The Medical Almanac Galen The Medical anac A Calendar ofD ates of Significance to the Profession of Medicine, In cluding Fascinating Illustrations, Medical Milestones, Dates of Birth and Death of Notable Physicians, Brief Biographical Sketches, Quotations, and Assorted Medical Curiosities and Trivia Pasquale Accardo, MD . . S pringer Science+Business Media, LLC e 1992 The Springer Science+Business Media New York Origina1ly published by Humana Press Inc. in 1992 Softcover reprint of the hardcover l st edition 1992 AlI rights of any nature whatsoever reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system. or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying. microfilming. recording. or otherwise without written permission from the Publisher. Brief selections from this work appeared in Missouri Medicine, 83 (1986) in a section entitled Tltis O/de in MediCilI History. 10 9 8 7 6 5 43 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title: Accardo, Pasquale J. The medical almanac: a calandar of dates of significance to the profession of medicine, including fascinating illustrations, medical milestones, dates of birth and death of notable physidans, brie! biographical sketches, quotations, assorted medical curi06ities and trivia I Pasquale Accardo. 233 + vii pp. 15.24 x 22.86 cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-4612-6727-0 ISBN 978-1-4612-0365-0 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4612-0365-0 1. Title. IDNLM: 1. Medidne. 2. Physidans -biography. WZ 112 Al69m] RI04.A331991 61O--dc20 DNLM/DLC for Library of Congress 91-20882 CIP Preface Now you Merely Acknowledge calendric resonances, the anniversary view of histmy, and catalogue them by Alphabetical Priority. -John Barth, Letters The history of medicine is a microcosm for the whole of human history. Its advances parallel progress in science and philosophy, civilization and ethics. Its pageantry mirrors all the triumphs and follies of human history. Osler commented that "the really notable years in the annals of medicine are not very numerous."l And indeed most calendars and alma nacs record but few medical milestones. The present collection has been made over a period of years. Its method is that of a commonplace book: "What have we to do but to set down this holy man's name in the calen dar of saints?"2 The persons herein represented include pre dominantly physicians, anatomists, and barber surgeons, with some few pharmacist-apothecaries and alchemists, an occa sional chemist, biochemist, or physiologist, an infrequent nurse, and a rare medical school botany professor of materia medica. The milestones cover the dates of great discoveries, first (and often contested) operations, publications, and pres entations. The feast days of holy patrons of those suffering various diseases are recalled, along with the dates of birth (and sometimes baptism), of medical graduation, and of the deaths of famous physicians. (It will be remembered that, with the exception of the feast of the Birth of Saint John the Baptist, saints are celebrated on the dates of their death-their birth into eternal life.) These entries are accompanied by briefbiog raphies, anecdotes, and quotations when relevant. Eponyms are noted with the recognition that many of the physicians so honored often had a much deeper impact on the history of the profession. All specialties, all time periods, all national- v vi Preface Table I Mark Akenside Pio Baroja Gottfried Benn Andre Breton Robert Bridges Thomas Browne Mikhail Bulgakov Thomas Campion Hans Carossa Louis CHine Anton Chekhov George Crabbe Michael Crichton A.J. Cronin Thomas Dooley Arthur Conan Doyle Georges Duhamel Richard Austin Freeman Oliver St. John Gogarty Oliver Goldsmith Johann Christian Gunther Oliver Wendell Holmes John Keats Carlo Levi Moses Maimonides Bernard Mandeville W. Somerset Maugham Giovanni Meli Silas Weir Mitchell Axel Munthe Max Nordau Walker Percy Fran~ois Rabelais James Ross Johann Scheffler Friedrich von Schiller Arthur Schnitzler Tobias Smollett Eugene Sue Frederick Treves Henry Vaughan William Carlos Williams John Wolcot ities are represented. Physicians' contributions to art, litera ture, law, philosophy, sport, cartography, geography, and ex ploration, inventions, physics, mineralogy, natural science, and biology are recognized. Epidemics, patients, and quacks pro vide some filler. The inclusion of some items may appear debatable, but can usually be defended.3.4 It is of interest to note how many physicians (might have) had literary careers (Table 1) and how few excelled in the plastic arts (Table 2). Is there a neuropsychological explanation for this?5 This is mainly a browser's choice, with the only persis tent criteria being medical importance and human interest (and a slight bias toward the editor's personal heroes),6 I have attempted to steer a firm middle course between the narrow minded hagiography of August Com te' s calendar of the saints of positivism in his Catechismepositivisteand the unpublished, Table 2 Thomas Bartholin Jerome Cardan Robert Fludd John Hill Henry Hicks Arthur Keith Henry Pemberton Hugh Williamson Thomas Young Preface vii but widely known Almanach antisuperstitieux of Jean-Antoine Nicolas Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet,7 on the one hand, and the facile humor of Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar (Mark Twain) and Armour's Almanac, 8 on the other. Crescit eundo; the compiler welcomes corrections and additions to this essay. What is reflected here is a particular view of the nature of medicine and the essence of true physicianhood. The "scientific hunters" make their discoveries on a particular date, usually early in their lives. The practitioners and teachers, long-lived "humanistic shamans," may not even be remembered by dates of birth and death, but only by a "floruit." The present history focuses more on individual human beings than on global trends or the evolutionary movement of civilizations. Although the profession combines aspects of both science and art, medicine is viewed predominantly as an art.9-11 and the main artistic achievement of every physician is his or her own life. Now let us praise famous physicians. References 1. Osler W: Harvey and his discovery, In: McGovern]p, Roland CG eds. The Collected Essays of Sir William Osler, voL I, The Philosophical Essays, The Classics of Medicine Library, Birmingham, 1985, p. 340. 2. Erasmus D: The apotheosis of Caprio, In: Jackson WTH, ed, Essential Works of Erasmus, Bantam Books, New York, 1965, p. 220. 3. Accardo PJ: Dante and Medicine: The Circle of Malpractice. Southern Medi calJourna~ 1989; 82: 624-628. 4. Carter RB: Descartes' Medical Philosophy: The Organic Solution to the Mind-Body Problem. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1983. 5. Accardo PJ, Haake C, Whitman BY: The learning disabled medical student. Journal ofD evelopmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 1989; 10: 253-258. 6. Accardo PJ: William John Little (1810-1894) and cerebral palsy in the 19th century. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 1989; 44: 56-71. 7. Jaki SL: The Road ofS cience and the Ways to God, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1978, pp. 145-150. 8. Armour R: Armour's Almanac, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1962. 9. Maull N: The practical science of medicine. J Med Philos 1981,6:165-182. 10. Munson R: Why medicine cannot be a science.J Med Philos 1981, 6:183-208. 11. Accardo PJ: Diagnosis and Detection: The Medical Iconography of Sherlock Holmes. Rutherford, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1987. To Barbara Whitman, PhD teacher therapist clinician researcher vocalist musician collaborator friend For having a sense of humor to appreciate the humor in these assorted curiosities about "real" doctors. January 2 January January, month of empty pockets/ ... Let us endure this evil month, anxious as a theatrical producer's forehead. -Colette,Journey for Myself January 1 291 BC Aesculapius was brought to Rome from Epidaurus at the insistence of the Sibyl line Books after a plague in 293 BC. Leg end told how the sacred snake itself chose the Insula Tiberina for its abode, and there on January 1, 291 Be, a tem ple was dedicated to Aesculapius. Aesculapius 1788 Posthumous publication ofJ ohn Hunter's last work, A Treatise on the Blood, Inflam mation, and Gun-Shot Wounds. 1820 On 1stJanuary, 1820, a general conven tion consisting of delegates from differ ent parts of the United States was held in Washington for the purpose of for mulating a National Pharmacopoeia. John Hunter b.1849 Alois Epstein, a Bohemian pediatrician, first described Epstein's pearls-small white epithelial masses on the newborn palate. 1907 Pure Food and Drug Act goes into effect. 3