Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: The psychological impact of facial injury in the First World War: outcomes from the Queen’s Hospital Sidcup

  • Fossilized tick-borne diseases

    José de la FuenteCiudad Real, Spain Ticks and tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease and alpha-gal syndrome are a growing burden for human health worldwide.1-3 Alpha-gal syndrome is an emerging allergy associated with tick bites and mammalian meat consumption. It is a potentially life-threatening immunoglobulin… Read more

  • “Brace, brace, brace!”—“Are we all going to die?”

    Hugh Tunstall-PedoeDundee, Scotland, United Kingdom Flying to and from Scotland as an airline passenger years ago sometimes involved small aircraft. The smallest from Edinburgh to Belfast at one time was so small that a hostess got on at departure, wriggled between the passengers handing out… Read more

  • Caterina Sforza of Forli: Warrior and medical alchemist

    Sally MetzlerChicago, Illinois, United States Fearless, beautiful, and cunning, Caterina Sforza (1462–1509) fought heroically to defend her fiefdoms of Imola and Forli until the bitter end. Even the celebrated and infamous Renaissance strategist, Niccolò Machiavelli, remarked that he had met his match in Caterina, and… Read more

  • A doctor writes to God

    Nolo SegundoUnited States My friend, a retired surgeon,tells me he would like to believein an almighty and loving God,but claims science, annoyingly,keeps getting in the way—soI ask why, why is that? After all, one is of this world,the world of physics, of math,the world of… Read more

  • BCG: The vaccine that took thirteen years to develop

    Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “Perseverance, secret of all triumphs.”– Victor Hugo Tuberculosis of the lungs (“consumption”) was one of the two main causes of death (along with pneumonia) at the start of the twentieth century.1 In the US, pulmonary tuberculosis killed 194 persons per 100,000 in… Read more

  • Book review: Sir Thomas Browne: The Opium of Time

    Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, UK Sir William Osler was a great admirer of Sir Thomas Browne’s 1643 Religio Medici, one of his favorite books and on his recommended reading list for medical men. Browne influenced many writers, such as Samuel Johnson, WG Sebald, Jorge Luis Borges,… Read more

  • Tumultuous crescendos and tranquil decrescendos in Ravel’s work

    Michael YafiChaden YafiHouston, Texas, United States The world is commemorating the 95th anniversary of Maurice Ravel’s Boléro. The composer continues to be one of the most enigmatic classical music personalities. Born in 1875 in Ciboure, France, he displayed from an early age a keen interest… Read more

  • Ignaz Troxler (1780–1866): Swiss polymath, physician, philosopher, pedagogue and politician

    Jonathan DavidsonDurham, North Carolina, United States Ignaz Paul Vital Troxler (1780–1866) was an influential figure in Swiss medicine, philosophy, education, and politics, yet is scarcely mentioned in the English-speaking world. Even in Switzerland, this controversial and outspoken individual remains neglected. Brief Biographical Sketch and Events… Read more

  • Noma: The disfiguring, devouring disease

    Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “Maladie dévoreuse de beauté et de vie”1(“An illness devouring both beauty and life”)– Edmond Kaiser, founder of the humanitarian organization Fondation Sentinelle Noma (also called necrotizing ulcerative stomatitis, gangrenous stomatitis, or cancrum oris), is a disease of extreme poverty. It progresses rapidly… Read more

  • Biblical leprosy: A dermatologist’s perspective

    Harry GoldinSkokie, Illinois, United States The descriptions of “leprosy” in chapter 13 of the Book of Leviticus in the Hebrew Bible are complex and difficult to understand. This confusion has led to misleading modern English translations of biblical “leprosy” such as “malignant,”1 “contagious,”2 and “virulent”3… Read more

  • Did Scythian men feminize themselves by drinking mare’s urine?

    Andrew WilliamsLeicester, United Kingdom The Enarees were nomadic Scythian soothsayers who lived within the areas bounded by the rivers Danube, Bug, Don, and Dnieper, and who Herodotus in the 5th century AD asserted were effeminate.1,2 Unfortunately the Scythians did not leave any written records. Hippocrates’… Read more

  • Sanitariums as cure for consumption

    The institutions variously called sanitariums (from sanare, “to cure”) or sanitariums (from sanitas, meaning “health”) became all the rage around 1850. They were especially popular with the upper classes, as exemplified in Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain by the young Hans Castorp, who decides to… Read more