Month: August 2020
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Asclepius at Epidaurus
L. J. Sandlow George Dunea Chicago, Illinois, United States An Athenian seeking a cure for his afflictions in the fourth century BC had the option of visiting several competing sanctuaries, at Delphi, Olympia, or Epidaurus. To reach Epidaurus, the Athenian would bypass Megara and Corinth, then turn south and find himself at the shrine…
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Charles Richard Box: physician, pathologist, and infectious disease pioneer
Arpan K. Banerjee Solihull, UK Charles Richard Box by Lafayette. Half-plate nitrate negative. 30 August 1928. NPG x42689. Reproduced with Permission from National Portrait Gallery, London. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. The name Charles Richard Box is perhaps not as well-known as some of the medical contemporaries of his time. He had a brilliant career in…
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Life and death of a dog
Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe Dundee, Scotland Photograph of Petra, courtesy of the author. We learn from the life and death of family pets, a microcosm of our own existence. We nurtured Petra, a guide-dog puppy, in our family home for more than a year, after which we handed her over for her formal training. She was…
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Learning about children
Canon Brodar Miami, Florida, United States The Infant Hercules, ca. 1785–89. Sir Joshua Reynolds, British. Princeton University Art Museum. Museum purchase, Surdna Fund. I began my first clinical rotation excited but fearful. Medical students are taught about pediatric pathology and developmental milestones, but nothing about working with children and their families. I had heard…
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Sanctuary
Bruce Granquist Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States In 2012 I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. I thought this meant that my career as a book illustrator and calligrapher was over. But after making some experiments I realized that the tremor in my right hand allowed me to make much more expressive calligraphic lines than I…
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Doctor Schiller
Nicolas Roberto Robles Badajoz, Spain Figure 1. Portrait of Friedrich Schiller by Gerhard von Kügelgen. Goethe-Museum. Public Domain. Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was born on November 10, 1759 in Marbach, Württemberg, Germany. His father, Johann Caspar Schiller, was a regimental surgeon in the service of Duke Karl Eugen of Württemberg. Schiller (1759–1805) is…
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Friedrich Nietzsche—much afflicted philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche by Edvard Munch. 1906. Thielska Gallerie, Sweden. Via Wikimedia. Friedrich Nietzsche was one of the most important philosophers of the nineteenth century. Though often misinterpreted, his influence has been enormous. Like his compatriot Schopenhauer, he questioned the comfortable beliefs of the conservative bourgeoisie of his time. His writings have fascinated generations of readers,…
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The dream of the uterus
F. Gonzalez-Crussi Chicago, Illinois, United States More than one-half century ago, it was my duty to examine and describe, day in and day out, the bodily parts that surgeons removed at the hospital where I worked. Surely this peculiar daily routine must have incited the flights of fancy that I took then, and which I recount…