Month: May 2025
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The striking parallels between the assassinations of James Garfield and William McKinley
Kevin R. LoughlinBoston, Massachusetts, United States For decades, historians have commented on the coincidences of the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations. They both suffered mortal head wounds and were shot on a Friday. It is speculated that conspiracies were involved in both assassinations. Both men were elected in a year ending in 60 and were succeeded…
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Elephant’s medical
Elephants, the largest living land mammals, possess several features that have long interested scientists and biologists. Their size, longevity, unique anatomy, and disease resistance offer valuable insights for broader biomedical research. Their resistance to cancer is remarkable, given their massive size and long lifespan, up to seventy years, they would be expected to have a…
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Gardens: Living pharmacies
The connection between medicine and gardens runs deep. Gardens have long served as places of beauty and serenity and also as living pharmacies where healing plants were cultivated with care. This relationship between horticulture and healing represents one of humanity’s oldest and most enduring partnerships. In ancient civilizations, medicinal gardens were often components of healthcare…
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Dingler’s Panama tragedy
Enrique Chaves-CarballoKansas City, Kansas, United States According to David McCullough, author of best-seller The Path Between the Seas, Jules Isidore Dingler “was not impressive-looking…he was short and bald…had small round shoulders, a soft, round face, soft blue eyes, and a drooping, mahogany-colored mustache….The appearance suggested neither initiative nor resolution and the appearance [sic] was deceiving.”1…
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Asymmetrical masks of indigenous Alaskan peoples: Do they represent facial paralysis or not?
Peter De SmetNijmegen, Netherlands Asymmetrical masks of indigenous Alaskan peoples have been interpreted time and again as representations of facial paralysis in the biomedical literature.1-8 Among the arguments in favor of this view is that otitis media once was a health concern in Alaska and could have been an important cause of facial paralysis there.3…
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Crocodiles in medicine
In ancient times Egyptian doctors used crocodile dung as contraceptive or remedy for skin diseases and prescribed crocodile fat to treat burns and prevent baldness. In China traditional physicians recommended eating crocodile meat and organs for respiratory ailments and fevers, and African tribal healers prescribed crocodile teeth, bile, and fat. The interest in using crocodiles…
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Wine in disease and health
In ancient times The history of wine as medicine dates to ancient Egypt and its Ebers Papyrus (circa 1550 BCE), which mentions mixing wine with herbs as an antiseptic and a vehicle for delivering medicines. Physicians in Mesopotamia used wine to dissolve and administer drugs, and Hippocrates (c. 460–370 BCE) recommended it for treating wounds,…
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A rare case report: Near amputation of a leg from a falling book
Avi OhryTel Aviv, Israel Traumatic injuries are common, resulting from war, natural disasters, workplace mishaps, accidents, or sports. But severe bodily damage occurring in a library? In 1359, the famous Italian poet, humanist, and philosopher from Arezzo, Francesco Petrarch (1304–1374), was reading a book in his library written by one of his admired Roman scholars, Cicero.…
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Edvard Munch: Medical portraits
Sally MetzlerChicago, Illinois, United States The name Edvard Munch usually recalls his masterful painting titled The Scream (fig. 1). This iconic image from 1893 depicts a moody landscape inhabited by a ghostlike, androgynous, wispy figure, facing if not confronting the viewer. Elongated hands frame the head, pressing emphatically on the ears of a hairless ovoid…