Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Menelik II

  • Denis Diderot: Medical

    Denis Diderot (1713–1784) stands among the most influential figures of the Enlightenment. Best known as editor of the Encyclopédie and as a philosopher, novelist, and art critic, he was also deeply engaged with medical knowledge, both as a personal concern and as an intellectual frontier.… Read more

  • Aristotle: Medical

    Aristotle (384–322 BCE), the student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great, is remembered primarily as a philosopher, yet his contributions to medicine and biology are equally significant. In an age when philosophy, science, and medicine were not rigidly separated, Aristotle sought to understand… Read more

  • Medical terminologies inspired by the animal world

    Saty Satya-MurtiSanta Maria, California, United States In the transitional decades from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, restrictions against human cadaveric dissection gradually dissipated. This gave Italian and French anatomists an opportunity to break away from rigid dogmas and incorrect Galenic (Galen of Pergamon, 129–216 CE)… Read more

  • The practice of medicine at the time of the Ramayana

    The Ramayana, one of India’s great epics, was composed by the sage Valmiki. The epic consists of about 24,000 couplet verses in Vedic and Classical Sanskrit, divided into 500 chapters. Its themes include the war between the god king Rama while in exile in the… Read more

  • Napoleon III, last emperor of France

    The history of 19th century Europe centers largely on the name Napoleon Bonaparte. The original bearer of this name, the Corsican “little corporal”, rose from artillery officer to Emperor of France and ruler of most of Europe. He single-handedly extinguished the embers of the French… Read more

  • Deutsches Apotheken-Museum, Heidelberg

    Christopher DuffinLondon, England If you find yourself in Heidelberg, you would be well advised to tackle the invigorating walk up to the sixteenth-century castle on the eastern margins of the old city, with its commanding views over the Neckar Basin, or to take the more… Read more

  • Ulysses S. Grant in health and disease

    Ulysses S. Grant was the principal commander whose efforts put an end to the Civil War. During his two terms as president after the war, he worked to bring about peace and reconciliation between the former opposing parties. There have been 134 biographies published of… Read more

  • Amedeo Modigliani: Sculptor, were it not for lung disease

    Henri ColtIrvine, California, United States In late 1908, a Parisian dermatologist named Paul Alexandre introduced a struggling twenty-four-year-old Jewish-Italian artist named Amedeo Modigliani to a friend with whom the young Italian would soon develop a close relationship, the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1867–1957). Brancusi found… Read more

  • The Santorini caldera and climate change: Modern explanations for the plagues of Egypt

    Kevin LoughlinBoston, Massachusetts, United States In one of the most famous Bible verses of the Old Testament, the Lord instructs Moses to tell Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is… Read more

  • Hilary Koprowski and the polio vaccine

    Eugene KucharzKatowice, Poland Hilary Koprowski (Fig. 1) was born on December 5, 1916, in Warsaw, Poland. At the age of five, he was already playing the piano, and at the age of twelve, began studying at the Warsaw Conservatory of Music. He graduated from Mikołaj… Read more

  • The strange death of Nana

    Nicolas RoblesBadajoz, Spain “Nana was all covered with fine hair; a russet made her body velvety…”—Emile Zola, Nana The French writer Émile Zola (1840–1902), considered the leading representative of literary naturalism in his time,1 observed people and contemporary events in his novels. Zola never ceased… Read more

  • Inns or coffee houses?

    JMS PearceHull, England Humans throughout history have resorted to drugs to stimulate or tranquilize their moods and feelings. Most were of herbal origin, the choice determined by their effects, local availability, and trading. But social factors and politics also played a part. Soon after the… Read more