Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Physiology

  • Stephen Hales: the priest who pioneered clinical physiology

    JMS Pearce Hull, United Kingdom   As a student I learned about Stephen Hales as the parish priest who first measured blood pressure — in a horse’s leg. The mists of time and waning memory have made his several astonishingly original works unknown to many. Samuel Johnson’s famous dictionary made few references to individuals, but…