Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Ezana of Aksum

  • “These late eclipses … portend no good to us” – Shakespeare

    Edward TaborBethesda, Maryland, United States Introduction Eclipses of the sun or moon were powerful images used by William Shakespeare in ten of his plays and poems.1 Shakespeare’s characters believed that eclipses were under the control of evil forces, that eclipses could predict the fall of… Read more

  • The rise and fall of railway spine

    Lenny GrantSyracuse, New York, United States By 1864, British railways were responsible for 36 deaths and 700 injuries annually.1,2 Yet the most perplexing cases were not the visibly wounded, but those passengers who walked away apparently unharmed, only to develop debilitating symptoms days or weeks… Read more

  • A Polish tragedy and a case without a diagnosis

    On the morning of September 1, 1939, German troops attacked Poland without a declaration of war. Two weeks later, on September 17, while Poland was defending itself in the west, the Soviet Union attacked from the east. This two-pronged attack was too much for Poland… Read more

  • Nicolaas Fontanus, eminent Dutch physician

    Annabelle SlingerlandLeiden, Netherlands In the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic, freedom of thought and inquiry thrived in the seventeenth century. The University of Leyden, founded in 1575, embraced medicine and botany, and nurtured literature, poetry, and theatre. It was against this cultural backdrop that… Read more

  • Chlorosis, the green anemia of young women

    Chlorosis was one of the most common diseases affecting adolescent girls and young women in Europe and North America during the 17th to 19th centuries. Its main features were a pale or greenish appearance, fatigue and weakness, shortness of breath, palpitations, loss of appetite, and… Read more

  • Martinus van Marum, physician, scientist, and inventor

    Annabelle SlingerlandLeiden, Netherlands Martinus van Marum, who was born in 1750 during the era of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, went on to enjoy a remarkable career in science. His father, Petrus van Marum, was a graduate engineer from Groningen who had started… Read more

  • Eggplants: History and science

    The eggplant belongs to the genus Solanum of the nightshade family Solanaceae, along with the tomato and potato. Botanically it is a fruit, specifically a berry, though it is treated like a vegetable in the kitchen. Also belonging to the Solanum genus are chili peppers, as well… Read more

  • Johannes Lange of Heidelberg

    Johannes Lange of Heidelberg is sometimes credited with being the first to describe what later became known as “chlorosis” but that he called morbus virgineus, the disease of virgins. Born in Silesia in 1485, Lange went to study philosophy at the University of Leipzig, but… Read more

  • The silence of Dona Zefa

    Guilherme CoelhoSão Paulo, Brazil Josefa Maria do Carmo—Dona Zefa to everyone—was the kind of woman you knew before you met her. The whole favela spoke of her like a patron saint: with respect, affection, and a reasonable fear of not wanting to disappoint her. Seventy-two… Read more

  • Sufjan Stevens’s “Casimir Pulaski Day”

    Róisín ConlonDublin, Ireland Music has been a powerful medium for expressing grief throughout the ages.1 A modern and touching example from the American singer Sufjan Stevens, “Casimir Pulaski Day,”2 explores complex narratives of grief and loss. An upbeat instrumental mix of banjo and trumpet contrasts with… Read more

  • Princes of Physicians: Avicenna and Maimonides

    James MarcumWaco, Texas, United States Islamic and Jewish scholars, such as Al-Kindi (801–873 CE), Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari (c. 838 – c. 870 CE), Al-Razi (865–925 CE), Al-Ghazali (1058–1111 CE), and Ibn-Rushd or Averroes (1126–1198 CE), among others, had a major impact on western… Read more

  • “Medical Mannerism” (1520–1580)

    Mannerism in art is characterized by the work of innovators who tried new approaches to their discipline—such as Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino, Parmigianino, El Greco, Spranger and Goltzius. Physicians, by contrast, remained rooted in the ancient humoral theory of Hippocrates and Galen, continuing to understand health… Read more