Obesity in the Middle Ages: Sancho el Craso
Nicolás Roberto Robles Badajoz, Spain Figure 1. Imaginary portrait. Sancho I El Craso. José María Rodríguez de Losada. between circa 1892 and circa 1894. Public domain. Via Wikimedia. “Severe obesity restricts body movements and maneuvers . . . breathing passages become blocked and do not pass good air . . . these patients […]
General Robert E Lee’s myocardial infarction: did illness impact the Battle of Gettysburg?
Lloyd Klein San Francisco, California, United States Robert E Lee in March 1864. Julian Vannerson, photographer, after 1875. No known restrictions on publication. From the Library of Congress. Ascribing the loss of the Battle of Gettysburg to an illness of General Robert E. Lee became common among historians thirty years ago. The legend of […]
Medical and other memories of the Cold War and its Iron Curtain
Hugh Tunstall-Pedoe Dundee, Scotland, UK Iron Curtain as described by Churchill 1946. Edited from original. Original by BigSteve via Wikimedia. (CC BY 1.0) In 1946, Winston Churchill named the political barrier appearing between the Soviet bloc and the West the “Iron Curtain.” It lasted until 1991. I met or crossed it several times. The […]
The three contraries of Benjamin Franklin: “the gout, the stone and not yet master of all my passions”
James L. Franklin Chicago, Illinois, United States Fig 1: Portrait of Benjamin Franklin. From a carbonic alloy engraving, drawn by C. N. Cochin 1777, engraved by A.H. Richie. Public Domain. Via Wikimedia On May 23, 1785, Benjamin Franklin wrote from Passy on the outskirts of Paris to George Whatley that “at Fourscore the three […]
Too many doctors: the death of Friedrich III
Nicolas Roberto Robles Badajoz, Spain Figure 1. Kaiser Friedrich Museum (currently Bode Museum) on the Monbijou Bridge in Berlin, 1905. Public domain. Via Wikimedia Un médico cura; dos, dudan; tres, muerte segura. One doctor, health; two, doubt; three, certain death. -Spanish saying. Friedrich III of Hohenzollern was the second Kaiser of Germany and […]
The influence of the text “De Arte Gymnastica” on the resurgence of medical gymnastics in Renaissance Italy: Girolamo Mercuriale (1530-1606)
Philippe Campillo Daniel Caballero Lille, France Figure 1. Hieronymous Mercurialis (1530–1606). Line engraving by Theodor de Bry, 1528-1598. Credit: Wellcome Collection. (CC BY 4.0) The physicians of ancient Greece were aware that muscular exercise was a source of health and strength, as well as achieving corporal beauty through a balanced relationship between different parts of […]
Medicean optics: an analysis of Raffaello’s Portrait of Pope Leo X and Two Cardinals
Vincent P. de Luise New Haven, Connecticut, United States Portrait of Pope Leo X (Giovanni di Lorenzo de’ Medici) and his cousins, the cardinals Giulio de’ Medici and Luigi de’ Rossi. Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael). oil on panel 154 cm x 119 cm (61 in. x 49 in). 1518-1519. Galleria degli Uffizi, Firenze. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Myopia, or nearsightedness, is […]
Otology in late Victorian Ireland
Tony Ryan Cork, Ireland Figure 1: Unblocking the eustachian tube using Politzer’s bag. Source Introduction Henry MacNaughton Jones (1844-1918) was born in Cork City and graduated MD at Queen’s College, Cork, in 1864. Just four years later he founded the thirty-bed Cork Ophthalmic and Aural Hospital, where he practiced as a physician and surgeon. […]
Frankincense and myrrh: medicinal resin worth more than gold
Mariel Tishma Chicago, IL, United States Incense. Frankincense on coal. Photo: birdy. 2007. CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia. Boswellia and Commiphora trees are scraggly, sharp, and unfriendly. Growing close to the ground in the arid desert, they have short trunks and fanning branches, sometimes looking more like shrubs than trees. But despite their unlikely […]
Mount Everest and a medical atlas
Tony Ryan Cork, Ireland This is a story of a medical atlas, the author, the illustrator, and her great-uncle. The book, the Atlas of the Diseases of the Membrana Tympani, was written by Dr. Henry MacNaughton Jones in 1878. This atlas of diseases of the “eardrum” was illustrated by nurse and artist, Margaret Boole. […]