Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Domenico Cotugno

  • Lumbar puncture

    JMS PearceHull, England Access to cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in life as an aid to diagnosis proved impossible until lumbar puncture. Galen of Pergamon (AD 130–200) failed to recognize CSF; he described a vaporous, not aqueous, humor that he called περιττώματα (residues) in the cerebral ventricles. Cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles was probably first shown by…

  • History of nephrology: the middle period

    George DuneaChicago, Illinois, United States Coagulable urine Despite centuries of medical progress, the presence of abnormal amounts of albumin in the urine remains to this day the most sensitive and widely used indicator of renal disease. Described by Hippocrates as “bubbles on the surface of the urine” and known to medieval uroscopists as frothy urine…

  • Domenico Cotugno (1736-1822)

    During a period of over 40 years Domenico Cotugno served as professor of anatomy at the University of Naples, one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the world, founded by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederic II in 1224. His academic career was marked by several important advances for which he is remembered today,…