Tag: Edward Tabor
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The eight physicians of Shakespeare
Edward TaborBethesda, Maryland, United States William Shakespeare created eight physicians in his thirty-eight plays (Table I)1; seven of them appear on stage, and the eighth, Gerard de Narbon, though deceased, has a medical reputation that forms an important part of one of the plays.2 All eight physicians have functional roles in the plays; in addition,…
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Scientific discoveries in dreams: Sleeping while the mind works
Edward TaborBethesda, Maryland, United States Some major scientific discoveries have been revealed in dreams during sleep. Since ancient times, Western culture has included a deep belief in the power of dreams to provide information. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus (c. 500 BC) spoke of how “even in their sleep men are at work.”1 The Roman emperor…
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Medical misinformation and “The Bellman’s Fallacy” in the Internet Era
Edward TaborBethesda, Maryland, United States “The Bellman’s Fallacy” is a form of biased thinking in which something is believed to be true because it has been repeatedly stated. Its name comes from the Bellman in Lewis Carroll’s “The Hunting of the Snark,” who says, “What I tell you three times is true.”1 Based on this…
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A Hispanic amulet against disease in infants
Edward TaborBethesda, Maryland, United States In my pediatric residency at a New York City hospital many years ago, I noticed that half of my Hispanic infant patients, as well as some toddlers, wore a small black and red amulet that their parents hoped would protect against disease. When I asked other residents and attending physicians…
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Will DNA be the next invisible ink?
Edward TaborBethesda, Maryland, United States Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the chemical that forms our genes, can be used to encode and transmit narrative documents and photos, as shown in several published studies. DNA might also become the next “invisible ink” because messages in DNA can be “hidden in plain sight” to reduce the chance of being…
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The night the emergency room staff vanished
Edward Tabor Bethesda, Maryland “333-365 Corridor.” Photo by Karen Mardahl on Flickr. CC BY-SA 2.0. One of the strangest events of my medical career occurred on a spring evening in 1975. It was during one of my outpatient months as a pediatric resident at a large medical center in New York City. During the…
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Learning the vocabulary of medicine (and other foreign languages)
Edward Tabor Bethesda, Maryland, United States Some of the sources of medical vocabulary. Photo by author. 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…
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The origins of NIH medical research grants
Edward Tabor Bethesda, MD, United States The main administration building at the “National Institute of Health,” photographed sometime between 1940–1947, before the name was changed to “National Institutes of Health.” The original name can be seen under the cornice. From the “Images from the History of Medicine” collection at the National Library of Medicine,…
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Long before Pearl Harbor, an entire hospital was sent to help England in World War II
Edward TaborBethesda, MD, United States Harvard University President James B. Conant had the idea of sending a fully staffed hospital to England to help the British in their war with Germany in 1939, more than two years before the US entered the war. It became a collaboration between Harvard University and the American Red Cross.…