Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: allergic responses

  • John Bostock and hay fever

    JMS PearceHull, England Before the 1800s, hay fever, now estimated as affecting 5–10% of Western populations, was not widely recognized by physicians. James MacCulloch MD FRS, a doctor and geologist, in 1828 was the first to use the term hay fever, which he said was “a well-known disorder.”1 The surgeon William Gordon used the term…

  • Grandfather of allergy: Dr. Bill Frankland, the ardent centenarian

    John Turner United Kingdom   Captain A. W. Frankland Image credit Paul Watkins Research for Far East Prisoners of War History Group Fepowhistory.com “For your final choice?” Dr. William Frankland at one hundred and three, the oldest guest ever to appear in the London studio of the BBC’s Desert Island Discs, chose Elgar’s Nimrod in…