Category: History Essays
-
Shackleton’s angel
Paul G. FirthBoston, Massachusetts, United States South Georgia Island is a tortured upheaval of mountain and glacier that falls in chaos to the jagged coastline of the South Atlantic Ocean.1 From thirty miles of this wind-blasted sub-Antarctic wilderness came walking on the afternoon of the 20 May 1916 “a terrible-looking trio of scarecrows,” soaked to…
-
Healing and hedonism: A reevaluation of Hashishian Legends of crime and indulgence
Mahek KhwajaKarachi, Pakistan Analgesic potions containing herbs have long been prescribed to relieve pain and ameliorate suffering. Many such remedies contained alcohol and opium, such as Thomas Sydenham’s recipe of sherry wine, opium, saffron, cinnamon powder, and clove powder. Also widely used was cannabis sativa/cannabis indica, known as bhang, shahdanaj, qinnab, and kif in different parts…
-
Medical photography in the nineteenth century: From portraits to clinical photography
Silvia MainaEditamed, Torino, Italia Since its introduction, photography has found an application in medicine. Many physicians embraced the potential of this technology as a valued adjunct to patient care, research, and education. Medical photography dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, a few years after the birth of modern photography. The first application of photography to…
-
Consolidation: Pneumonia and other pathologies on the Bellevue Hospital Autopsy
Maureen MillerNew York, United States The post-mortem room should be supplied with a small mirror, so thatthe operator may satisfy himself that no evidences of the character of hiswork are left upon him before appearing in public.—T.N. Kelynack, The Pathologist’s Handbook: Manual for the Post-Mortem Room, 18991 On January 1, 1898, New York City consolidated…
-
The Polish White Cross—Birthed on American soil to support Polish soldiers abroad
Magdalena GrassmannBialystok, Poland Eva NiklinskaNashville, Tennessee, USA Polish medical heritage in the United States has a long history built on the efforts of Polish physicians, nurses, and pharmacists in many American universities, hospitals, and private practices. It advanced the frontiers of science and addressed medical needs during World War I. Although Poland was not independent…
-
An “enematic” saga
F. Gonzalez-CrussiChicago, Illinois, USA Those of us who have managed to survive sixty, seventy, or more years remember that the enema or clyster was, by far, the commonest home remedy in the twentieth century. (Enema: “Liquid or gaseous substance, either medicinal or alimentary, introduced mechanically into the rectum.”) No family was without the rubber bottle,…
-
Episteme and translation in an annotated copy of the Canon of Medicine by Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna)
Sang Ik SongAdam S. KomorowskiLimerick, Ireland Processes of translation in European medieval medical episteme The episteme and movement of knowledge of medieval medicine in Europe is a syncretic, multifarious complexity that is often difficult to unravel. Medieval history in and of itself is a rarefied field where a good grasp of multiple languages and a…
-
The divine leaf: Physick and the cause for physick
Lynn Veach SadlerBurlington, NC, United States Columbus is believed to have rebuked his crew for sharing the Indians’ “drinking” of the smoke of tobacco through toboca/tobaga pipes and chewing its dried leaves. He was among the first to discover its addictiveness. The Whites in his wake also smoked the calumet and received, legend claims, knowledge from…
-
The Friends’ Ambulance Unit South Bank Clinic: The forgotten valor of the pacifists who stayed beyond the fight
Christopher MagoonPhiladelphia, PA, USA For many of the non-Chinese volunteers who aided China during the tumult of the 1930s and 40s, a notoriety that borders on mythology remains to this day. Perhaps most famously, an American group of volunteer fighter pilots known as the Flying Tigers still enjoys rockstar levels of fame in China. This…
-
The Lunar Society legacy
JMS PearceUnited Kingdom Mention “Lunar Society” and most academics will stare vacantly, despite the society’s fame during the eighteenth century. Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802), grandfather of Charles Darwin, was a founder of the Lunar Society in Birmingham (c. 1765–c. 1800), which counted several physicians in its numbers. The original “Lunarmen” comprised a select club, gathered together…