Ether dome
The first operation using ether as anesthesia took place in 1846. This daguerreotype is not of that operation, but rather is a recreation of the event. The patient is unknown, but the surgeons include John Mason Warren, John Collins Warren, George Hayward, and Solomon D. Townsend. Following the first use of ether, the operating theater […]
Did Casimir Pulaski have 21-hydroxylase deficiency?
Gregory W. Rutecki Lyndhurst, Ohio, United States Casimir Pulaski, from the Great Generals series (N15) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands. Allen & Ginter. 1888. Metropolitan Museum of Art. “. . . I could not submit to stoop before the sovereigns of Europe, so I came to hazard all the freedom of America, and […]
Should primary hyperaldosteronism be renamed Litynski-Conn Syndrome?
Gregory W. Rutecki Lyndhurst, Ohio, United States Michael Litynski M.D. was born in 1906 in Lodz, Poland. As a physician during World War II, he joined the Polish Resistance. He treated resistance fighters and was active during the infamous Warsaw Uprising in 1945. Dr. Litynski was also awarded the Yad Vashem medal for his […]
Theo’s marvelous medicine
Joseph deBettencourt Chicago, Illinois, USA Illustration of the Wade-Dahl-Till shunt from the original patent application. Wade, Stanley C. (1966) US Patent No.3233610. Retrieved from On a cool December day in 1960, a nanny was pushing an infant in a stroller down 85th Street in New York City. Stepping into the road, the nanny saw […]
John Calvin: his rule in Geneva and his many illnesses
At the age of twenty-three the great French religious reformer abandoned his Catholic faith, becoming in time the founder of one of the most important branches of Protestantism. During his life he wrote numerous tracts on various aspects of religion, notably emphasizing predestination and the supremacy of the Trinity, and advocating a simpler and more […]
Louis XIV and his ailments
Introduction For over 300 years King Louis XIV has occupied a special place in the heart of every Frenchman. He brought glory to his country, extended its boundaries, and promoted the arts and letters so that French culture became second to none in Europe. For many decades his neighbors trembled at the sound of his […]
The gout of the Medici
Florence in the fifteenth century was one of the most important cities in Western Europe. Rich and resplendent, first in banking and in the wool trade, it even issued its own currency, the golden florin, widely used throughout Europe. For some three hundred years the city was ruled almost continuously by the Medici, at one […]
The king who bumped his head
Charles VIII was proclaimed king of France in 1470 at the age of thirteen and is remembered in history chiefly for invading Italy to assert his claim to the throne of Naples. He set in motion, by this invasion, a process that left Italy languishing under foreign domination for more than 300 years. During his […]
Washington and his spectacles
Ronald S. Fishman Chicago, IL, USA “Washington as General commanding Continental Army” by John Peale. C. 1781-1790. Independence National Historical Park Collection in Philadelphia. After accepting the surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, Washington took most of the Continental Army back up to the Northeast to cover the main British army based around […]
Francesco Antommarchi, the Malvolio of St. Helena
Francesco Carlo Antommarchi (1780-1838) was a man of dubious character who served as Napoleon’s physician on the island of St. Helena from 1818 until his death in 1821. He began his education in Livorno, Italy, then in Pisa and Florence, graduating with a degree in surgery in 1812. For the next six years he practiced neither surgery […]