Tag: Winter 2024
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Martinus Beijerinck: A co-discoverer of viruses
Philip LiebsonChicago, Illinois, United States As early as 1676, Dutch textile worker Anthony Van Leeuwenhoek, working with an early microscope, was the first to identify bacteria. Because of the size of bacteria, easily seen by a microscope, it was inevitable that bacteria would be discovered by someone. Not so with viruses. Although the smallest bacteria…
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The eight physicians of Shakespeare
Edward TaborBethesda, Maryland, United States William Shakespeare created eight physicians in his thirty-eight plays (Table I)1; seven of them appear on stage, and the eighth, Gerard de Narbon, though deceased, has a medical reputation that forms an important part of one of the plays.2 All eight physicians have functional roles in the plays; in addition,…
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The enigma of mass psychogenic phenomena
Umut AkovaAtlanta, Georgia, United States In the stifling heat of 1518, Strasbourg, France was gripped by a bizarre spectacle: a mass outbreak of uncontrollable dancing. In the city’s streets, men, women, and children danced wildly, their movements frantic and seemingly without purpose. Despite efforts to stop the madness, the frenzy continued unabated, with fear and…
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René Descartes found that Sweden was hazardous to his health
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden René Descartes (1596–1650) was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. He obtained a law degree in 1616 at his father’s insistence, but in 1618 became an officer in the army of the Dutch Protestant States. He is thought to have influenced the work of Isaac Newton and also created the foundations of…
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Hendrick Goltzius (1558–1617): The artist’s hand
James L. FranklinChicago, Illinois, United States In 1588, when Hendrick Goltzius created this striking drawing (Fig. 1) of his deformed right hand, the thirty-year old Haarlem draftsman and engraver was already one of the most influential, well-recognized artists in Europe. In a sense, the drawing was his signature writ large, as evidenced in an anecdote…
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Byzantine Emperor John Tzimisces: Murder, charity, & leprosy
Sally MetzlerChicago, Illinois, United States Few historical figures present singular profiles of good or evil. Often, the confluence of disparate actions molds the fame or infamy of great leaders. A prime example is Byzantine Emperor John Tzimisces (b. 925–d. 976). Though he rose to power through murder, he consistently displayed a marked benevolence towards the…
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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it…
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Dr. William Hall and rickets
JMS PearceHull, England Today, few Western doctors have seen children suffering from rickets, an extremely common crippling scourge of children recorded since the second century AD. Whistler, Boot, and Glisson in the seventeenth century described the clinical features. Its cause was a mystery. In a letter written around 1664, Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682) describing rooks/crows,…
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Nurse Helen Repa takes charge in a disaster
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “It would not be possible to praise nurses too highly.”– Stephen Ambrose, American historian On July 24, 1915, the Western Electric Company, a technology and engineering giant, had arranged an excursion and picnic for several thousand of its employees. Five Great Lakes excursion boats had been chartered to take them to a…
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Salvador Luria and the bacteriophage
Philip LiebsonChicago, Illinois, United States In 1859, the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed that if an organism is changed by environmental stimuli, these changes would be passed on to offspring. This theory was eventually disproven. One important study disproving this concept led to the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for Salvador Luria, Max Delbrück,…