Tag: Winter 2023
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Sea sick: Naval surgery and sanitation in eighteenth-century Britain
Melissa Yeo Ontario, Canada Instruments in a Surgeon’s Chest (click to enlarge). From The surgeons mate or military and domestique surgery, John Woodall, 1639. Wellcome Collection. Public domain. Scurvy, yellow fever, and typhus were considered “the three Great Killers of seamen.”1 Hygiene and diet were very poor aboard eighteenth-century sailing vessels, as ships were often…
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The origins of the word “hospital”
Simon WeinPetach Tikvah, Israel According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word “hospital” is derived from the Old French “ospital,” meaning hostel, shelter, lodging, or shelter for the needy. The origin can be traced to the Latin “hospitale” and persists in the modern French “hôpital.” The OED states further: The sense of “charitable institution to…
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Further observations on the centenary of Vegemite
Morris Odell Melbourne, Australia “Vegemite Breakfast.” Photo by Janeen on Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. The articles by doctors James Franklin and George Dunea on Vegemite and Marmite1,2 certainly struck a chord with me. Their observation that Vegemite is a symbol of Australia’s national identity barely does justice to its place in Australian culture and…
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Posthumous reproduction
Ian CookeSheffield, England Family structures ensure that one’s genes are passed down through generations, but that does not always go according to plan. The opportunity may not arise because childhood or adolescent disease, notably cancer but also infections or trauma, may supervene. In 1996, I was doing a clinic late in the afternoon when I…
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Hadrian and Frank’s sign
Vittoria Sabatini Florence, Italy Bust of Hadrian with view of creased ear. Capitoline Museums. Via Wikimedia. Public domain. It is difficult to remain an emperor in the presence of a physician, and difficult even to keep one’s essential quality as man. The professional eye saw in me only a mass of humors, a sorry…
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Thomas Szasz
JMS Pearce Hull, England Figure 1. Thomas Szasz. Crop of photo by Jennyphotos on Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 3.0. “[Mental illness] is a myth, whose function it is to disguise and thus render more palatable the bitter pill of moral conflicts in human relations.” – TS Szasz (1920–2012), “The myth of mental illness”1 …
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The new pandemic
Maite Losarcos Navarra, Spain Photo by Bruno Feitosa on Pexels. It is just another day. The traffic light is red as pedestrians cross the street before you, always in a hurry. At last, the light turns green, but just as you prepare to start the car, the world goes white. People shout, cars honk,…
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What is the point?
Aariya Srinivasan Chennai, India The author (right) performing a procedure. I am yet another young doctor struggling to find a place and purpose in this world. When I was in medical school, all I could ever think about was how to get through the next exam. Most of us do. We sit for days…
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Fraudulent medical research and “zombie articles”
Howard Fischer Uppsala, Sweden A misleadingly scaled pictogram, in which there seem to be more bananas collected than the other fruits. “Pictograph not aligned and different size” by Smallman12q on Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 3.0. A correctly scaled pictogram, in which the fruit icons are of nearly equal size. “Pictograph aligned and similar size” by…
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Book review: The Guru, the Bagman and the Sceptic: A story of science, sex and psychoanalysis
Robert Kaplan Sydney, Australia Sigmund Freud (lower left, seated) and his “Committee,” including Ernest Jones (far right, standing). Becker & Maass, Berlin. Library of Congress, Marsh Agency/Sigmund Freud Copyrights. Via Wikimedia. Public domain. As a cultural icon of the twentieth century, psychoanalysis has loomed large in the public imagination. What makes it unique is…