Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Category: Past Issues

  • Theme

    ART AND MEDICINE IN FLORENCE Published in October, 2020 H E K T O R A M A   .     BRONZINO AND THE WAGES OF SIN       Artists, statesmen, scholars, warriors, and even popes were affected by syphilis in those times. Take King Francis I of France (1494–1547). A polished man,…

  • THEME

    RUSSIAN LITERATURE Published in October, 2020 H E K T O R A M A   .     THE EDUCATION OF DOCTOR CHEKHOV       Chekhov was neither an academic star, nor a social standout. There were, however, two areas in which he excelled. The first was his ability to listen to patients…

  • Volume 12, Issue 4

    Fall 2020 ISSN 2155-3017 For information and announcements visit At a glance   Readers are invited to enjoy this selection of articles for the fall, as well as exploring the new Vignettes section. Ghirlandaio: the portrait of an elderly man and young boy, Vincent P. de Luise Syndrome de Lasthénie de Ferjol, Krishna G. Badami…

  • Volume 12, Issue 3 – Summer 2020

    Frontispiece A Cold War Vaccine: Albert Sabin, Russia, and polio, James L. Franklin Did Macbeth have syphilis?, Eleanor J. Molloy Ambroise Pare: Standard bearer for barber-surgery reform, Mildred Wilson Robert Louis Stevenson and hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia, Sally Metzler Ladies in red: Medical, metaphorical reflections, Milad Matta & Gregory Rutecki The 1918 Pandemic—the collective story versus…

  • Theme

    HONORING THE WORK OF THE RED CROSS Published on May, 2020 H E K T O R A M A     .   ALL BLOOD RUNS RED Clara Barton The American Red Cross (ARC) is an independent, neutral organization ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of armed conflict and other disasters. Based on…

  • Theme

    EPIDEMICS Published in March, 2020 H E K T O R A M A   . The recent coronavirus outbreak inevitably brings to mind the Spanish flu, the deadly influenza pandemic of a century ago. Here we republish seven articles about this devastating viral disease that spread to the four corners of the world, killing…

  • Bloodlust: The embodiment of the uncanny in “The Vampyre”

    Emily ClineMontréal, QC, Canada Upon her neck and breast was blood, and upon her throat were the marks of teeth having opened the vein:—to this the men pointed, crying, simultaneously struck with horror, “A Vampyre! a Vampyre!” — The Vampyre, John William Polidori With this image Polidori introduces the conventions of the modern vampire story.…

  • Healthcare now and then

    BITTER MEDICINE Medical remedies have a long history of unpleasantness, either because their nasty taste could not be masked or perhaps because of a traditional prejudice that a prescribed remedy would not work unless it was bitter, fizzed when dissolved in water, or was painful if given by injection. Classical examples are treacle, castor oil,…

  • Theme

    TRAVEL AND MEDICINE Published  in December, 2019 H E K T O R A M A   .     DOCTOR MOORE IN ITALY     Moore, a practicing physician in Glasgow with a good reputation, was offered an opportunity to travel. Like other prominent noblemen of his day, the young Duke of Hamilton was…

  • Avant garde research on a blood substitute at the Hektoen Institute of Medical Research

    Jayant Radhakrishnan Darien, Illinois, United States   From Left to Right: Gerald S Moss MD, Richard Brinkman MD, Lakshman Sehgal PhD, Robert Forest DVM. June 1975, photograph of the team with the first baboon resuscitated with stroma free hemoglobin after being bled down to a hemoglobin concentration of zero. Photo taken by the author. The…