Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Santiago Ramon y Cajal

  • Charles Darwin’s illnesses on HMS Beagle

    JMS PearceHull, England Charles Darwin (1809–1882) for much of his life was subject to illness and periods of invalidity. Their cause has been widely debated.1 Darwin joined the second voyage of HMS Beagle in December 1831. Under Captain FitzRoy, its prime purposes were to study… Read more

  • Along the Silk Road in Central Asia

    The historical Silk Road was a vast network of land and sea routes that connected China with the West for over 2,000 years, facilitating the exchange of silk, spices, gold, and also ideas until the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Its origins have been attributed… Read more

  • Francisco Javier de Balmis and the first international vaccination campaign

    Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, England Smallpox was a human scourge until the early nineteenth century. It had caused almost half a million deaths in Europe alone when Edward Jenner introduced vaccination into clinical practice in 1798 with his famous publication “An enquiry into the causes and… Read more

  • Roma (Gypsies): History and medical aspects

    Historical research indicates that the Roma people (also referred to as Romani or the pejorative “gypsies”) originated in India, contrary to earlier beliefs that they came from Egypt. Linguistic studies have unequivocally confirmed their language’s Indo-Aryan roots and similarities to Sanskrit, Hindi, and other languages… Read more

  • John Berryman, poetry, and addiction

    Alan BleakleyPlymouth, United Kingdom “Starts again always in Henry’s ears / The little cough somewhere, an odour, a chime,” writes American poet John Berryman (1914–1972) in “Dream Song 29.”1 From a life of heavy drinking that served to mask the pain of chronic depression arose… Read more

  • Eugenics and the perfusion pump: Lindbergh’s controversial medical legacy

    Matthew TurnerHershey, Pennsylvania, United States Following his successful solo trans-Atlantic flight in the Spirit of Saint Louis in 1927, aviator Charles Augustus Lindbergh became an international celebrity. He was Time magazine’s very first Man of the Year in 1927, and was seen as an American… Read more

  • Siberia medical

    Siberia is a vast expanse of forests, tundra, and remote settlements that covers 5.1 million square miles of land and stretches from the Urals to the Pacific and from the Arctic to the southern steppes. It encompasses roughly 77 percent of Russia’s territory but remains… Read more

  • The great hospitals of Paris

    Few cities have shaped Western civilization as profoundly as Paris, the “city of light”. For over 500 years, until the mid-twentieth century, Paris was the undisputed center of European culture, encompassing art, literature, and philosophy. Historians trace its early history to 451 CE, when Saint… Read more

  • Early descriptions of polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis

    JMS PearceHull, England The accurate depiction of polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) in the 1940s is relatively recent. By contrast, its close relative giant cell arteritis (GCA) was clearly described in 1890. Their early descriptions were separate and the recognition of their overlap did not appear until… Read more

  • The enduring legacy of William Stewart Halsted

    Michael NeffDallas, TexasMariam BanoubJulius BonelloPeoria, Illinois Late at night, nearly as exhausted with worry as the patient suffering severe abdominal pain before him, William Halsted made an executive decision. “Mother,” he pleaded, “you have an infected gallbladder and you need an operation.” After more reassurance,… Read more

  • The history of medicine in Malaysia and Singapore

    The history of medicine in Malaysia and Singapore spans centuries of healing activities derived from indigenous traditions, colonial influences, and scientific advances. Long before the colonial era, local communities practiced herbal medicine using ingredients derived from the tropical rainforest’s flora, using methods passed down through… Read more

  • The London teaching medical schools

    London’s hospitals have played a key part in medical history. The earliest ones were not medical schools, but religious or charitable institutions established to serve the poor, infirm, and pilgrims. St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, founded in 1123 by Rahere, an Augustinian monk and former courtier of… Read more