Hektoen International

01/11/2026

Berengario da Carpi (1460–1530), professor at the University of Bologna, was the most important anatomist of the generation preceding Vesalius. Regarded as one of the founders of scientific anatomy, he was the first to describe the appendix. http://bit.ly/3NpEj9n

01/10/2026

Chevalier John Taylor, an itinerant surgeon and charlatan, would make a minute conjunctival incision in the afflicted eye and tell the patient to keep it covered for a week. By the time the patient noticed no improvement, he was miles away. Read more from Dr. Vincent de Luise. http://bit.ly/3qAExRj

01/09/2026

Please read Dr. Matthew Turner’s account of the Doctor’s Riot, which occurred in 1788 in New York, when a mob of 5000 people, angered at the practice of grave robbing to obtain cadavers for anatomy dissection, stormed New York Hospital and destroyed every cadaver. Physicians and students had to flee for their lives. None were harmed, but the following year, the State Legislature enacted legislation imposing severe penalties for grave robbing. http://bit.ly/4aHSchs

01/08/2026

In 1936, George Orwell went to Spain to fight the fascist government of General Franco. He miraculously survived being hit by a high-velocity bullet that went right through the middle of his neck without injuring the surrounding tissues. Read Dr. J. Franklin's account: http://bit.ly/3qhjuD8

01/07/2026

The Great Plague broke out in 430 BCE, at the onset of the 27-year Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, and lasted three years. It killed about one-third of the Athenians. The disease originated in Ethiopia and reached Athens in 430 BC. Seven diseases have been proposed as causes: influenza, typhoid fever, bubonic plague, smallpox, epidemic typhus, Ebola, and measles. However, the definite cause remains unknown. http://bit.ly/44Wnbmb

01/06/2026

Elizabeth Barrett Browning is perhaps best known for her poem “How do I Love Thee,” addressed to her husband. Did her many years of illness actually enable her writing and subsequent success? Read more by Dr. Elizabeth L. Colledge. http://bit.ly/34p8z2y

01/05/2026

Years ago, I heard the adage: “When you get up in the morning, and you don’t see your name in the Times obituaries, you’re good for another day.” I was young then, with no understanding of the seriousness beneath this seemingly witty remark. Peter H. Berczeller http://bit.ly/4prduDL (Hektoen International, Summer 2018)

Peter H. BerczellerDordogne, France Years ago, I heard the adage: "When you get up in the morning, and you don't see your name in the Times obituaries, you're good for another day." I was young then, with no understanding of the seriousness beneath this seemingly witty remark. As a medicine resident...

01/05/2026

Saint Apollonia was martyred in the year 249 for refusing to renounce her Christian faith. Having had her teeth pulled out and jaw shattered, she threw herself into the pyre. People prayed to her when suffering from a toothache or for protection against disease or pain. Read more by Anna Lantz: http://bit.ly/4aBURJw

01/02/2026

Daniel Defoe’s “A Journal of the Plague Year” is an eyewitness account of the 1665 Great Plague of London. Published in 1722, it stands as the most reliable and fascinating account of the Great Plague. http://bit.ly/3BHcm7L

01/01/2026

In our first issue of 2026, we remember the life and work of Dr. John Michael Schofield Pearce (1936–2025). A prolific author and contributor to our journal since its second year of publication, Dr. Pearce published over 200 articles with us over the course of 15 years. View a handpicked selection at hekint.org.

12/29/2025

The protagonists of many of the Brothers’ Grimm fairy tales are skilled operators, able to reattach a man’s head; use magical ointments; make a young man handsome; revive a sickened king; and bring back a dead princess with magical leaves laid on her eyes. http://bit.ly/2qr96ZS

12/27/2025

Thomas De Quincey, author of “Confessions of an English Opium-Eater,” took o***m for stomach pains and found it enhanced creativity, giving him fantastical visionary dreams. These became nightmares, unbearable terrors perpetually disrupting his sleep. http://bit.ly/37pLBqL