Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: UK

  • Samuel Solly—distinguished surgeon and educator

    Arpan K. Banerjee Solihull, UK   Samuel Solly. Wood engraving, 1871. Credit: Wellcome Collection. (CC BY 4.0) Samuel Solly was born in St. Mary Axe, London, on May 13, 1805. He attended school in Walthamstow, East London, where his contemporaries included the future British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli.1 In May 1822 he became an apprentice to…

  • A classic case of vanity

    Anthony Papagiannis Thessaloniki, Greece   In The Citadel, A. J. Cronin’s quintessential medical novel, the hero, Dr. Andrew Manson, still a junior doctor in country practice, is unhappy with his lowly professional status and wonders how he can improve matters. Christine, his devoted wife, urges him to try and obtain a higher medical qualification, perhaps…

  • Cicely Williams and kwashiorkor

    Sue Reeves Roehampton, London, UK   Figure 1. Dr Cicely Williams in later years on a visit to Ghana (The Wellcome Trust, London). Cicely Delphine Williams (1893-1992) has been described as achieving  the ‘physician’s dream’1 by diagnosing, identifying the cause, and finding a prevention and a cure for a disease.2  The disease she identified was…