Month: March 2017
-
Public health measures derived from the Jewish tradition: II. Washing and cleaning
Tova Chein,Mark Epelbaum,Robert SternNew York, New York, United States Introduction Historically, Jewish contributions to public health measures have not been given adequate attribution. The previous article in this series (Hektoen International, Winter 2016) documented the ancient Jewish recognition of the importance of: The ritual washing of hands There are many forms of washing identified in the…
-
Huetation
Sooo-z Mastropietro Westport, CT Inspiration can appear unexpectedly just like progress born from sickness. Huetation, inspired by Rebecca Skloot’s book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and film documentary The Way of All Flesh took awe from an 8 second visual of mutating cancer cells, displayed with a sequence of 3 images in…
-
Queer and unked: Disability, monstrosity, and George Eliot’s “Sympathy”
Christina Lee Kent, United Kingdom Silas finds Eppie. Eliot, George. The Jenson Society, NY. In The Mill on the Floss, the intellectual and sensitive Philip Wakem, who has a curved spine from a fall in infancy, is called “a queer fellow, a humpback, and the son of a rogue.”1(II.vi) In the manuscript Philip Wakem is branded…
-
Portraits of vision: Sir Joshua Reynolds
Sally Metzler Chicago, Illinois, United States Fig 1. Joshua Reynolds, Self Portrait, 1788, Royal Collection Trust, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The subject of this portrait wears wiry, diminutive round spectacles, lending a distinctly pedantic flair. Yet gazing out is none other than Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792), one of the greatest English painters in history…
-
Dr. Willem J. Kolff: a great man
George Dunea Chicago, IL In Memoriam Willem J. Kolff: A great man Willem Kolff, often called the father of the artificial kidney,died in January 2009, 3 days before his 98th birthday. During his long life he received numerous honors and accolades for his work. Many people thought he should have received the Nobel Prize, but as he once…
-
Etienne-Jules Marey (1830–1904). The study of movement in the functions of life: eclecticism and inventiveness
Philippe Campillo Lille, France “[…] I think, together with Claude Bernard, that movement is the most important act, in that all the functions come into play in order to achieve it.”1 Fig 1. Marey, Etienne Jules (1830–1904) Courtesy of Collection BIU Health Medicine, Open License. Marey had a long and distinguished scientific career…
-
The Isenheim Altarpiece and “homeopathic” hospital art
Katrina GenuisCanada Art found in hospitals generally has the aim of comforting the viewer. Presumably, ill patients or exhausted on-call physicians who amble past pastoral countryside scenes or watercolour flowers are reminded that despite their current difficultly there is great beauty in existence. But residences for the sick have not always contained artwork that is…