recently I had the sterling fortune to while away an evening with two gentlemen from the North American continent -- of course, one of whom has recently taken up appointment here in Great Britain, a Sir William Osler, with whose work no doubt many of you will be familiar. Syrup-guzzling Canad...

10 Ridiculous Things The Victorians Did In The Name Of Science The words “Victorian science” bring to mind sober men with ridiculous facial hair peering through microscopes. What it doesn’t bring to mind are certifiable lunatics trying to fly into space, electrocute their genitals, and teach dogs the alphabet. Yet that’s exactly what researchers of the day were up to. 10 Trying To Take A Hot Air Balloon Into Space If scientist James Glaisher had had his way, the first manned spaceflight would have taken place 100 years before Yuri Gagarin’s. That’s because 1862 was the year that G...

Three Lions/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Would you inject 50 hookworms under your skin for your job? Or steam in a vomit sauna for a few hours? Hopefully we non-scientists will never have to answer questions like these. But for the 10 brave souls on this list, experimenting on themselves was all in a day's work. 1. Jonas Salk During his research at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School, Dr. Jonas Salk discovered a potential vaccine for polio. When they needed healthy human test subjects, Salk volunteered himself and his entire family for a vaccine trial. The filial gamble paid off. Every...