Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: wine

  • Wine in disease and health

    In ancient times The history of wine as medicine dates to ancient Egypt and its Ebers Papyrus (circa 1550 BCE), which mentions mixing wine with herbs as an antiseptic and a vehicle for delivering medicines. Physicians in Mesopotamia used wine to dissolve and administer drugs, and Hippocrates (c. 460–370 BCE) recommended it for treating wounds,…

  • “John Barleycorn Must Die”: Addiction attributions in Jack London’s Alcoholic Memoirs

    Ad KapteinBarend FlorijnPim van der MeerLeiden, the Netherlands A thousand words every morning—with iron discipline, Jack London adhered to his writing routine. Later in the day, he would turn to John Barleycorn: beer, wine, whisky, and brandy. His John Barleycorn: Alcoholic Memoirs (1913) tells of his drinking career, which took off after inadvertently sipping his…

  • There is power in the blood

    Mark TanNorthwest Deanery, UK “Carne fa carne e vino fa sango” [Meat makes flesh and wine makes blood]—Italian proverb Laura was covered in blood when the paramedics arrived at her house. Her husband, in a state of shock, had gathered every available towel in the vicinity, but it seemed too little and too late. Blood…