Tag: Europe
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A Martian treatment for dehydration
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden I was “rotating” through the pediatric service in an American general hospital. As a sixth-year student of a European medical school, I had been allowed to return home for my year of clinical duties before graduation. One day, during pediatric rounds, a resident presented an infant who had been admitted because of…
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Suspicious minds
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “Whatever it is, I’m against it.”— Groucho Marx It was the day of my exam in urology. In 1975 I was a sixth-year medical student (in a seven-year course of study) at an old, highly-regarded European university. After breakfast I put on my suit, a white shirt, and a conservative tie. All…
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Presentism
Jayant RadhakrishnanChicago, Illinois, United States The Oxford English Dictionary defines presentism as “uncritical adherence to present-day attitudes, especially the tendency to interpret past events in terms of modern values and concepts.” The term may have been used as far back as the 1870s and applies to acts, beliefs, and people that were acceptable or even…
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In praise of swimming: From Benjamin Franklin to Oliver Sacks
James L. FranklinChicago, Illinois, United States Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) was not a physician, but many thought he was so-trained and referred to him as “Doctor” Franklin. After accepting an honorary doctorate from the University of St. Andrews in 1759, awarded for his experiments in electricity, people began referring to him as “Doctor,” a title he…
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Terminal digit preference
Marshall Lichtman Rochester, New York, United States Numbers that end in zero motivate and energize people. Recall Y2K, when the world celebrated on January 1, 2000. The irresistibility of zeros resulted in everyone celebrating on the wrong date: the new millennium started on January 1, 2001, not 2000. The first year of the Julian calendar in…
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Heinrich Heine and the mattress tomb
Nicolás Roberto Robles Badajoz, Spain Harry Heine was born in Bolkerstrasse, Düsseldorf, Germany. He jokingly described himself as the “first man of the century,” claiming that he had been born on New Year’s Eve 1800. Researchers have discovered, however, that December 13, 1797, is most likely the date of his birth. The oldest of four children,…
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Mary Niles and the Canton rats
Edward McSweeganKinston, Rhode Island, United States Bubonic plague arrived in Honolulu in December 1899. A month later it had spread to San Francisco, where the infection caused a series of deadly outbreaks until 1907.1 But for decades before plague reached the American west coast, it had burned through rural China. By 1893, the plague reached…
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Faith and patron saints during the Black Death
Mariella ScerriMellieha, Malta The Black Death of 1348 was the greatest biomedical disaster in European history. Although it was not the first plague epidemic, the Black Death swept through Europe, killing millions indiscriminately and affecting society like no other natural calamity.1 Attempts to understand the plague began with science, but the search for answers was…