Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Indiana

  • The history of polio and cigarettes, and the need for a COVID-19 vaccine mandate

    Daniel GelfmanIndianapolis, Indiana, United States Depicted in this display (Picture 1) at the Science History Institute in Philadelphia are technologic marvels. The first is a box that contained early vials of Dr. Salk’s formalin inactive polio vaccine (with supplementary irradiation). The second is a matchbook, originally invented in the 1890s, that made another technologic marvel…

  • Alice Hamilton: Physician and scientist of the dangerous trades

    Anne JacobsonOak Park, Illinois, United States It is a gritty, frozen day in winter-weary Chicago, one that does little to inspire action; perhaps least of all a frigid walk around the salty, potholed neighborhood. In a month or two a lunchtime walk would be a welcome idea; university students will gather on park benches, and…

  • One woman’s journey for a tuberculosis cure

    Terri SinnottChicago, Illinois, United States “By 1900 . . . one-third of the new-comers to Colorado had come in search of health benefits.”1 My great-grandmother Theresa Brouillette became the “one in three” on October 31, 1902 when she boarded the train in Vincennes, Indiana to journey to Pueblo, Colorado for the fresh air to cure…