Tag: Sweden
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René Descartes found that Sweden was hazardous to his health
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden René Descartes (1596–1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. He obtained a law degree in 1616 at his father’s insistence, but in 1618 became an officer in the army of the Dutch Protestant States. He is thought to have influenced the work of Isaac Newton and also created the foundations of…
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Women’s equality in the Viking era: The tooth tells the truth
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden Women had “relatively free status” in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark during the Viking Era (700–1000 AD), based on the criteria of economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment.1,2 For instance, paternal aunts, nieces, and granddaughters had the right to inherit property. In the absence of male relatives,…
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Of lice and men
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “By consistently tormenting them / with reminders of the lice in their children’s hair, the / School Physician first brought their hatred down on him / But by this familiarity they grew used to him, and, so / at last, they took him for their friend and adviser.”– “The Poor,” William Carlos…
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Dr. Marilyn Gaston’s lifesaving research
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “[W]e can seize the opportunity to honor the too-often-neglected accomplishments of [B]lack Americans in every endeavor throughout our history.”1– President Gerald Ford, 1976 Marilyn Gaston, MD (b. 1939), grew up in a poor family, with both parents working at low-wage jobs. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in…
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Book review: The Big Necessity: Adventures in the World of Human Waste
Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden Common problem: a water well (foreground) is in close proximity to a pit latrine (brick building at the back), leading to groundwater pollution. Crop of photo by Kennedy Mayumbelo, 2006. SuSanA Secretariat on Flickr, via English Wikipedia. CC BY 2.0. Its title might seem frivolous, but this book is serious,…
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Help from the horseshoe crab
Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden Horseshoe crab. Crop of photo by Didier Descouens, 2009, via Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. The horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus) has not changed in more than 450 million years. It has been called “a living fossil.”1 It is, in fact, not a crab at all, but an arthropod, more closely related…
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Dr. Mikhail Bulgakov and morphine
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “During the years of war and revolution it was hard to find a hospital without morphine-addicted patients.”1– Vladimir Gorovoy-Shaltan, physician specialist in addiction medicine Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov (1891–1940) was a Russian physician, novelist, and playwright. He earned his medical degree from the University of Kiev (now Kyiv) in 1916. In 1919 he…
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International adoption of Greek “orphans”
Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden Child refugees from Macedonia, Greece, 1948. Retouched from the original held by the State Archives of the Republic of Macedonia (DARM). Via Wikimedia. No known restrictions on publication or modification. “He’s only a pawn in their game.”1 – Bob Dylan Between 1950 and 1962, 3,200 Greek children were adopted…
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Drapetomania: A “disease” that never was
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “Slavery is next to hell.” – Harriet Tubman “And before I’d be a slave,I’ll be buried in my grave…”– Oh, Freedom, African-American spiritual Slavery arrived in what later became the United States in 1619. Slaves were used mainly as agricultural laborers. In the US South, that meant working with tobacco and cotton…
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Movie review: Bisturi: La Mafia Bianca
Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden Surgeons operating aboard the USS Harry S. Truman. US Navy photo via Wikimedia. Public domain. “Medicine is power. It makes us giants.” – Dr. Daniele Valotti in Bisturi: La Mafia Bianca Bisturi: La Mafia Bianca (1973) is an understated, well-acted, and critical “doctor movie.” Unlike The Hospital, it is…