The Midcentury Shift

The decline of house calls was gradual at first and then dramatic. By 1950, house calls accounted for roughly 10% of physician visits; by 1980, they made up less than 1%.

Several forces drove this change. First was the rapid expansion of medical technology in the 20th century. X-rays, laboratory diagnostics, safer anesthesia, blood banking, antibiotics such as penicillin, and eventually intensive care units transformed medicine. These advances required equipment, sterile environments, and trained support staff that could not be replicated in private homes. Hospitals became safer and more effective, particularly after improvements in antiseptic technique and infection control.

Second, medicine became increasingly specialized beginning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Rather than one physician handling nearly every complaint, patients began seeing cardiologists, obstetricians, surgeons, and other specialists who relied on centralized offices and hospital facilities. As care grew more complex, the home visit became less practical.

Follow the Money

Alongside advances in medical technology, economics played a decisive role in the decline of house calls. Even before the mid-20th century, home visits were time-consuming. A physician might see only a handful of patients in an afternoon of travel, compared with many more in a centralized office setting. As automobile ownership expanded and suburbs spread outward after World War II, the distances between patients grew, making travel even less efficient. Office-based care allowed physicians to treat more people in less time.

World War II intensified these pressures. An estimated one-third of American physicians entered military service during the war, creating shortages in many civilian communities. With fewer doctors available, maximizing efficiency became essential. Centralized offices and hospital-based care enabled the remaining physicians to manage larger patient loads, making routine house calls even more impractical.

At the same time, the structure of payment was changing. The growth of private health insurance in the 1930s and 1940s — followed by the establishment of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 — formalized billing systems. Office visits were easier to standardize, document, and reimburse consistently. Home visits required travel time and longer appointments, yet reimbursement did not always reflect those additional costs, making them less financially sustainable.

Meanwhile, group practices and multi-physician clinics became increasingly common in the postwar decades. Shared equipment, centralized staff, and predictable scheduling improved productivity and stabilized revenue for doctors.

The Times They Are A-Changin’

Social change similarly played a role in the decline of house calls. As more families owned cars, traveling to a physician’s office became feasible for many folks who once relied on home visits. Urbanization, improved road systems, and expanded hospital networks also reduced geographic isolation.

Home births illustrate the broader trend. In 1900, nearly all U.S. births took place outside of hospitals, attended by either a doctor or midwife. That rate fell to 44% by 1940 and just 1% by 1969, reflecting growing confidence in hospital-based obstetric care, anesthesia, and neonatal medicine. As childbirth shifted to hospitals, one of the most common reasons for physician house calls largely disappeared.

Concerns about safety and liability also influenced practice patterns. Controlled clinical environments allowed for better infection control and standardized procedures. As medicine professionalized and regulatory standards expanded during the 20th century, office- and hospital-based care became the default model.

By the 1980s, traditional house calls had largely vanished — but they have not disappeared entirely. Geriatric and palliative care programs now provide in-home services for elderly or homebound patients. And research from the Department of Veterans Affairs and other programs has shown that home-based primary care for patients with complex chronic conditions can reduce hospitalizations and lower overall health care costs while maintaining high patient satisfaction. Telehealth has also created a new version of the house call. During the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual visits expanded dramatically after regulatory barriers were temporarily eased. While telemedicine has declined from its 2020 peak, it remains a routine part of care in many health systems.

Isaac Newton’s Own Account

This story wasn’t plucked out of thin air: The now-legendary moment was based on Newton’s own account, which he told to several acquaintances near the end of his life. Among the first people was his niece Catherine Barton (later Catherine Conduitt). Barton then recounted the story to others, including French Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire, who briefly mentioned the incident in his 1727 Essay on Epic Poetry: “Sir Isaac Newton walking in his gardens, had the first thought of his system of gravitation, upon seeing an apple falling from a tree.” 

The previous year, in 1726, Catherine Barton’s husband, John Conduitt, also referenced the incident in his notes, writing how Newton first came upon his “system of gravitation… by observing an apple fall from a tree.” 

The most detailed contemporary account comes from William Stukeley, an archaeologist and one of Newton’s first biographers. In his Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’s Life (published in 1752), Stukeley related a conversation he had with Newton, a year before the scientist’s death in 1727: “We went into the garden, and drank thea under the shade of some apple trees, only he, and myself. Amidst other discourse, he told me, he was just in the same situation, as when formerly, the notion of gravitation came into his mind. ‘Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground,’ thought he to himself: occasion’d by the fall of an apple, as he sat in a contemplative mood: ‘Why should it not go sideways, or upwards? But constantly to the earth’s centre?’” 

An Apple Likely Fell, But Not on Newton’s Head

From these accounts, there’s strong evidence to suggest that Newton did indeed tell a number of acquaintances about how a falling apple helped form his theory of universal gravitation. But while the moment is often presented as a true epiphany, exactly how much an apple inspired Newton is open to debate, and we can’t know to what extent the falling fruit informed his scientific thinking. 

Some academics — most notably John and Mary Gribbin in their book Out of the Shadow of a Giant: Hooke, Halley, and the Birth of Science — have argued that Newton made up the apple story altogether, possibly to support his claim that he had the idea of a universal theory of gravity before Robert Hooke, who famously accused Newton of plagiarism. 

One part of the story that has no supporting evidence — despite being a popular aspect of the tale — is the apple actually falling right on Newton’s head. This seems to be nothing more than a later embellishment, yet one that has managed to become engrained in popular culture up until the present day. 

The Beaks Were Filled With Herbs and Vinegar

By far the most distinctive, and some would say ominous, aspect of the plague doctor costume was the mask with its long, birdlike beak. This relates to a prevailing view in medical science during the Middle Ages and in the centuries that followed: that diseases were spread through “miasma,” or bad-smelling air, that caused an imbalance in a person’s “humors,” or bodily fluids. (The miasma theory was later discarded when the germ theory of disease was developed.) 

The shape and function of the beak were directly tied to this theory of miasma. Plague doctors filled their long beaks with strong smelling herbs and flowers, including lavender and mint, or sponges soaked with vinegar or camphor. Some also stuffed their beaks full of theriac, a compound of more than 55 herbs and other components including viper flesh powder, cinnamon, myrrh, and honey. These aromatic substances, it was believed, would absorb the foul-smelling miasma, purifying the air as it traveled along the beak, and so protect the wearer from inhaling the harmful air. 

Did the Beak Mask Actually Work?

The concept behind the plague doctor’s outfit wasn’t entirely misguided. Creating a barrier between the wearer and the patient — and potentially contaminated air — was logical. Modern personal protective equipment (PPE) and hazmat suits are based on the same idea. The plague doctor costume could have even offered some protection against droplets from coughing (in the case of pneumonic plague) or contamination through splattered blood (from bubonic plague). 

But fundamental flaws existed in the design. Bubonic plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, is transmitted through the bite of an infected flea. The plague doctors, believing miasma to be the cause, were not aware of this. Their outfits may have helped protect against flea bites to some extent, but they were not specifically designed for this task. As for the beak masks, they too would have offered some protection, despite the flawed understanding of how contagious diseases spread. The simple fact that plague doctors wore masks was a positive — but stuffing their beaks full of herbs and powdered viper flesh was of no great use, apart from making the air smell somewhat nicer while they treated their patients.  

The Wandering Womb

Greek physicians were obsessed with the womb, and believed it could explain the physical and mental differences between men and women. Specifically, they believed these differences could be put down to a “wandering womb” that moved about the female body, causing all kinds of adverse conditions; the physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia even considered the womb “an animal within an animal” that could move around of its own accord. Treatment involved repelling or enticing the womb using foul- or sweet-smelling substances, respectively, placed near the woman’s nose or groin. Womb fumigation was another option, in which the woman would sit over a heated pot containing scented vapors. It was believed that after a few days, this could draw the problematic womb to its correct position. 

Hare’s Brains for Teething

Some ancient Greek physicians, including Aëtius of Amida and the famed gynecologist Soranus of Ephesus, recommended the use of hare’s brains to help with the pain of teething, either added to food or rubbed directly into the gums. (If no hares were available, then lamb brain would do just as well.) Aetios also advised that teething babies could wear bracelets or amulets containing colocynth, a wild vine that is both bitter and toxic. Alternatively, an amulet containing the tooth of a viper could be hung around the baby’s neck. 

Music for Vipor Bites

Modern music therapy began as an organized and respected profession in the 1950s, and is now accepted as a scientifically based method of emotional, cognitive, and physical healing. But the ancient Greeks also used song as a therapeutic aid. The philosopher Theophrastus saw music as a cure for many ailments, including fainting, panic attacks, sciatica, and epilepsy. Another Greek philosopher, Democritus, believed that viper bites could be cured by skillfully played flute music.

Poison as a Cure

The Greeks used a wide range of narcotic drugs as cures or remedies, including mandrake, opium poppy, nightshade, henbane, and hellebore. The last, in particular, was used to treat numerous ailments, including gynecological disorders, vomiting, skin conditions, humoral imbalance, and lung problems. This was a tricky business, however, as hellebore is toxic and potentially fatal in high doses — in fact, poisoning by hellebore may have caused the death of Alexander the Great. Ancient Greek physicians, when recommending the use of hellebore, were particularly careful to warn of its potentially lethal nature if administered carelessly. 

Bloodletting

Bloodletting — the removal of blood for medical treatment — is considered one of the oldest medicinal practices. It is thought to have originated in ancient Egypt before spreading to Greece. The Greeks believed that many illnesses stemmed from an overabundance of blood (one of the four humors) in the body, a condition known as plethora (a word of Greek origin meaning “fullness”). In order to restore balance, excess blood was removed from the patient’s body through surgical incisions or the use of leeches. 

Jumping Backward as Birth Control

The ancient Greeks proposed a number of contraceptive theories and methods, involving everything from cedar oil ointments to eating pomegranate seeds. Two of the strangest contraceptive suggestions came from Soranus of Ephesus, who suggested that women jump backward seven times after intercourse. Alternatively, and equally bizarrely, he recommended that women wishing to prevent pregnancy drink the water used by blacksmiths to cool their metal. 

Warm Clothing

Unsurprisingly, warm clothing was absolutely vital to survival in the ice age. While humans might have once worn rudimentary, loose-fitting animal hides, such clothing would not have been adequate in freezing temperatures. Thankfully, about 30,000 years ago, our ancestors developed what anthropologist Brian Fagan called the most important invention in human history: the needle. Carved out of ivory or bone, with tiny eyes bored through by a fine-pointed flint drill, these ice age needles would be instantly recognizable today. They allowed for the manufacture of tight-fitting clothing that was tailored to the individual and often sewn together in layers, providing effective protection from the cold. 

Innovative Tools

Needles weren’t the only innovation that helped humans survive the ice age. As part of their adaptation, Homo sapiens improved upon existing tools, some of which had been used by the Neanderthals, while also creating new innovations in toolmaking and weaponry. One of the most important tools created during the ice age was the burin, a type of rock chisel used to cut grooves and notches into materials such as bones and antlers, allowing for the creation of intricate and lightweight spearheads and harpoon tips. Not only did this mark one of the first instances of detachable and interchangeable technology — known as compound tools — but it was also the first time that tools had been developed exclusively for making other tools.

Language and Art

Scientists suggest that Homo erectus, an extinct early human species, may have used a primitive form of conversation, or protolanguage, when it walked the Earth some 2 million years ago. Fast-forward to the last ice age, and members of Homo sapiens were most definitely talking among themselves. Language was arguably as important as anything else when it came to surviving the ice age. It allowed humans to share knowledge, whether regarding new technology, edible plants, or animal migrations. And through spoken language, as well as symbolic activities such as rituals, personal adornments, and art (the cave paintings at sites such as Lascaux in France, for example), our ancestors created a shared sense of social identity. This, in turn, allowed them to band together and forge connections beyond their immediate communities. By collaborating, early humans had a far greater chance of surviving the extremes of the ice age — and, ultimately, they came out stronger than ever before. 

Project Blue Book

Following Kenneth Arnold’s flying saucer sighting, the Roswell Incident, and the general furor surrounding UFOs that began in the late-1940s, the United States Air Force launched a systematic investigation into unidentified flying objects. Known as Project Blue Book, it was the first large-scale government investigation into UFOs. Formed in 1952, the project investigated 12,618 reported sightings that occurred between 1947 and the project’s termination in 1969. Most of the cases were found to be caused by weather balloons, swamp gases, meteorological events, or temperature inversions. But more than 700 Project Blue Book entries could not be explained by investigators. In the end, the project appeared to be a refreshingly open examination of UFO phenomena, as it was open to the public and not conducted in secret, yet it ultimately provided even more fodder for the ufologists.  

The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill

On a September night in 1961, Betty and Barney Hill were driving along an empty country road in New Hampshire’s White Mountains. All was normal, apart from a strange light in the sky that appeared to be following them. When they stopped, the light — which Betty described as a “spinning disk” — came closer until it was right above them. They drove off in a panic, dazed and groggy from the experience, and when they arrived home they realized that the journey had taken two hours longer than it should have. Two years later, they finally talked publicly about the incident. As media interest grew, the Hills underwent hypnosis, revealing further details about their supposed abduction: a flying disk, gray beings, metal tables, and bodily probing. The story was turned into a bestselling book and later a movie (The Interrupted Journey and The UFO Incident, respectively) which helped establish the incident as the archetypal abduction case.  

The Rendlesham Forest

In 1980, United States Air Force personnel stationed at RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk, England, saw a series of strange lights in the nearby Rendlesham Forest. The first sightings occurred on the night of December 26. When Air Force security guards went to investigate, they saw what one of them described as a red, oval, sunlike object in a clearing in the woods, which then lifted up through the trees and shot back toward the coast. Over the next couple of days, servicemen went back into the forest to investigate further. They found impressions on the ground in a triangular shape as well as burned and broken trees. Then, in the early hours of December 28, things got even stranger. The deputy base commander described how a flashing light seemed to descend upon him and his colleagues, and how three bright objects hovered just above the horizon, occasionally emitting streams of light down to the ground. The Rendlesham Forest incident, often referred to as “Britain’s Roswell,” remains an extremely strange case — and one of the most famous UFO sightings in history. 

The Pentagon’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena

In 2020, the Pentagon officially released three short UFO videos shot from U.S. Navy fighter jets showing “unidentified aerial phenomena” (“UAP” now being the government’s preferred term for UFOs). The videos had been released previously by a private company, but this was the first time the Pentagon officially acknowledged their existence. Naturally, these videos garnered a great deal of media and public attention, which in turn prompted the Pentagon to take the whole UFO/UAP situation more seriously. For the first time since Project Blue Book, a major investigation was launched, culminating in the unclassified “2022 Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.” The report covered 510 cataloged UAP sightings from branches of the United States military. Of those, 171 remained “uncharacterized and unattributed,” with some described as demonstrating “unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities.” It’s certainly an intriguing turn of events, and people are once again looking to the skies in search of UFOs. 

The Great Appalachian Storm Created Some Strange Weather Anomalies 

The Great Appalachian Storm of 1950 wasn’t notable solely for its intensity — it was also downright strange. The slow-moving system dumped heavy snow across much of the central Appalachians, with several locations receiving more than 50 inches. (Coburn Creek in West Virginia reported a whopping 62 inches.) The storm’s wild temperature gradients also created some true meteorological anomalies. In Pittsburgh, for example, heavy snow fell in 21-degree air, which rapidly plunged to 9 degrees as the winds shifted from northwesterly to southeasterly winds, bringing with them a sudden cold front. And while snow was falling in frigid Pittsburgh, in Buffalo, New York — only 200 miles to the north — temperatures were in the high 40s with no snow recorded at all.

The Chicago Blizzard of 1967 Left Some 20,000 Cars Abandoned in the Streets

On the morning of January 26, 1967, as people in Chicago were heading to work or school, a light snow began to fall. By noon, the city was covered in 8 inches of snow, shutting down O'Hare International Airport and forcing schools and businesses to close early. They didn’t close early enough, however, and people returning home were caught in the increasingly heavy snow. By the next morning, a record 23 inches of snow had blanketed the city, with drifts of up to 6 feet. In the streets of Chicago, some 20,000 cars and 1,100 CTA buses were left abandoned in the blizzard. (Some estimates are as high as 50,000 cars.) It took the city another two days to properly dig out from the snow. 

The Iran Blizzard of 1972 Hit a Region the Size of Wisconsin

In 1972, a massive blizzard struck Iran. It followed one of the nation’s worst droughts, which had lasted for 1,460 days. When moisture finally began to gather, it fell not as rain but as snow. The resulting blizzard lasted for an entire week and resulted in snow at least 10 feet deep — and in some places a staggering 26 feet deep. A region about the size of Wisconsin, encompassing much of western Iran, was buried in snow for more than a week.

The 1993 “Storm of the Century” Stretched From Canada to Central America

On March 12, 1993, a gargantuan storm system began to form that, over the next few days, affected nearly half the U.S. population. The Storm of the Century, as it was called, was felt from Canada all the way to Central America. It was strongest along the eastern United States, which was subjected to three days of blizzard conditions and heavy snowfall (up to 55 inches in Tennessee), as well as rough seas, coastal flooding, tornadoes, and bitterly cold temperatures. By the time it had dissipated, the Great Blizzard of ’93 — as it was also known — had caused about $5.5 billion in damages (the equivalent of about $11.6 billion today), making it one of the most costly weather events of the 20th century.