Tag: Josephinum Medical Museum
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Nathaniel Hawthorne: Medical
Although Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864) was not a physician, his writings often concern themselves with medicine and disease. His childhood was shadowed by illness. He injured his leg at age nine and had a long period of recovery and convalescence, being confined indoors for nearly two… Read more
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Mark Twain (1835-1910): Medical
Mark Twain, born Samuel Clemens, is remembered predominantly for creating Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, the two boys whose adventures have delighted generations of readers. He rose from humble beginnings to being considered one of the funniest people of his time. Twain was a premature… Read more
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Serendipity
JMS PearceHull, England Serendipity has featured as an important factor in many discoveries and investigations in both medicine and science. Artists too, often refer to happy accidents that appear in their paintings. Amongst many well known medical examples of serendipity are: Fleming’s discovery of penicillin;… Read more
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George Gissing: The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft
At the end of the nineteenth century, George Gissing (1857–1903) was one of the three most important English novelists of his time. Born in the north of England, he studied at the precursor of the University of Manchester, fell in love with a young prostitute,… Read more
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Decades in the trenches
Robert PietrzakWest Haven, Connecticut Seventy-six years have weathered this frame, yet nineteen still smolders—unyielding flame. In jungles of memory where nightmares reside, vines of the past knot heaven to hell’s side. The therapy chair groans beneath my weight, Dr. Martinez speaks—calm, measured, straight. “Trauma,” “processing”—echoes rebound, off bunker-thick walls where silence… Read more
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Henry Vandyke Carter (1831–1897)
JMS PearceHull, England There is no better-known medical textbook than Gray’s Anatomy. No doctor’s interest can fail to be aroused by someone whose student career begins with the triennial essay prize of Royal College of Surgeons of England. Thus began the all too brief career… Read more
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Till Eulenspiegel: The mischievous trickster
Like Don Quixote, Till Eulenspiegel is a literary character who has never ceased to entertain generations of readers. He was first featured in medieval stories in which he ridiculed the foolishness and hypocrisy of the wealthy nobles, clergy, merchants, and in particular the impostor physicians… Read more
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Jean Racine (1639–1699), tragedian of body and soul
In the second half of the seventeenth century, Jean Racine established himself as one of the two most accomplished composers of tragedy in the French language. Sharing this distinction with the earlier Piere Corneille, he drew his subjects mainly from mythology and Roman history, describing… Read more
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Voltaire: Medical
François-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire (1694–1778), remains one of the Enlightenment’s most brilliant and biting voices. He is remembered as a satirist, philosopher, and champion of reason, but less often as someone deeply engaged with the medical questions of his time. Yet Voltaire’s life,… Read more
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On extracampine hallucinations and Alexander Selkirk
Avi OhryTel Aviv, Israel In what may be justifiably described as the “third man factor syndrome,” some people may experience the hallucination that another person is present with them in the room. The long-term war correspondent Sebastian Junger described such a phenomenon when, during an… Read more
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Johannes Mesuë’s electuary of gems
Christopher DuffinLondon, England Gemstones such as sapphire, ruby, emerald, and topaz are complex silicate minerals. Their distinctive and intense colors, hardness, durability, and rarity suggested medicinal value to medieval scholars, famously summarized in medieval lapidary texts, or books about such stones. In the early 15th… Read more