Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: The Argyll Robertson pupil

  • Douglas Argyll Robertson and his pupils

    JMS PearceHull, England In my student days, the Wasserman reaction (WR), though not specific, was performed almost routinely in patients on medical wards to detect syphilis. Several direct and serological tests of varying sensitivity and specificity have now replaced the WR. Since reaching a historic low in 2000 and 2001, the incidence of syphilis has increased…

  • Joseph Babinski of the Babinski Sign

    In 1848 populist revolutions swept across Europe, in Germany, France, and Italy—and also in Poland, where an uprising to gain independence from Russia was ruthlessly suppressed. To escape the repression that followed, Aleksander and Henryieta Babinski fled to France. Their son Joseph was born there in 1857, in Paris—not in Poland or even in Chile…