Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: London Hospital

  • Walter Russell Brain DM FRCP FRS (1895–1966)

    JMS Pearce  East Yorks, England   Lord Brain. From The Royal London Hospital. Source Russell Brain (Fig 1) was born at Clovelly, Denmark Road, Reading, on 23 October 1895, the only son of Walter John Brain, solicitor, and his wife, Edith Alice. A quiet, reserved man of enormous intellect and integrity, he was revered as…

  • Joseph Merrick, “The Elephant Man”

    JMS Pearce Hull, England, United Kingdom   Fig 1. The Elephant Man and Other Reminiscences by Frederick Treves. As a specimen of humanity, Merrick was ignoble and repulsive; but the spirit of Merrick, if it can be seen in the form of the living, would assume the figure of an upstanding and heroic man .…

  • Enfreakment in the medicalization of difference

    Camille Kroll Chicago, Illinois, USA   An advertisement for the Barnum and Bailey circus, of which P.T. Barnum was a cofounder Credit: Wellcome Collection License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) terms and conditions Exalted showman P.T. Barnum was thrilled when he discovered Joice Heth, a severely disabled elderly slave woman. In grotesque detail, he…