Month: August 2023
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Last rites x2
Hugh Tunstall-PedoeDundee, Scotland, United Kingdom In the late 1960s, I was non-resident neurology house physician in a hospital in central London when we admitted a prominent citizen as a private patient. He was suffering from a catastrophic cerebral hemorrhage—he was moribund, but the decision was taken to perform cerebral angiography (it was before the days…
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Adolf Bastian, pioneering anthropologist
Adolf Bastian, 1892. Via Wikimedia. Adolf Bastian (1826–1905) was one of the pioneers of modern anthropology, born June 26, 1826, in Bremen, Germany. This multicultural port city exposed him to many different cultures and customs, eventually igniting his interest in studying different societies. From his father, who belonged to a well-known merchant family, he inherited…
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Kenelm Digby, polymath and inventor of the wound salve
Kenelm Digby. Via Wikimedia. Sir Kenelm Digby (1603–1665) was not a physician but came close to practicing medicine. He published in 1658 a treatise called A Late Discourse … Touching the Cure of Wounds by the Powder of Sympathy. It consisted of treating dueling wounds, as proposed by Paracelsus, with a “wound salve,” a mixture…
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Fossilized tick-borne diseases
José de la FuenteCiudad Real, Spain Ticks and tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease and alpha-gal syndrome are a growing burden for human health worldwide.1-3 Alpha-gal syndrome is an emerging allergy associated with tick bites and mammalian meat consumption. It is a potentially life-threatening immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated reaction to galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose (alpha-gal), which is present in…
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“Brace, brace, brace!”—“Are we all going to die?”
Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom Flying to and from Scotland as an airline passenger years ago sometimes involved small aircraft. The smallest from Edinburgh to Belfast at one time was so small that a hostess got on at departure, wriggled between the passengers handing out packages, and then squirmed back and disembarked. Perfectly…
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Caterina Sforza of Forli: Warrior and medical alchemist
Sally MetzlerChicago, Illinois, United States Fearless, beautiful, and cunning, Caterina Sforza (1462–1509) fought heroically to defend her fiefdoms of Imola and Forli until the bitter end. Even the celebrated and infamous Renaissance strategist, Niccolò Machiavelli, remarked that he had met his match in Caterina, and confessed he could not outwit her. Historians laud her as…
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A doctor writes to God
Nolo Segundo United States Monsignor Georges Lemaitre, the priest who first theorized the Big Bang, with Albert Einstein at the California Institute of Technology, January 1933. Photo via Wikimedia. My friend, a retired surgeon, tells me he would like to believe in an almighty and loving God, but claims science, annoyingly, keeps getting in…
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BCG: The vaccine that took thirteen years to develop
Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden Early French advertisement for BCG (“BCG Protects Against Tuberculosis”). Retouched crop of photo by Rathfelder on Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. “Perseverance, secret of all triumphs.” – Victor Hugo Tuberculosis of the lungs (“consumption”) was one of the two main causes of death (along with pneumonia) at the start of…
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Book review: Sir Thomas Browne: The Opium of Time
Arpan K. Banerjee Solihull, UK Cover of Sir Thomas Browne: The Opium of Time by Gavin Francis Sir William Osler was a great admirer of Sir Thomas Browne’s 1643 Religio Medici, one of his favorite books and on his recommended reading list for medical men. Browne influenced many writers, such as Samuel Johnson, WG…
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Tumultuous crescendos and tranquil decrescendos in Ravel’s work
Michael Yafi Chaden Yafi Houston, Texas, United States Maurice Ravel in his hometown, 1914. Via Wikimedia. The world is commemorating the 95th anniversary of Maurice Ravel’s Boléro. The composer continues to be one of the most enigmatic classical music personalities. Born in 1875 in Ciboure, France, he displayed from an early age a keen…