Tag: Moments in History
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Women’s equality in the Viking era: The tooth tells the truth
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden Women had “relatively free status” in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark during the Viking Era (700–1000 AD), based on the criteria of economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.1,2 For instance, paternal aunts, nieces, and granddaughters had the right to inherit property. In the absence of male relatives,…
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The death of the Serenissima (1797)
To approve [Napoleon’s] demands, the Great Council was called for Friday 12 May. From soon after sunrise the people of Venice had been congregating in the Piazza, just as they had done countless times before in the city’s history. In the past, however, they had usually assembled for purposes of celebration. Never before had they…
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Limping into victory
Avi OhryTel Aviv, Israel There were people with disabilities in history who were not “limping into oblivion,”1 but rather paved their way to accomplishments and victories.2 The emperor Claudius, who may have had cerebral palsy or dystonia, reigned in the first century AD. During that time, the Roman Empire expanded greatly. He decreed that if…
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Relieving pain by injection
Until the middle of the nineteenth century, doctors had considerable difficulty in relieving the pain of their patients in that they could only administer medicines by mouth, enema, or suppository. The notion of injecting drugs into a vein had been stimulated by the attempts of Christopher Wren, Richard Lower, and Jean Baptiste Denys to transfuse…
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Tobacco: Dr. Monardes’ miracle cure
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “[Tobacco] is an hearb of great affirmation for the excellent vertues that it hath.”1– Nicolás Monardes, MD (translated by John Frampton, 1577) “A custome loathsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs…”2– James I of England, 1604 Nicolás Monardes (1493–1588) earned his bachelor’s degree…
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The death of Pierleone da Spoletto
The Umbrian Renaissance physician Pierleone da Spoleto (c. 1445–1492) was a polymath, “one who has studied much” and many different subjects.1,2 Sometimes also called Pier Leoni, he descended from an aristocratic family in Spoleto and is believed to have studied in Rome and obtained degrees in medicine and astrology. He was appointed academic professor in…
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Caterina Sforza of Forli: Warrior and medical alchemist
Sally MetzlerChicago, Illinois, United States Fearless, beautiful, and cunning, Caterina Sforza (1462–1509) fought heroically to defend her fiefdoms of Imola and Forli until the bitter end. Even the celebrated and infamous Renaissance strategist, Niccolò Machiavelli, remarked that he had met his match in Caterina, and confessed he could not outwit her. Historians laud her as…
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From candles and swallowing swords to gastroscopy
George DuneaJames L. FranklinChicago, Illinois, United States In 1806, Philipp Bozzini of Mainz invented an instrument designed to explore the interior of the human body that he called the “Lichtleiter” (light conductor). It had a candle or an oil lamp as a source of light, and he used it to look at the ears, nose,…
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Because of their race
Ceres Alhelí Otero PenicheMexico City, Mexico When in 1948 the National Party came to power in South Africa, the all-white government put into effect the racial segregation laws known as apartheid. The non-white population was forced to live, work, and spend their free time in separate neighborhoods. This divided the country’s population into four main…