Tag: France
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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…
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Humanitarian for all: The life of Henry Dunant
Stephen KosnarLima, Peru In his late thirties and bankrupt, Henry Dunant lived in abject poverty, on occasion being forced to eat bread crusts and sleep outdoors in Paris. It is a bitter slice of one man’s history, particularly given that only a few years earlier he had founded the International Committee of the Red Cross.1…
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A history of blood transfusion: A confluence of science—in peace, in war, and in the laboratory
Kevin R. LoughlinBoston, Massachusetts The rudimentary lights provided only dim illumination of the operative field. The three British army surgeons worked feverishly to save the life of the young soldier, Corporal Smith, who had a significant liver injury. He had already lost a liter of blood during transport from the front. As the surgeons continued…
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Bad blood
Andrea DejeanToulouse, France The French Blood Agency (l’Établissement français du sang; EFS) organizes frequent blood collection campaigns in the small city where I live in southwestern France. These campaigns are often planned to take place before the start of school vacations or just before the end-of-the-year holiday season when many French families take to the…
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Becoming a doctor in Chicago (c. 1954)—The Chicago Maternity Center
Peter BerczellerEdited by Paul Berczeller An excerpt from Dr. Peter Berczeller’s memoir, The Little White Coat. My group and I were assigned to the Chicago Maternity Center at the end of the obstetrics in November 1955. Despite the recent training at Michael Reese, nothing could have prepared me for the tour of duty at the…
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Becoming a doctor in Chicago (c. 1954)—Clerkship at Cook County Hospital
Peter H. BerczellerEdited by Paul Berczeller An excerpt from Dr. Peter Berczeller’s memoir, The Little White Coat. Ward 64, the only female medical ward at Cook County Hospital, was to be the home base for daily meetings of our group of five with the instructor assigned to us. Our space—immediately next door to the patients’ toilet—was…