Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Lead poisoning

  • Lead poisoning—not vanquished

    Humans began to introduce harmful lead into their bodies thousands of years ago, causing symptoms that the Greek philosopher Nikander of Colophon recognized around 2000 BC. The lead entered the body through pipes, paints, gasoline, and countless other applications and was distributed by the bloodstream to the brain, kidneys, liver, and bones. Stored in bones and…

  • “Rich man, poor man”: A history of lead poisoning

    Mariel TishmaChicago, Illinois, United States The history of lead poisoning is the history of human industry. For unmarked time, lead has been around causing abdominal pain, constipation, nausea, and irritability, as well as conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, reduced fertility, and gout.1 Many say that the first description of the symptoms of lead poisoning…

  • Passion, paint, and pain: the journey of Robert Seldon Duncanson

    Mildred WilsonDetroit, MI, USA Lead poisoning (saturnism) has been present throughout history.1 Italian physician Bernardino Ramazzini is considered the first to have made the connection between paint and artists’ health. In his book De Morbis Artificum Diatriba published in 1700, he stated, “The many painters I have known, almost all I found unhealthy. . .…

  • Lead poisoning in Northern Yorkshire

    In Journey Home, John Hillaby describes how during a walk through North Yorkshire he “saw the gaunt shoulders of moors slashed open and poisoned by mining operations, leaving only mounds of spoil and the ruins of abandoned building. The scene is one of desolation, the outcome of the lust for lead, most of it in…