The earliest mention of a black bag.

A black bag, needed especially for home visits, has been used since the time of Hippocrates who, in his treatise "On good manners", gave the first detailed description of a medical bag with guidelines for the required equipment and structure. Ancient Egyptian and Palestinian references also date back at least two millenniums

Pheidias Apollonius (oko 4. stoljeća pr. Kr.), otkrivajući drevnu grčku medicinsko-filozofsku školu otoka Rodosa

The ancient Greek medico-philosophical school of the island of Rhodes was lost in the fog of history. However, the discovery of a stone column dedicated to Pheidias unveiled somehow some parts of its tale. The Island of Rhodes became in the 4th century BC a place of significant process in philosophy and medicine. Having both an Asclepieion and a Medical School with a rich library, the Rhodian Asclepiades transmitted their knowledge to future schools. Pheidias Apollonius was a member of the School of Rhodes, who was celebrated for his practise by the city-state of Athens. His magnitude testified in a way the supremacy of the school that he originated from.Drevna grčka Medicinsko-filozofska škola otoka Rodosa bila je tijekom povijesti zaboravljena. Međutim, otkriće kamenog stupa posvećenog Pheidiasu otkrilo je dijelove priče njezine povijesti. U 4. stoljeću prije Krista otok Rodos postao je mjesto značajnih zbivanja u filozofiji i medicini. Imajući i Asklepijeve hramove i Medicinsku školu s bogatom knjižnicom, Asklepijadi otoka Rodosa prenosili su svoja znanja budućim školama. Pheidias Apollonius bio je član rodoske škole, a grad-država Atena slavila ga je zbog njegova djelovanja. Njegova je veličina na neki način svjedočila nadmoći škole od koje je potekao

Alexandre Yersin's explorations (1892-1894) in French Indochina before the discovery of the plague bacillus.

Alexandre Yersin, the great French discoverer of yersinia pestis, was a keen explorer of unknown lands. At the age of 30, a member of the French Colonial Health service, he set off to fulfil his intimate dream and explore other continents. For almost two years and three long expeditions, he journeyed through widely unknown regions in the province of the French Indochina, in southeast Asia, territories of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. This article presents vignettes from his explorations. During his difficult travels, he carefully planned and noted his itineraries; designed new routes, but also observed and recorded sociodemographic and environmental data and unidentified diseases. The immature science of late 19th century geography had the strength to allure such an influential medical figure and place him among the early medical geographers. His journeys, observations and recordings brought to Yersin great experience, and he made his most important scientific contributions after he had concluded his explorations

Infection, contagion and causality in Colonial Britain: the 1889-90 influenza pandemic and the British Medical Journal.

The influenza pandemic of 1889 was the first truly global flu outbreak in scope. Characterised by high morbidity and low mortality, it spread rapidly across Europe and the rest of the world along trading routes. It reached mainland Britain in December 1889. The responses of medical practitioners in Britain and the British colonies to the pandemic were heavily featured in the British Medical Journal and reveal a confusing picture around causality, contagion and infection. Cases from the colonies (Cape Town, India, Australia, Samoan Islands, Hong Kong) as presented in the journal are explored in an attempt to reconstruct the mainstream medical belief of the time. The evidence sadly shows a lack of confidence in contagionism, almost complete absence of monocausalism and a vague picture of the epidemic constitution. Original case studies from colonial medical officers as well as editorials triggered a debate in the pages of the BMJ. In this context, the journal succeeded in playing a key role in recording the first thoroughly documented attack of influenza. In a world that was only learning to be interconnected, the BMJ became the point of reference for the British medical establishment, which ranged from London to Scotland and from Africa and India to Oceania

The “torpedo” effect in medicine

The natural electrical phenomena fascinated humans since antiquity. The electrical discharges produced by the torpedo fish were highly appreciated among ancient physicians as Hippocrates, Scribonius Largus and Galen and were prescribed for headache, gout and prolapsed anus. In the medieval period, torpedo’s electrical properties were attributed to occult powers, while Renaissance physicians’ and scientists’ studied the anatomy and mechanical nature of the provoked shock paving the way for the discovery of the electrical nature of torpedo’s activity and the evolution of electrotherapy

The eminent Italian scholar Pietro d’Abano (1250-1315) and his contribution in anatomy

Pietro d’Abano is recognized as a leading figure in the early history of European medical faculties. Translator and scholar, he translated and commented in Latin the doctrines of Greek and Arab physicians and philosophers having an ambitious attempt, to reconcile the opposing views of Arab medicine and Greek natural philosophy. Moreover he was one of the first to claim, three centuries before Harvey, that the heart is the source of blood vessels

Anatomist: a philosopher, scholar, surgeon, naturalist and alone, as depicted in the 18th century by Joseph Wright

The anatomist, since the beginning of human dissections, had always performed the most difficult task in medicine, the study of the structure of the human body. Religious and scientific barriers throughout the centuries made anatomists become isolated by both the scientific and civilian community. Anatomist rapt in cadavers and skeletal remains was usually depicted as an unsociable being, performing his task in secluded places