Tag: France
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Obesity in the Middle Ages: Sancho el Craso
Nicolás Roberto Robles Badajoz, Spain Figure 1. Imaginary portrait. Sancho I El Craso. José María Rodríguez de Losada. between circa 1892 and circa 1894. Public domain. Via Wikimedia. “Severe obesity restricts body movements and maneuvers . . . breathing passages become blocked and do not pass good air . . . these patients…
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The first effective chemotherapy for cancer
Marshall A. Lichtman Rochester, New York, United States Caution: Chemotherapy. Photo by Justin Levy. Via Flickr. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Sulfur mustard gas had no influence on the outcome of the battle at Ypres during World War I despite the many deaths and severe injuries it inflicted. Since then, chemical weapons have been used in…
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Salernitan women
Vicent Rodilla Alicia López-Castellano Valencia, Spain Figure 1. A miniature from Avicenna’s Canon representing the Salernitan Medical School. Source The first medical school in the Western world is thought to be the Schola Medica Salernitana (Figure 1), which traces its origins to the dispensary of an early medieval monastery.1 The medical school at Salerno…
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The global journey of variolation
Mariel Tishma Chicago, Illinois, United States A human hand with smallpox pustules. Colored etching by W.T. Strutt. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Humanity has eliminated only one infectious disease—smallpox. Smallpox is a very old disease and efforts to prevent it are almost as old. They included a technique called variolation, also…
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Book review: A Time for All Things: The Life of Michael E. DeBakey by Craig Miller
Arpan K. Banerjee Solihull, UK Cover of A Time for All Things. The Life of Michael E. DeBakey by Craig A. Miller. In the latter half of the twentieth century, Michael DeBakey was a worldwide household name, a remarkable feat for a surgeon in the days before the cult of celebrity had become part of…
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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…
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Jean Mery, distinguished French surgeon
Jean Mery. Unknown artist. Collège de chirurgie, Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de santé: CIPB1509. Jean Mery lived largely in the days of the Sun-King Louis XIV, when France was still rich and powerful and had not yet spent itself into bankruptcy. Born in central France in 1645, he followed in his father’s footsteps at eighteen and went…
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Dirty, dark, dangerous: coal miners’ nystagmus
Ronald Fishman Chicago, Illinois, United States A coal miner without a headlamp digging an undercut at the coal face, using only the dim light supplied by a small flame lamp. From Snell 12 It’s dark as a dungeon and damp as the dew, Where the danger is double and pleasures are few Where the rain…