Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: headache

  • On orchids and testes

    Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “You like orchids?…Nasty things. Their flesh is too much like the flesh of men, their perfume the rotten sweetness of corruption.”– John Steinbeck Orchids belong to a widespread group of flowering plants. There are about 28,000 species of orchids worldwide.1 The underground tubers of many European orchids—which contain the plant’s reserve food…

  • Dancing with spiders: Tarantellas and tarantism

    Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “There are always hysterical people undergoing extraordinary cures.”– Robertson Davies, The Cunning Man The industrial city of Taranto is in the “heel” of boot-shaped Italy. The Romans called the city Tarentum,1 and part of its historical importance comes from its name. Confusion has also arisen from that name’s overuse. A traditional folk…

  • Half-skull

    Sophia WilsonNew Zealand a ghost shrieks at the window,threatens to break through,shatter eye-cover. throbbing fingers infiltratesoft crevices;neuronal mass pulsates. knife twists, gristle-turning;stoat gnaw,rat’s claw. mind summersaults tosnap-trap pain,can’t let go its axon’s branch. cerebral crevices convolute;razorsreplace thoughts. vessel spasm,vision tremble;light jars, sound breaks, eye inverts andnausea heaveslike tidal rise. intention leacher,sight imploder,plan thwarter, work blighter.…