Tag: code
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Christopher Wren’s contributions to medicine
JMS PearceHull, England An extraordinary natural philosopher and Renaissance man, Christopher Wren (1632–1723) (Fig 1) was primarily an astronomer and architect.1 He is remembered mostly for his work after the Great Fire of London of 1666 as designer of St. Paul’s Cathedral, originally erected in… Read more
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Learning the vocabulary of medicine (and other foreign languages)
Edward TaborBethesda, Maryland, United States Both of my parents were physicians, and their discussions were often medical. One weekend when I was about four years old, I listened to one such conversation at lunch and interrupted to ask, “When I grow up, will I be… Read more
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Whitlock Nicholl: Physician and theological writer
Avi OhryTel Aviv, Israel In November 1839, Dr. John Clendinning delivered at the St. Marylebone Infirmary a lecture on the examination of the sick, the principal sources of fallacy attending practical diagnosis, and “on feignted [not “feigned”] and concealed diseases, and insidious complications of disease.”1… Read more
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Two giants in thoracic surgery: Clarence Crafoord and Åke Senning
Göran WettrellLund University, Sweden Clarence Crafoord Clarence Crafoord (1899–1984) was one of the most outstanding surgeons in Sweden during the twentieth century (Figure 1). He started his surgical training in the early 1920s. Postoperative complications such as obstructing pulmonary thrombosis were a frequent cause of… Read more
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Not just for the sake of ourselves
Florence GeloPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States The Fatal Wounding of Sir Philip Sidney is a painting that I have used often to teach close looking to medical and theological students. The painting is full of details: color, lines, and textures. Faces and body language serve as… Read more
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Comments on Dr. James Franklin’s article on George Orwell and the Spanish Civil War
Stuart PotichaChicago, Illinois, United States In 1966 as a young surgeon who had just completed his residency, I was drafted into the United States Army. Following basic training at Fort Sam Houston, I was sent to Vietnam, where I became the Chief of Surgery of… Read more
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The three knights of thyrotoxicosis
Of the three physicians who described thyrotoxicosis, Karl Adolph von Basedow is the least known, especially in the English-speaking world. Born at Dessau in 1799, Basedow studied medicine at Halle University, worked as a physician in various cities of Germany, and in 1835 was appointed… Read more
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Jean Astruc, the “compleat physician”
Jean Astruc was born in 1684 in Sauve, France and studied medicine at Montpellier, graduating in 1703. He then became professor of medicine in Toulouse (1710) and Montpellier (1716), superintendent of the local mineral waters (1721), physician to the king of Poland (1729), and professor… Read more
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A historical review of Crohn’s disease
Anagha BrahmajosyulaBangalore, Karnataka, India Crohn’s disease, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, may cause inflammation in any part of the gastrointestinal tract, from the mouth to the anus, with a predilection for the ileum. While much is known today about the underlying pathology of the… Read more
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Doctor Thorne, a country apothecary
Anthony Trollope is one of the few popular British novelists of the nineteenth century who is still widely read. He wrote some forty novels, notably the Palliser series about parliamentarian politics, and the Barchester stories with their intrigues in the established Church of England and… Read more
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The satirical side of William Osler, M.D.
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “But whatever you do, take neither yourself nor your fellow creatures too seriously.”1– William Osler, MD “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow of infinite jest…”– Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, in Hamlet, Act V Scene I, by William Shakespeare William… Read more