Month: March 2018
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Tales from the crypt: The mosaic symbolism of Louis Pasteur’s tomb
Abigail ClineAugusta, Georgia, United States Hidden behind the Montparnasse Railway Station is the elegant brick and stone building of the Pasteur Institute. Since its opening in 1887, the Pasteur Institute has been on the front line in the battle against infectious disease. Consisting of research departments studying everything from neuroscience to genomics to epidemiology, the…
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Madness, mind-doctors, and Mrs. Dalloway
Sabina DosaniLondon, England Mrs. Dalloway, published in 1925 as the fourth novel by Virginia Woolf, is a life-in-a-day novel, almost certainly influenced by James Joyce’s Ulysses. In her 1919 essay Modern Fiction, Woolf rejects her materialist forerunners, praising Joyce and others like him: “They attempt to come closer to life… so must discard most of…
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The other pain crisis
Adil MenonCleveland, Ohio, USA A guiding principle of medical care is that humans regardless of their superficial differences are fundamentally the same in their physiology. One of the oldest and most persistent refutations of this premise is the centuries old myth of a uniquely “African body,” characterized by diminished pain response and elevated stoicism, a…
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Medical photography in the nineteenth century: From portraits to clinical photography
Silvia MainaEditamed, Torino, Italia Since its introduction, photography has found an application in medicine. Many physicians embraced the potential of this technology as a valued adjunct to patient care, research, and education. Medical photography dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, a few years after the birth of modern photography. The first application of photography to…
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Mainstreaming acupuncture in Chicago
Frank YurasekChicago, Illinois, United States For sixteen years I drove seventy-eight miles round-trip to stick needles in addicts, alcoholics, violent offenders, and homeless women. I practiced acupuncture with vulnerable communities around Chicago and southern Wisconsin even though it was not considered mainstream in our culture. I knew it to be an important tool in the…
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Ought to kill or ought to heal? The importance of medicine in the history of warfare
Erick ScherfSanta Catarina, Brazil All those who seek to destroy the liberties of a democratic nation ought to know that war is the surest and shortest means to accomplish it.—Alexis de Tocqueville War has been written about since the beginning of human history. It was notably recorded by Thucydides in his account of the Peloponnesian…
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Consolidation: Pneumonia and other pathologies on the Bellevue Hospital Autopsy
Maureen MillerNew York, United States The post-mortem room should be supplied with a small mirror, so thatthe operator may satisfy himself that no evidences of the character of hiswork are left upon him before appearing in public.—T.N. Kelynack, The Pathologist’s Handbook: Manual for the Post-Mortem Room, 18991 On January 1, 1898, New York City consolidated…
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Cold autumn nights
Maria Magdalena GeanovuStroesti, Romania It is said that balance exists, that for every misery an equal amount of happiness is about to come . . . Sometimes I wonder . . . when you see death every day of your life, those random strains of thought begin to gravitate around one single, simple question: WHY?…
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Corruption and organ trafficking in Egyptian medicine
Hossam Reda GhalabTanta, Egypt Healthcare for the indigent in developing countries often leaves much to be desired. Organ trafficking is rampant, its prevalence rising alarmingly and for some constituting a thriving business. In Egypt, each year hundreds of poor Egyptians sell their kidneys and livers in order to feed their families or pay off debts.…