Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: medical school orientation

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • 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

  • More than skin deep: The spirituality of chronic dermatologic disease

    Josephine McQuillanIndianapolis, Indiana, United States Chronic dermatological conditions such as psoriasis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), systemic sclerosis, vitiligo, hidradenitis suppurativa, and cutaneous lymphoma impose more than physical burdens—they profoundly disrupt patients’ spiritual and emotional lives. These lifelong, visible, and stigmatizing diseases fracture identity and belonging,… Read more

  • Leo Tolstoy: Medical

    Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), one of literature’s greatest novelists, lived through an age of intense change in medicine. Nineteenth-century Russia was a country caught between ancient folk remedies and the rise of modern scientific practice, and Tolstoy himself straddled both worlds. His health was fragile, his… Read more

  • Upton Sinclair

    Upton Sinclair (1878–1968) stands as one of the most influential American writers of the early twentieth century, remembered less for literary elegance than for his unflinching exposure of social injustices. His novels and journalistic investigations, often described as “muckraking,” combined a deep sympathy for working… Read more

  • Plato: Medical

    Plato, the Athenian philosopher of the fourth century BCE, is remembered chiefly for his dialogues on ethics, politics, and metaphysics. Yet embedded within his philosophical works are numerous reflections on medicine and the human body. Living in a time when Greek medicine was undergoing a… Read more

  • Do machines dream of the human hand?

    Elie NajjarNottingham, United Kingdom Imagine this: a machine that can see your heartbeat, read your spine, and calculate your risk of death better than your doctor can. Now ask yourself: does it understand you? Does it care if you live or die? The question is… Read more

  • Shaping science and education: The contributions of Dr. William H. Welch

    Mikaela MelnychukJuhi PatelNoel BrownleeBlacksburg, Virginia William H. Welch was an American physician renowned for his work in pathology, public health, bacteriology, and as the “father of American medical education.”1,2 He was part of the “Big Four” founding professors at Johns Hopkins Hospital and was the… Read more

  • Mencken: Medical

    Henry Louis Mencken (1880–1956), the caustic “Sage of Baltimore,” earned lasting fame as journalist, critic, and satirist. Best remembered for The American Language (1919 and its subsequent expansions), his multi-volume study of how Americans shaped English, Mencken also trained his sharp gaze on medicine, physicians,… Read more

  • Theodore Dreiser

    Theodore Dreiser (1871–1945) occupies a unique and often controversial place in American literature. Best remembered for his unflinching realism, his exploration of ambition, desire, and social constraint, and his massive, detail-laden novels, Dreiser was both acclaimed and censured during his lifetime. His works, particularly Sister… Read more