Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Science

  • Improving the ophthalmoscope

    Christian Georg Theodor Ruete (1810-1867) studied in Göttingen, Germany, and became full professor there in 1846 and in Leipzig from 1852 to 1867. He conducted extensive research on eye disorders and made modifications to the ophthalmoscope that Hermann von Helmholtz had invented in 1851, adding a concave focusing mirror that allowed a better view of…

  • Litmus paper and other pH indicators

    To many a physician the word litmus brings back unpleasant memories from medical school, something to do with Bunsen burners, incomprehensible lectures on acid-base balance, or experiments going wrong and exploding in the chemistry lab. Litmus itself is a mixture of organic substances obtained from lichens and used as an acid-base indicator—even in nature, such…

  • The illness of Tom Wedgwood: A tragic episode in a family saga

    John Hayman Melbourne, Australia Tom Wedgwood (1771-1805) was born into the famous pottery dynasty as the third surviving son of Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) and his wife Sarah (1734-1815). Sarah was also a Wedgwood, a distant cousin of her husband.1 Tom was ill for all of his short life, a life recorded by his biographer, Richard…

  • Charles Darwin’s illnesses

    There is a prevalent consensus that most of Charles Darwin’s lifelong symptoms are not attributable to organic disease.1-5 It would seem unlikely that he contracted chronic Chagas disease in South America, because his symptoms began before he ever set foot on the HMS Beagle.2 His various complaints were intermittent, many improved with age, and he…

  • Albrecht von Haller, physiologist and polymath

    Medicine was only one of the many interests of Albrecht von Haller. He was physician, anatomist, botanist, and physiologist, wrote poetry, studied religion and philosophy, and has been called the father of physiology and founder of hemodynamics.1,2 Born in 1708 in Bern, Switzerland, into a family of priests and magistrates, he was a weak and…

  • The Fantus clinic and the blood bank of Chicago

    There was an old four-story building on the campus of Cook County Hospital that had long served as its outpatient department. It had on each floor crowded clinics where patients waited long on hard benches to be seen. It had clinics for high blood pressure, where pills were prescribed, but not necessarily taken; clinics for…

  • The men who standardized temperature measurements

    Einar PermanStockholm, Sweden In the world of medical science the names of people are often associated with the diseases they described (Crohn, Alzheimer, Dupuytren) or the procedures they introduced or pioneered (Heimlich, Valsalva, Romberg). Ranking high among such innovators are those who standardized temperature measurements. They remain household words, as shown by a Google search…

  • The future of medicine

    Hannah WilsonCambridge, Massachusetts, United States “Nobody can be told what the Matrix is, you have to see it for yourself. … Morpheus: If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then ‘real’ is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.” —Neo (The Matrix, 1999) Tomorrow was louder than I had expected, the…

  • Taking the bat out of Hell

    Tajri SalekBirmingham, UK “Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!”― Bram Stoker, Dracula   If you ever trek through the dense undergrowth of the Borneo rainforests, you will eventually get to a clearing where monkey song and colorful epiphytes give way to the gigantic rocky face of Deer Cave. If you…

  • That hospital smell

    Mariel TishmaChicago, Illinois, United States What smells good to you? Do you know why? To many people smell seems of little significance, yet it is a powerful sense, having evolved earlier than the more complex senses of sight and hearing.1, 2 Smell is unique in how it is processed, being first detected by neurons which…