Tag: History Essays
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Medical monuments throughout history
Humanity’s fight against disease finds its expression in monuments that serve as enduring historical markers. They document medical progress and recognize those who devoted their lives to significant advances. Throughout history, civilizations erected temples for sacred healing rituals. The ancient Greeks dedicated temples to Asclepius where patients spent nights in hope of receiving divine guidance…
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The striking parallels between the assassinations of James Garfield and William McKinley
Kevin R. LoughlinBoston, Massachusetts, United States For decades, historians have commented on the coincidences of the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations. They both suffered mortal head wounds and were shot on a Friday. It is speculated that conspiracies were involved in both assassinations. Both men were elected in a year ending in 60 and were succeeded…
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The twelve children of Isabel II
Nicolas RoblesBadajoz, Spain Isabel II de Borbón, Queen of Spain from 1833 to 1868, was born in 1830 in Madrid. She was a daughter of Ferdinand VII and succeeded him to the throne in 1833 shortly after her birth. Each European power presented a candidate for consort of the Spanish queen, and the only one…
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Antecedents of Crohn’s disease
JMS PearceHull, England Crohn’s disease was described on several occasions before Crohn’s seminal publication in the Journal of the American Medical Association1 with his two colleagues in 1932. Many reports of a Crohn’s-like condition have claimed priority. Giovanni Battista Morgagni (1682–1771) of Padua, the pioneer of pathological anatomy, in De sedibus, et causis morborum per…
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The memoirs of Catherine the Great: Forecasting death
Sally MetzlerChicago, Illinois, United States Courageous and voracious in her quest for power, Empress Catherine the Great (1729–1796) dominated the world stage of politics in the second half of the eighteenth century. The daughter of a Lutheran German prince, she traded her homeland, changed her religion, and even her language, sedulously studying Russian and impressing…
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Doctor, physician, leech, and surgeon: A history of names for medical practitioners
Edward TaborBethesda, Maryland, United States Four English words have been used for centuries to refer to medical practitioners: “doctor,” “physician,” “leech,” and “surgeon.” Each of these has unique origins. “Doctor” comes from “docere” in Latin meaning “to teach”1; thus, calling someone a “doctor” is etymologically calling them “teacher.” “Physician” comes from “physis” in Greek, meaning…
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William Heberden
JMS PearceHull, England Virtuous and faithful HEBERDEN, whose skillAttempts no task it cannot well fulfil,Gives Melancholy up to nature’s care,And sends the patient into purer air.—William Cowper in his poem “Retirement” It is difficult to avoid eulogies of the outstanding humane compassion and clinical accomplishments, which are the hallmarks of William Heberden the elder (1710–1801).…
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Headlessness and sensibility
Frank Gonzalez-CrussiChicago, Illinois, United States April 15, 2019, was an ill-starred day. Parisians watched with horror as huge flames broke through the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral in a conflagration that threatened to reduce that precious jewel of gothic architecture to a heap of smoking rubble. A terrifying spectacle, indeed! The famed gargoyles must have…
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Clausoque stomacho: An unrecognized factor in the death of the Elder Pliny
Andrew WilliamsRobert ArnottUnited Kingdom The Elder Pliny (c. AD 23/24–79) was a naturalist and naval commander in the Roman Principate. In addition to his civic and military duties, he spent much of his time investigating, studying, and writing on nature and geography, which he published in his Naturalis Historia. In a letter from the Younger…
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Chevalier Jackson, MD: Patient safety champion
Alan Jay SchwartzPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States Docents guide and educate the visitors at the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia while they view the vast array of exhibits. One exhibit in particular is valuable for its historical message. The Chevalier Jackson, MD, (1865–1958) collection displays more than 2,300 foreign objects retrieved by its…