Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Walnut Cove

  • The wild Wolf and neurosyphilis

    Nicolas RoblesBadajoz, Spain Von den Bergen sacht hernieder,Weckend die uralten Lieder,Steigt die wunderbare Nacht,Und die Gründe glänzen wieder,Wie du’s oft im Traum gedacht. Gently down from the mountains,Waking the ancient songs,Rises the wonderful night,And the grounds shine again,As you often thought in your dreams. —“Nachtzauber”,… Read more

  • Shingles

    JMS PearceHull, England The physician Aretaeus of Cappadocia in the second century AD described a painful skin eruption that typically followed a band-like or “girdle-like” pattern, which corresponds to the dermatomal pattern of shingles.1 The Greek word herpein means “to creep,” and zoster (Latin cingulum)… Read more

  • Book review: Florence Nightingale’s Rivals: Nursing Through the Crimea

    Arpan K. BanerjeeSolihull, England Florence Nightingale is best remembered as the founder of modern nursing. She opened her famous nursing school at St Thomas’ Hospital, London, in 1860. Her principles of nurse training were based on her experiences in the Crimean War a few years… Read more

  • The mystery of the hoofbeats

    Edward TaborBethesda, Maryland, United States All physicians get phone calls from time to time from friends asking for medical advice. I received one of these calls from a pharmacologist I knew. A few weeks prior, his wife had begun having memory loss and difficulty walking.… Read more

  • Witch trials: The intersection of midwifery and gendered persecution

    Lara SheehanCork, Ireland Oppressionist behavior towards women was seen during the witch trials of the 16th and 17th centuries, where the illogical execution of thousands of innocent women occurred.1 Midwives were among these executed women for the role they played in being with and caring… Read more

  • Hulusi Behçet (1889–1948)

    Umut AkovaAtlanta, Georgia, United States Hulusi Behçet is remembered for describing the rare disease that now bears his name. Born on February 20, 1889, in Istanbul, he moved to Damascus at a young age. He attended a French-speaking elementary school, learning French, Latin, and German.… Read more

  • Soap and bathing in ancient and modern times

    Humans have used soap since time immemorial. Yet bathing was not always a high priority, not even at the elegant court of Louis XIV, where noblemen relied largely on using perfume. “I am coming home, do not wash,” wrote Napoleon to his wife Josephine, concerned… Read more

  • Early accounts of meningitis

    JMS PearceHull, England Few illnesses convey more fear of a swift, fatal outcome than does meningitis. Cerebrospinal meningitis was once known as spotted fever, cerebrospinal fever, typhus cerebralis, or meningitis epidemica. In Greek meninx, or in Latin meningeus, is a membrane. In English literature, meninges appeared in 1543:… Read more

  • TB or not to be?

    Bhaumik KamdarMumbai, India Every time I sneeze, I am distrustedWith every bout of cough, everyone is disgustedI am subjected to exclusion, and otherizationEverything is nothing but societal authorization Thanks to Mycobacterium that has invaded meSociety has secluded meI am nothing but a name in the… Read more

  • Two medical pioneers named Whipple

    Two medical pioneers, both sharing the surname Whipple but not related to one another and working in distinct fields of medicine, made a lasting impact on the treatment of two diseases that in their time were universally fatal. Dr. George Hoyt Whipple (1878–1976) was a… Read more

  • Lillian Wald (1867–1940): Pioneer patient advocate and public health nurse

    Barbara ShawChicago, Illinois, United States “Reform can be accomplished when attitudes are changed.”1—Lillian Wald In the teeming tenements of New York City’s Lower East Side in the 1890s, Lillian Wald, a young nurse, came to the aid of a young immigrant girl whose mother was… Read more

  • Alice Fisher: A Nightingale in Philadelphia

    Karen EgenesCentennial, Colorado, United States In 1883, the board of the Guardians of the Poor, the administrators of the Philadelphia almshouse, faced a dilemma. The institution, founded in 1732 and often referred to as “Old Blockley,” was a combination of an almshouse for paupers, workhouse… Read more