Tag: Summer 2015
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Frantisek Chvostek, a notable physician
Mas AhmedAnna PayneUnited Kingdom Frantisek Chvostek was an eminent physician widely known for his description of the Chvostek sign, still widely used in clinical practice. Being born as the son of a leather tanner in nineteenth century Moravia was not the ideal start for a boy dreaming to become a surgeon, but that was the problem…
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When did you last let your heart decide?
Sukanya SamChennai, India This woman in labor is not my patient. But the nurses worriedly tell me that the baby’s heartbeat could not be localized. Both handheld Doppler machines had broken down in the labor room unit of our small tertiary hospital. I was the resident on duty. I use the Pinard’s stethoscope, my face…
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Winslow Homer, the eye-surgeon
Zeynel A. KarciogluCharlottesville, Virginia Although the 19th Century American painter Winslow Homer has been hailed as a lover of the land because of his striking watercolors, he also had an unmatched ability of reflecting the mood of the people in his paintings.1 He accomplished these affects by using diverse water color techniques such as sanding,…
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Saint kills parents, erects hospital, and shares bed with a leper
Sally MetzlerChicago, Illinois, United States The Italian Renaissance artist Franciabigio has illustrated a horrendous crime of passion (fig. 1). He depicted the moment when Saint Julian, consumed with false jealously, killed his parents—by mistake! A disguised devil had told Julian that his wife was in bed with a lover, but in fact the couple were…
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Illuminating addiction: Morphinomania in fin-de-siècle visual culture
Natalia VieyraPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States The etchings of Paul-Albert Besnard constitute a gruesome assemblage of nineteenth-century social ills—graphic depictions of the hard lives of women plagued by sickness, suicides, prostitution, infanticide, and poverty. Amid this collection of unfortunate modern imagery, an unusual etching featuring two fashionable Parisiennes stands out (Fig. 1). Who are these elegant…
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Hospital at Arles – Van Gogh, 1889
The famous Impressionist painter Van Gogh has had much personal experience with hospitals and asylums, admitted repeatedly in Arles and St Rémy for episodes of mental illness. Over 150 psychiatrists have variously attributed his mental condition to schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, syphilis, temporal lobe epilepsy, acute porphyria, or heavy metal poisoning—aggravated by malnutrition, overwork, insomnia, alcohol,…
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Down syndrome through the centuries in art
Bojana CokićZajecar, Serbia Though fully described by John Langdon Down in 1862, this syndrome of delayed growth, characteristic facial features, and intellectual impairment has been featured in numerous works of art since antiquity. References BOJANA COKIĆ, MD, is a pediatrician specialized in clinical genetics at the Children’s Hospital in Zajecar, Serbia, where she was been…
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The anonymous Olmec artisan and Velázquez
Alejandro GoyriAzcapotzalcoCarlos Valverde-RMéxico City, México In México, despite long-standing cultural domination by Catholic Spain, significant numbers Pre-Columbian figurines in terracotta, jade, clay, and other materials have survived. Some of these objects clearly represent persons afflicted by some disease. One such small sculpture that has attracted our attention is a delicate jade figurine from the ancient…
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Salimuzzaman Siddiqui
Pradipto RoyIndia Professor Salimuzzaman Siddiqui (1897–1994), the scientist from South Asia who improved our understanding of the pharmacology of medicinal plants, was also a renowned artist influenced by German Expressionism, a literary critic, poet, translator of Rainer Maria Rilke, and musician. These diverse dimensions of Prof. Siddiqui can be traced to the early-twentieth century South…