Browsing: Health/Medicine

A Brief History On July 12, 100 B.C., Julius Caesar was born by what many believe to have been the first Caesarian section. Digging Deeper Today, it is generally assumed that Caesar was not born by Caesarian section, as C-sections were only performed on dead women in Roman times, and there are many accounts of Caesar’s mother, Aurelia, being alive well into Caesar’s adulthood. So, how did this surgical procedure come to be associated with one of the greatest generals in recorded time? This belief has certainly been around a long time; and many Western names for the procedure include…

A Brief History On July 7, 1550, chocolate is thought to have been introduced to Europe from the Americas.  In the following article, the author will list the foods native to either the North or South American continents that had the most significance on a culinary scale when finally exported to Europe, Asia and Africa. These will be in no particular order of ranking but merely alphabetical. Honorable mentions go to the grains/seeds: Quinoa and Amaranth. This is because these two foods are gaining in popularity due to growing health-food trends that involve going gluten-free and vegan, however, they have…

A Brief History On June 13, 1893, President Grover Cleveland was only a few months into his second term when he went to his doctor to complain of soreness and a rough patch in his mouth.  The doctor determined the President had a tumor in his mouth and removal of the tumor would be the appropriate medical action. Digging Deeper Removal of the tumor would entail removing a large piece of Cleveland’s upper jaw, but secrecy was the word of the day and the surgery took place on a yacht sailing off Long Island to keep it from the public. …

A Brief History On January 31, 1747, the London Lock Hospital opened as the first clinic specifically for the treatment of venereal diseases! Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find many diseases today are identified as “venereal” or sexually transmitted by a variety of bacteria, viruses, and protozoa. Back in the days when science had not yet discovered the microscopic causes of disease, Europeans thought mainly of syphilis when addressing the subject of venereal disease.  Although it is not proven beyond a doubt, many scientists think that syphilis was unknown in Europe until infected sailors among the crews of Christopher Columbus’s ships…

A Brief History On December 28, 1895, the world of medicine and airport security were forever changed when William Roentgen published his paper describing the production of X-rays. Digging Deeper Digging deeper, we find Roentgen, a German physicist, having invented a machine to produce electro-magnetic radiation emitting X-rays. Sometimes called Roentgen Rays in honor of their discoverer, his research and careful documentation led to Roentgen receiving the first Nobel Prize for Physics. Quickly seizing the opportunity his research afforded him, Roentgen developed a way to pass X-rays through an object and onto a target material to create a picture of…