Month: August 2025
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The practice of medicine at the time of the Ramayana
The Ramayana, one of India’s great epics, was composed by the sage Valmiki. The epic consists of about 24,000 couplet verses in Vedic and Classical Sanskrit, divided into 500 chapters. Its themes include the war between the god king Rama while in exile in the forests of India and the demon king Ravana, who abducts…
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Napoleon III, last emperor of France
The history of 19th century Europe centers largely on the name Napoleon Bonaparte. The original bearer of this name, the Corsican “little corporal”, rose from artillery officer to Emperor of France and ruler of most of Europe. He single-handedly extinguished the embers of the French Revolution, ruled the greater part of Europe for more than…
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Deutsches Apotheken-Museum, Heidelberg
Christopher DuffinLondon, England If you find yourself in Heidelberg, you would be well advised to tackle the invigorating walk up to the sixteenth-century castle on the eastern margins of the old city, with its commanding views over the Neckar Basin, or to take the more sedate option of the cable car. The nine-euro entry fee…
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Ulysses S. Grant in health and disease
Ulysses S. Grant was the principal commander whose efforts put an end to the Civil War. During his two terms as president after the war, he worked to bring about peace and reconciliation between the former opposing parties. There have been 134 biographies published of Grant, as well as many studies. But while most of…
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Amedeo Modigliani: Sculptor, were it not for lung disease
Henri ColtIrvine, California, United States In late 1908, a Parisian dermatologist named Paul Alexandre introduced a struggling twenty-four-year-old Jewish-Italian artist named Amedeo Modigliani to a friend with whom the young Italian would soon develop a close relationship, the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1867–1957). Brancusi found Modigliani a studio close to his own at 14 Cité…
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The Santorini caldera and climate change: Modern explanations for the plagues of Egypt
Kevin LoughlinBoston, Massachusetts, United States In one of the most famous Bible verses of the Old Testament, the Lord instructs Moses to tell Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the…
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Hilary Koprowski and the polio vaccine
Eugene KucharzKatowice, Poland Hilary Koprowski (Fig. 1) was born on December 5, 1916, in Warsaw, Poland. At the age of five, he was already playing the piano, and at the age of twelve, began studying at the Warsaw Conservatory of Music. He graduated from Mikołaj Rej High School in Warsaw and then earned a medical…
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The strange death of Nana
Nicolas RoblesBadajoz, Spain “Nana was all covered with fine hair; a russet made her body velvety…”—Emile Zola, Nana The French writer Émile Zola (1840–1902), considered the leading representative of literary naturalism in his time,1 observed people and contemporary events in his novels. Zola never ceased to get involved in social, artistic, or literary causes that…
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Inns or coffee houses?
JMS PearceHull, England Humans throughout history have resorted to drugs to stimulate or tranquilize their moods and feelings. Most were of herbal origin, the choice determined by their effects, local availability, and trading. But social factors and politics also played a part. Soon after the Republicans executed King Charles 1 in 1649, the dictatorial Oliver…
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The death of Raphael
The famous High Renaissance artist Raffaello Sanzio was working at the court of Pope Julius II when he developed an acute illness that killed him within fifteen days. His body was publicly displayed and mourned in the Vatican, and he was buried in the Pantheon, an honor reserved only for Rome’s most revered figures. No…