Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: George Dunea

  • The Celts, early inhabitants of Europe

    The Celts, a collection of Indo-European tribes, shared common linguistic and cultural traditions. They controlled extensive territories across Europe from 1200 BCE to 400 CE, spanning from Ireland and Scotland to Anatolia and from the Netherlands to Spain and Italy. Greek and Roman observers frequently wrote about the Celts in negative terms but also expressed their admiration for them. The main Celtic…

  • Sir Edward Elgar, pioneer of English music

    Sir Edward Elgar raised English music to prominence at a time when it was dominated by continental composers. Renowned for his The Dream of Gerontius oratorio (1900), Enigma Variations (1899), the Pomp and Circumstance marches (1901–1930), a Violin Concerto (1910), a Cello Concerto (1919), two symphonies, and many other compositions, he became one of the…

  • Dr. David Hosack, physician to Alexander Hamilton

    In the early 1800s, when Napoleon had established his hegemony over most of Europe but was utterly ignored by Jane Austen in her novels, barber-surgeons took care of most of the bodily needs of their clients. They shaved their beards, pulled their teeth, drew their blood, lanced boils, applied leeches, and amputated limbs if necessary.…

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958)

    Ralph Vaughan Williams is regarded as one of the most influential and beloved English musical composers, active at a time when his country’s music was heavily influenced by German and French traditions. He was born in Down Ampney, Gloucestershire, into a well-connected and intellectual family. His father was a barrister and vicar, while his mother…

  • Antonín Dvořák of the New World Symphony

    Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904), the celebrated musical composer, brilliantly combined Czech folk traditions with sophisticated Western classical music. Born in the small village of Nelahozeves near Prague, in what is now the Czech Republic, he was the son of an innkeeper and butcher who also played the zither. At age six, Dvořák began violin lessons, then…

  • Man is a waiting animal

    If you require a visa for a certain country, you should arrive at the consulate early in the morning to beat the crowd. You are told to take a number and wait in a crowded room for up to one hour before being called. You pay your money, leave your passport there, and are told…

  • The Carpathian wolves of Saki

    The relationship between wolves and humans is old and complex. It oscillates between hostility and cooperation and eventually results in domestication as dogs. In Norse mythology, wolves were a powerful force destined to bring about the end of the world. To scientists today, wolves offer an invaluable window into the complexities of mammalian physiology, as…

  • Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680): Genius of the Baroque

    Gian Lorenzo Bernini was a sculptor and architect whose work fundamentally transformed the artistic landscape of 17th-century Baroque Europe. He created works that broke free from classical restraint, introducing unprecedented movement and theatrical drama into stone, and he was able to create moments of intense emotion and action in static marble. His masterpiece Apollo and…

  • Eating goat

    The goat was among the first animals to be domesticated, around 10,000 years ago, in Western Iran and the Euphrates River valley, reflecting its importance as a reliable source of meat and milk. It is primarily eaten in Asia, Latin America, and Africa, and it is particularly popular in India, Nigeria, and Mexico, where it…

  • Dame Nellie Melba, the great Australian coloratura soprano

    The name Melba comes up nowadays mainly in the context of two popular food items.  The first is a widely popular desert, Peach Melba, created in 1892 by the famous French chef Auguste Escoffier for a dinner party given by the Duke of Orleans at the Savoy Hotel to honor the success of the opera…