Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Rome

  • She who heals: From goddess to surgeon

    Elie NajjarNottingham, United Kingdom Every incision carries two stories. One is written in anatomy. The other—in myth. In the theatre, the light hums softly above the table, and the air smells of antiseptic and electricity. Beneath the drapes, muscle and bone shimmer like hidden scripture.… Read more

  • A medical and cultural history of nostalgia

    Martine MussiesUtrecht, The Netherlands “The past is not dead. It is not even past.” —William Faulkner Today, nostalgia is described as a warm, bittersweet emotion—a longing for a bygone era, a childhood melody, or a photograph in sepia tones. But for more than a century, nostalgia… Read more

  • Alix Joffroy in Brouillet’s A Clinical Lesson at the Salpêtrière

    Lilian GleaveCork, Ireland While some students of Jean-Martin Charcot like Sigmund Freud and Joseph Babinski achieved enduring fame, the legacy of others is just as foundational. In André Brouillet’s 1887 painting A Clinical Lesson at the Salpêtrière,1 a man stands by the window, his head… Read more

  • Mental illness, conscience, and time in the fiction of Peter Swanson

    Stephen McWilliams Dublin, Ireland In Peter Swanson’s fifth novel, Before She Knew Him, Hen and Lloyd move in next door to Mira and Matthew in West Dartford, Massachusetts. Hen soon suspects her new neighbor of murder, but has trouble convincing people because her own history of… Read more

  • The healing oil of Saint Walburga

    Christopher DuffinLondon, England Born in what is now Devon around 710, Walburga (also spelled Walpurga) was educated at Wimborne Abbey in Dorset, eventually becoming a nun there. In the 740s she joined her brothers, Willibald and Wunibald, who responded to a call from their uncle,… Read more

  • Famous physicians from Geneva, Switzerland

    Avi OhryTel Aviv, Israel Geneva, Switzerland is associated with many famous physicians and scientists. Some have been memorialized in street names, buildings, and institutions. Michael Servetus (ca. 1511–1553), a physician and theologian who lived most of his life in France,1 fled to Geneva after being… Read more

  • The practice of looking inward

    Florence GeloPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States I am a medical humanities educator and museum docent. I use art images to teach clinical skills to family medicine residents. Images grab residents’ attention and simplify emotional learning by making it more engaging and accessible. A painting can transform… Read more

  • Early medicine in Australia

    Eighteen years after James Cook landed in Australia in 1770, the First Fleet arrived, carrying convicts, marines, and physicians. The colony’s surgeons faced overwhelming challenges—starvation, malnutrition, and disease—in a climate much unlike Britain’s. Dr. John White, the principal surgeon, recorded in his journals the “fevers,… Read more

  • The early Medici in Florence

    The history of the beautiful city of Florence dates to the early Middle Ages and is intertwined with that of the remarkable Medici family. Their very name suggests a medical origin, and legend has it that an early Medici was physician to Charlemagne. As early… Read more

  • Procession of honor

    Nancy ChedidCambridge, Massachusetts, United States We all heard the alarm. Strident and jarring. As medical interns in our eighth month of training—our nerves primed, our blood already rising—we steeled ourselves for the announcement that must follow. Was it a cardiac arrest? An ambulance, rushing accident… Read more

  • Isaac Disraeli: Curiosities of Literature and other publications

    Benjamin Disraeli (1766–1848), the famous prime minister of England, described his father Isaac as a great disappointment to his parents. He was a “difficult and rather morose child … pale and pensive, with large dark brown eyes, and flowing hair…timid, susceptible, lost in reverie, fond… Read more

  • Survival of the happiest

    Anthony PapagiannisThessaloniki, Greece It has been said that the impact of whatever happens to us owes 10% to the fact itself and 90% to our own response. Consequently, our happiness—or lack of it—under any circumstances is largely in our hands. This is quite obvious in… Read more