Tag: George Dunea
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Ancient India in 1,500 words
Homo sapiens originated in Africa about 300,000 years ago and arrived in India in waves beginning about 65,000 years ago. Early populations were hunter-gatherers and did not adopt a sedentary way of life until about 7,000 years BCE, when they began to domesticate plants and animals. As their civilization expanded, villages grew into towns and…
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The spleen and melancholy
Old Democritus under a tree,Sits on a stone with book on knee;About him hang there many features,Of Cats, Dogs and such like creatures,Of which he makes anatomy,The seat of black choler to see.—Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy The spleen could be described as occupying a special place between medicine and science versus art and…
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The once fatal pernicious anemia
For much of medical history, pernicious anemia was a baffling and invariably fatal disorder. Characterized by profound weakness, pallor, glossitis, and progressive neurologic decline, it carried an ominous reputation. Its name—“pernicious”—reflected the despair of physicians who could offer no remedy. The symptoms of this disease developed gradually and were fatigue, weakness, pallor, and shortness of…
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Jacobus Rau: Surgical innovator, renowned lithotomist, and educator at Leiden
Johann Jakob Rau, latinized to Johannes, was one of the most influential surgical innovators of early modern Europe, best known for transforming the treatment of urinary bladder stones through his lateral lithotomy technique. Born in 1668 in Baden-Baden, he was the son of wine merchant Johannes and Magdalena Muller. His early exposure to medicine came…
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Bernhard Siegfried Albinus: Anatomist and surgeon
Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, originally called Weiss, was born at Frankfurt on the Oder in 1697. There his father was professor of medicine until 1702 when he was transferred to the chair of medicine at Leiden University. Thus young Bernhard began his education in the Netherlands at the age of twelve, studying under the famous Govert…
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Lorenz Heister, German surgeon
Lorenz Heister (or Laurentius Heister in his Latin works) was a prominent German general, eye surgeon, and professor of anatomy and surgery at the University of Altdorf, Germany. Heister contributed significantly to surgical practice, particularly through his influential surgical books, which hold a place in medical literature comparable to that of Ambroise Paré. Born to…
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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 to handle. On October 6, 1939, its last troops surrendered.…
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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 amenorrhea or irregular menstruation. Fanny Price in Mansfield Park, Madame…
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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 as the poisonous Atropa belladonna and Datura stramonium (jimson weed).…
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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 later found he was more drawn to medicine and migrated…