Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: sailors

  • Psychoactive substances and mermaid sightings at sea

    Martine MussiesMaastricht, Netherlands Since the earliest long-term sea voyages, from the Age of Exploration to the eighteenth century, sailors have been known to report seeing mermaids—enigmatic creatures with human-like upper bodies and fish-like tails. These accounts have long been a subject of fascination and speculation. Could these sightings have been influenced by the use of…

  • The forgotten menace of long naval patrols

    Richard de GrijsSydney, Australia Heavy manual labor was part and parcel of the daily routine on eighteenth-century sailing ships. Although simple mechanical aids such as capstans (winches), blocks, and pulleys reduced some of the burden, shipboard life relied largely on enormous physical strain and exertion. Lifting heavy casks, or tubs of seawater for washing the…

  • Bloodletting and the treatment of menstrual disorders in early modern England

    Rhianna ElliottCambridgeshire, United Kingdom Bloodletting, also known as “phlebotomy,” was a common preventive and therapeutic medical practice in early modern England. Its theoretical foundation was in humorism, the ancient medical system where bodily health depended on the balance between four fluid humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile). Yet even amongst lay people with…

  • Pig-tail probe

    Zeynel KarciogluCharlottesville, Virginia, United States I read with great interest Dr. Stanley Gutiontov’s article entitled “Pig man: pigs in medicine from Galen to transgenic xenotransplantation” in Hektoen International, and it reminded me of an amusing “pig-related” experience I had years ago. The twisted tobacco leaves that sailors smoked in the 1700s resembled the curly tail…