When the Earth Was Flat

Science is continually evolving, with a history rich in experimentation. This book investigates the origins of its strangest ideas - once widely accepted to be true, but which have since been disregarded.

*When the Earth Was Flat* expertly traces the developments of a range of dubious scientific theories. In a series of extraordinary revelations we learn why Queen Victoria guzzled a tincture of opium on her physician's advice; how reluctance to accept the idea of germ theory led to murder; and why Catholic explorers concocted the myth that South American tribes indulged in cannibalism.

Entertaining yet authoritative, *When the Earth Was Flat* is an absorbing study of all the bits of science we got wrong.