Winter 2013 - Hektoen International

Richard Bright, the father of nephrology

January 30, 2017

Two centuries will soon have passed since Richard Bright, of Guy’s Hospital, London, described the disease that came to bear his name. Within a few years of his original publication, the term Bright’s Disease became virtually synonymous with kidney disease—in England, Germany, France, and the United States. In its full-blown formulation it consisted of four […]

J.I. Guillotin: reformer and humanitarian

January 29, 2017

It is a strange quirk of fortune that the name of a reformer and humanitarian who spent his life in the search of social justice should have become associated with a device used to decapitate people. Yet such was the fate of Dr. Joseph-Ignace Guillotin. Trained in his youth as a Jesuit, he then went […]

Observing the human condition: letters and case reports

January 29, 2017

Thomas J. Papadimos Columbus, Ohio, United States From time to time medical students and residents ask me to mentor them in regard to the exploration of a research topic. My retort is that I do not consider myself a researcher, even though I engage in scholarly endeavors. I tell them that I am a […]

Thomas Linacre: Catalyst for the Renaissance

January 28, 2017

Patrick Guinan Chicago, Illinois, United States “Linacre led a life of devotion to learning, to medicine, and to the interests of humanity.” – William Osler Thomas Linacre (c. 1460–1524) Thomas Linacre, personal physician to King Henry VIII of England, was the founder and first president of the Royal College of Physicians of England. He […]

Borderline

January 27, 2017

William Marshall Tucson, Arizona, United States Huachuca Mountains Photography by J. G. Park When family and friends from back East ask me about the Arizona/Mexico border, two images come to mind: first, an almost unlimited view of blue sky and distant mountains; second, a sick, frightened teenage boy sitting on an exam table in […]

Waiting for the darkness to lift

January 27, 2017

Sheila Klass New York, New York, United States Amsler chart with macular degeneration From early childhood I wanted to be a writer and tell stories. But Mama and Papa, impoverished and struggling to survive at the end of the Great Depression, scoffed at such ideas and insisted I should be enrolled in a commercial […]

Jeremiah Kenoyer’s cancer cure

January 27, 2017

Jonathan D. Lewis The remedies prescribed in the past by many of the learned (and even some unlearned) members of the medical profession were neither evidence-based nor presumably effective (unless the patients got better anyway!). Here are some samples derived from the therapeutic armamentarium of Dr. Jeremiah Kenoyer: Dr. Kenoyer and his wife Elizabeth […]

Doctors and illness in Boccaccio’s Decameron

January 27, 2017

Maria Sgouridou Greece Introduction Giovanni Boccaccio was born in Tuscany in 1313, the illegitimate son of a merchant of Certaldo, who launched him on a commercial career hoping he would follow in his steps. Sent to Naples for that reason, he soon abandoned commerce and the study of canon law, and began instead to […]

Art and medicine in Renaissance Siena

January 26, 2017

Sally Metzler Chicago, Illinois, United States These frescoes by Domenico di Bartolo (active 1420-1444), a stalwart of Sienese Renaissance painters, illuminate daily life in one of Europe’s oldest hospitals, the Ospedale di Santa Maria della Scala. Situated across from the magnificent Gothic Siena Cathedral, the Ospedale was admired in the fifteenth century for its […]

Lavinia Fontana – Ambras syndrome

January 26, 2017

Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man . . . Genesis 27:11 The Ambras syndrome is a rare genetic disorder characterized by an excessive growth of hair over the whole body—especially the face, ears, arms, shoulders, back, and legs—and sometimes accompanied by an overgrowth of the gums. Caused by a defect in one of […]