Tag: History Essays
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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 PearceHull, England 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 BC, the main elements being herbal remedies.…
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Medicine and the Jews in the Middle Ages
Shelley GrachChicago, Illinois, United States 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 inherited hostility towards Jews, impeding Jewish participation in scientific education at educational institutions. The University of Montpellier…
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Of vermicide and vermifuge: A history of intestinal parasites at sea
Richard de GrijsSydney, Australia When the UK’s National Archives launched the Surgeons at Sea project,1 many media outlets focused on one outlandish claim from the curators’ summary of highlights. In June 1825, twelve-year-old Ellen McCarthy was on board the Elizabeth from Cork (Ireland) to Quebec (Canada) when the ship’s surgeon reported that she Complained yesterday…
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A note on early microscopes
JMS PearceHull, England Letters, however small and dim, are comparatively large and distinct when seen through a glass globe filled with water.1Seneca (c. 4 BC – AD 65) The Dutch spectacle maker Zacharias Janssen (1585–c. 1632) and his father Hans are thought to have made one of the earliest (c. 1600) compound microscopes, which had…
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Fashion-based medicine: A history of Western doctors’ dress
Shefali SoodWashington, DC, United States How do doctors dress? It depends on whom and when you ask. Just like other forms of clothing, the history of medical garb has been subject to the trends of time. While this has changed drastically in the past century, doctors’ dress profoundly reflects the societal expectations of their role.…
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Howard A. Knox and intelligence testing on Ellis Island
Carine Tabak Kansas City, Kansas, United States Interview during the mental examination of an immigrant on Ellis Island, conducted by two PHS officers and an interpreter. US National Library of Medicine Digital Collections. Between 1892 to 1924, twelve million men, women, and children entered the United States through the Ellis Island Immigration Center, making…
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From poppy to morphine and heroin
JMS Pearce Hull, England Among the remedies which it has pleased almighty God to give to man to relieve his sufferings, none is so universal and so efficacious as opium. – Thomas Sydenham, 1680 The controversial pharmaceutical company Farbenfabriken Bayer AG* had an important role in the development of morphine, heroin, and aspirin,…
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Philip the Handsome and the plague
Nicolas Roberto Robles Badajoz, Spain Figure 1. Tomb of Felipe I and Juana La Loca. Photo by Javi Guerra Hernando on Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Philip of Habsburg was born in Bruges in 1478. He was the son of Maximilian I, the Holy Roman Emperor, and Mary of Burgundy, daughter of Charles the Bold, in…