Spirituality in medicine
Gautam Sen Kolkata, India Doctor-patient bonhomie is beneficial for both. Photo by Thirdman from Pexels. Imagine a hospitalized patient in the advanced stages of a difficult disease. He wonders whether he will survive and, if he does, in what state he will spend the remainder of his life. Alone in bed, he sometimes finds […]
When needs trumped faith and dogma: early twentieth century Los Angeles women’s social conscience
Saty Satya-Murti Santa Maria, California, United States Michael Engh Los Angeles, California, United States Fig 1. Los Angeles Population Growth shown in a promotional pamphlet from 1915. From: Abbott, James W. Among cities Los Angeles is the world’s greatest wonder–Why?. [Los Angeles, The Cadmus press, 1915] Source: The Library of Congress. In early twentieth […]
Faith and patron saints during the Black Death
Mariella Scerri Mellieha, Malta Saint Roch. 1502. Francesco Francia. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public Domain. 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 […]
Science versus religion: the medieval disenchantment
JMS Pearce Hull, England Fig 1. An engraving showing a monopod or sclapod, a female Cyclops, conjoined twins, a blemmye, and a cynocephali. By Sebastian Münster 1544. Source History is a novel whose author is the people. -Alfred de Vigny (1797-1863) In medieval times, knowledge, beliefs, and faith were largely centered upon a […]
The sanctity of blood: Jehovah’s Witnesses and bloodless medicine
Margo A. Peyton Baltimore, Maryland, United States Dr. Steven Frank in the operating room at The Center for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Source Tammy said that her throat looked like that of a bullfrog croaking on an August night. At her local emergency room, her blood pressure was 240/40 […]
A happy individual knows nothing
Basil Brooke Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa Socrates and his students. Seljuk manuscript, early 13th century. Mubashshir ibn Fātik. Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul It seems that most people, most of the time, tend to avoid the really big questions, the hows and whys of existence, preferring to wait and see what happens when they die. […]