Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Queen Anne

  • Samuel Johnson: “The great convulsionary”

    JMS PearceHull, England, United Kingdom This paper reproduces in an abridged form an earlier article by its author1 appraising the evidence that Samuel Johnson suffered from Tourette’s syndrome. Several authors have commented on the many eccentricities of Dr. Samuel Johnson (Fig 1).2 Thomas Tyers, for example, has written as follows: His gestures, which were a…

  • John Arbuthnot: physician, wit, and creator of John Bull

    JMS PearceHull, England, United Kingdom In the light of recent British parliamentary chaos, by chance I discovered this irresistible quotation: “All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies”-John Arbuthnot At a time when in most westernized countries physicians and many others are disenchanted by politicians’ self-aggrandizement and expansionist policies, this little aphorism…