(I was asked to make three short videos on the history of cancer, for the excellent liberal arts college, Gustavus Adolphus, where I spent a year. The theme of their annual Nobel Conference for 2020 was Cancer in the Age of Biotechnology. The videos are available here but if you prefer to read things, here… Continue reading The history of cancer: Part 3
Category: Galen
Hysteria from Hippocrates
(updated 20 September 2019 - and, thanks to Minji Lee of Rice University, a previous edit is available in Korean here) Please can we just get something out of the way once and for all? The disease of 'hysteria' was neither described nor named by Hippocrates. I know The Sun says it was, but it's… Continue reading Hysteria from Hippocrates
Catch! Attacking your enemy with words as well as weapons
A few years ago, I saw images of an object that was new to me twice, in as many days. It was this pictured lead sling-shot from the fourth century BC, found in Athens and now in the collections of the British Museum (object reference no. 1851,0507.11). The first time the image was circulated on… Continue reading Catch! Attacking your enemy with words as well as weapons
The dangers of libraries…
Galen was, to put it politely, a bit of a show-off. Since our main source for Galen is Galen himself, this can make it difficult to work out whether he was as great a physician as he makes out. I think the answer has to be that he was; his second-century AD career, started among… Continue reading The dangers of libraries…
Humoral medicine: a beginner’s guide
How do we know what's wrong with our bodies? We may be aware of symptoms – of pains, twinges, immobility. We can also aware of some of our bodily fluids: our saliva, sweat, urine, menses or semen. Sometimes a fluid which is clearly abnormal emerges from an orifice or a wound. If we seek medical treatment, our blood… Continue reading Humoral medicine: a beginner’s guide
Mistaking histories 