Tag: History Essays
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Marfan syndrome and Abraham Lincoln
Umut Akova Atlanta, Georgia, United States The earliest presidential portrait of Lincoln. Salt print, 1787. Via Wikimedia. Marfan syndrome is a rare, inherited genetic disorder that affects the body’s connective tissues. People with Marfan syndrome often have distinctive physical features such as tall stature, long limbs, joint hypermobility, and a narrow face. The condition is…
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The mysterious death of Margaret, child queen of Scotland
Juliana Menegakis St. Andrews, Scotland No contemporary images of Margaret survive. This stained-glass window was installed in the town hall of Lerwick, Shetland, in the late 19th century. The banner reads, “Margaret, queen of Scotland and daughter of Norway.” The Maid of Norway photo by Colin Smith on Geograph. CC BY-SA 2.0. Upon the…
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Biblical leprosy: A dermatologist’s perspective
Harry Goldin Skokie, Illinois, United States “‘Unclean! Unclean!’ … ” Underwood and Underwood Publishers, 1896. Crop of photo by Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, UofT on Flickr. CC BY-NC 2.0. The descriptions of “leprosy” in chapter 13 of the Book of Leviticus in the Hebrew Bible are complex and difficult to understand. This confusion…
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Hanaoka Seishū, inventor of an early general anesthetic
Kingston Bridges London, United Kingdom Hanaoka performing the first operation with tsūsensan. University Hospital Medical Information Network Center. Since time immemorial, humans have sought to alleviate illness and suffering through surgical interventions. Amputations with improvised tools took place in the Upper Paleolithic period over 30,000 years ago, and skeletal evidence of trephining has been…
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A tale of two physicians and Albert Göring
Avi Ohry Tel Aviv, Israel Hermann Epenstein. Via German Wikipedia. Fair use. Hermann Epenstein Ritter von Mauternburg (1850–1934) was a physician and merchant who played a significant role in the lives of anti-Nazi activist Albert Göring and his family. He was their family doctor, a close friend, and godfather to Albert and his older…
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The death of Socrates and common hemlock
Umut AkovaAnkara, Turkey Socrates (469–399 BC) was the ancient Greek philosopher most often credited with pioneering Western philosophy and with founding the Socratic method, a dialectical approach to questioning and critical thinking. Known for his pursuit of ethical truths and moral principles, he engaged individuals in open-ended discussions that often revealed contradictions in their beliefs.…
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The resident doctors’ strike: Montreal, 1934
Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden Pavillon Mailloux of the Hôpital Notre-Dame de Montréal. Photo by Sarah Ismert, Marie-Laurence Maisonneuve, and Jennifer Marcout. Via Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 3.0. “We don’t want him because he’s a Jew. But we are not antisemites.”1 – From a statement by striking residents at Hôpital Notre-Dame, Montreal Samuel Rabinovitch, M.D.,…
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The changing role of the apothecary
JMS Pearce Hull, England Fig 1. Old apothecary’s shop* Some of us oldies may remember the word “apothecary” above a pharmacist’s shop window or in old photographs (Fig 1). But how did the apothecaries come to be? And how did they relate to Medicine? There are early records of pharmacy in Mesopotamia around 2600…
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Medicine and the Jews in the Middle Ages
Shelley Grach Chicago, Illinois, United States “Doctor Schnabel” (“Dr. Beak”), a plague doctor in seventeenth-century Rome. Engraving, after 1656. Via Wikimedia. In the Middle Ages, fear and superstition often stood in the path of helping the sick, as maladies were believed to result from the sins of the afflicted. These roadblocks were compounded by…