Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Month: April 2020

  • The last illness of Édouard Manet

    George DuneaJames L. FranklinChicago, Illinois Édouard Manet (1832–1883) was one of the most famous modernist painters of nineteenth-century France. He painted life as creatively and elegantly as he lived in it, translating onto canvas the fashionable salons, racetracks, and picnics of the Parisians.  With one foot artistically in the past and another in the future,…

  • Food as medicine

    Keerthi GondyAnn Arbor, Michigan, United States In my family, food is the language of love. A warm meal is the way we say “I love you.” Whenever I get sick, my mother prepares a pot of spicy turmeric soup and honey lemon tea. When my brother threw a game-winning strike for his baseball team, we…

  • Science versus religion: The medieval disenchantment

    JMS PearceHull, England History is a novel whose author is the people.—Alfred de Vigny (1797–1863) In medieval times, knowledge, beliefs, and faith were largely centered upon a divine being. Christianity had replaced the paganism and barbarism of earlier centuries. Most experiences not explained by religious creed were attributed to mysterious forces of enchantment. The gradual…

  • COVID-19 and Malta’s Black Plague epidemic of 1813

    Victor GrechPembroke, Malta Malta in the British Empire In the nineteenth century Malta had a population of around 91,000 people and was governed by the British Empire. Despite its small size and absence of natural resources, the island was an important Mediterranean crossroads, with a vital natural harbor and a crucial military base. Malta had…

  • Learning to heal

    Jeanne BrynerNora MazurNewton Falls, Ohio, United States Top pieced by Jeanne BrynerQuilting done by Nora Mazur Jeanne Bryner: Quilts are important in my Appalachian culture. Narratives of beauty and truth are pieced together, preserving family history. This quilt contains photos of a special family of international sisters and brothers in the nursing profession. Caring for…

  • Moments in nursing

    Jeanne BrynerNora MazurNewton Falls, Ohio, United States Top pieced by Jeanne Bryner Quilting done by Nora Mazur Jeanne Bryner: On any given day, one of our cells may deviate from its usual path. Others cells may follow, leading us from a state of wellness to one of illness. How can we survive this civil war?…

  • “Loathsome Beasts: Images of reptiles and amphibians in art and science”

    The history of how reptiles and amphibians have been represented throughout history has been well covered by Professor Kay Etheridge of Gettysburg College in a learned article in 2007. She starts off by reminding her readers that “loathsome beasts” have received less attention than higher vertebrates, largely as they are not useful for food, sport,…

  • Dr. Avery, Medicine Woman

    Edward McSweeganKingston, Rhode, Island, United States In July 1878, astronomers headed into the American West to observe a total eclipse of the sun. Among them was America’s only woman astronomer, Maria Mitchell of Vassar College, and four of her former astronomy students. Lacking the federal support and discounted railroad tickets of her male colleagues, Mitchell…

  • Reporting a pandemic

    Francis ChristianSaskatoon, Canada Dust to dust and doom delivered by newscasts dripping irony in considered doses of despair; feigning knowledge of ignorance, feigning ignorance of absent panic and knowledge from experts claiming uncertainty. But the web of knowledge weaves chiffoned layers for me and you and John, openly uncertain, uncertainly open to imperfect measure of…

  • Washing our hands

    Anthony PapagiannisThessaloniki, Greece Ever since Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, washed his hands before condemning Jesus Christ to death by crucifixion, this simple act of personal sanitation has been used as the figurative icon of a disclaimer, the denial of responsibility. Today, in the climate of the current COVID-19 pandemic, handwashing is not…