Tag: Spring 2023
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Beets
George DuneaChicago, Illinois, United States All but the most lionhearted would experience a sinking feeling on finding they have passed blood in their urine. With Sir Walter Scott they might wonder if changing the vowel A to I means they would soon be making earth. They would be greatly relieved to find out that the…
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Esperanto and the babble of dreamers
Simon WeinPetach Tikvah, Israel L.L. Zamenhof (1859–1917) was an ophthalmologist and philologist from Białystok, then in Russia, now Poland. In the 1880s, he created a new language called Esperanto. The word Esperanto comes from the Latin, spiro, which means “to breathe.” Spiro also means one who hopes. Thus, loosely translated, Esperanto means “where there is…
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Dr. Ugo Cerletti invents electroconvulsive therapy
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “Is it even possible, is it logical, is it reasonable for us to treat people who have lost their mind by making them live amongst others who have lost theirs too?”1– Ugo Cerletti, M.D., 1949 Dr. Ugo Cerletti (1877–1963) trained as a neurologist and had a special interest in the gross and…
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Xenotransplantation on Mount Kalilash
Devanshi PatelRajkot, Gujarat, India According to Hindu mythology, Mount Kalilash in the Himalayas is the abode of Lord Shiva and his consort Parvati, along with their children Kartikeya and Ganesh.1 The latter son is the elephant-headed god of beginnings, intellectuals, bankers, scribes and authors.2 Many stories are associated with Ganesh’s birth and upbringing. In one…
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The two ends of the stethoscope
Jill KarNew Delhi, India Author’s note The theme of this poem is the decline of doctor-patient relationship in the modern medical setting. Through the expression of unsaid feelings, this poem outlines the thoughts of a patient (stanza 1) and a doctor (stanza 2) in the setting of a health consultation on a busy outpatient day…
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Blindness and visual sensory distortion in Thomas Bewick’s woodcuts
Stephen MartinThailand The artist and naturalist Thomas Bewick (1753–1828) was one of the Enlightenment’s leading polymaths. He wrote groundbreaking books on birds1 and mammals,2 as well as an autobiography, which is absorbing and charming. This Memoir of Thomas Bewick3 is a delightfully detailed window on the eighteenth century and Regency periods, focusing on his ordinary…
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The physician’s guide to The Garden of Earthly Delights
Nora Fisher-CampbellPortland, Oregon, United States I have returned repeatedly to The Garden of Earthly Delights as a strange and fascinating representation of the human experience. The triptych, painted in the late fifteenth to early sixteenth century by Hieronymus Bosch, depicts a fever-dream vision of Eden, Earth, and the Last Judgement.1 On the left panel, God…
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Book review: The Story of the Brain in 10 1/2 Cells
Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, United Kingdom The brain is arguably the most complex organ in the human body, containing more than 100 billion neurons. In this new book, neuroscientist Richard Wingate sets out to describe different types of brain cells, weaving together neuroscience with stories of scientific pioneers who made major contributions to elucidating how the…
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Walter Charleton (1619–1707)
Walter Charleton was primarily a polymath but also a distinguished medical man. He read widely; wrote on religion, physics, physiology, psychology, geology, zoology, and botany; and is the listed author of thirty printed books and four manuscripts.1 One of his biographers mentions, without further comment, that the future physician made a sudden entry into this…
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Body Scan 2023
Dome WittCalgary, Alberta, Canada After being injured in a collision, the artist took to exploring the experience through a series of paintings. A CT scan taken before the repairing of the artist’s hip serves as the base of one of these paintings, entitled Body Scan 2023. Silver foil highlights fractures in the artist’s pelvis, spine,…