Tag Archives: autopsy

Dr. Doyen separates conjoined twins in 1902

July 25, 2022

Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden   Xiphopagus sisters “Radica” and “Doodica” of India before surgical intervention by Eugène Doyen, February 9, 1902. Filmed by Clément-Maurice. From Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by George M. Gould and Walter L. Pyle. Via French Wikipedia. Public domain. “They were so close to each other that they preferred death to […]

On the way to school

October 22, 2021

Mary Jumbelic Syracuse, New York, United States   Illustration by Joshua Jumbles. Published with permission. A thin line of blood oozed from a shallow cut in the skin, like the first stroke of an artist’s brush on a blank canvas. The second and third incisions intersected the first to form a large Y-shape. Sanguinous fluid […]

Ludwig van Beethoven: music and medicine

January 12, 2021

Michael Yafi Chaden Yafi Houston, Texas, United States   Beethoven home and surrounding area. Photos by Michael Yafi. December 2020 marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven. The causes of the composer’s deafness and his death at the age of fifty-six have remained unknown, even after an autopsy carried out soon […]

Howard Kelly’s avant-garde autopsy method

February 3, 2020

Julius P. Bonello, George E. Tsourdinis Peoria, Illinois, United States   Figure 1. Dr. Howard Kelly (Photo courtesy of The Alan Mason Chesney Medical Archives of The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions)3 Once dubbed the “Prince of Gynecology,” Dr. Howard A. Kelly was one of the most prominent surgeons in the United States in the early […]

The legacy and maladies of Jonathan Swift

December 24, 2019

JMS Pearce England, UK   Fig 1. Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (Fig 1.) is best known for his popular Lemuel Gulliver’s: Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World published in 1726. (Fig 2.) Exciting adventures combine with satirical metaphors that parodied contemporary customs and politics. Lemuel Gulliver, the narrator, begins as a modern man […]

The Autopsy II

January 22, 2017

F. Inge Faust East Orange, New Jersey, United States   The Autopsy As from a surreal painting from long ago Or a bizarre story by Henry Thoreau A disquiet inside me begins to grow That will repeatedly return—I know. Spread before me is quite a scene: An Asian man not too tall but lean. He […]