Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Greco-Roman

  • Handmaidens of anatomy

    Elisabeth Brander St. Louis, Missouri, United States   Fig. 1 Frontispiece of De humani corporis fabrica. Andreas Vesalius. De humani corporis fabrica. Basel: Johannes Oporinus, 1543. Image Credit: Bernard Becker Medical Library. Some of the most well-known images in the history of anatomy are the woodcut écorché figures that appear in Andreas Vesalius’s De humani…

  • The leech makes a comeback

    Meryl Sigaton City of Silay, Philippines   This image of the Hirudo Medicinalis (European Medicinal Leech) was photographed latching on to the human skin. Source The anterior and posterior suckers of the European Medicinal Leech is clearly visible in this image. Source Four (4) medicinal leeches were photographed on a human hand to show comparison…

  • Schola Medica Salernitana and medieval medical philosophy

    James Marcum Waco, Texas, United States   Schola Medica Salernitana from Avicenna’s Canon of Medicine Biblioteca University, Bologna, Italy The naissance of Schola Medica Salernitana, or the medical school at Salerno, on the Italian southwest coast is shrouded in myth and controversy. According to one tradition, the school’s beginning dates to Parmenides, a pre-Socratic philosopher…