Grand Master Perellos : rheumatic fever and syphilis

It is not given to everyone to have his maladies made the subject-matter of a published book. Not so Grand Master Perellos (1697 ­ 1720) who lived to see a 104-page volume about his recalcitrant fevers printed in his lifetime.1 It all started with a letter written on February 15, 1708, by Malta's protomedico (Chief Government Medical Officer) Dr Arcangelo Grech2 at the instance of the Grand Master, addressed to the most eminent physician in Sicily, indirectly asking for guidance about the defiant fevers the Grand Master had fallen victim to. The letter, I believe, bears translation and reproduction.peer-reviewe

Petitions by medical practitioners 1632-1732

The very humble suppliche or petitions addressed by subjects to the Grand Masters constitute a major source of information about everyday life in Malta at the time of the knights. Seventeen large volumes of them have been preserved,1 ranging from the year 1603 to the end of the Order's rule. Rarely do they deal with matters of great historical import, but rather document private matters which have, at most, a social relevance.peer-reviewe

Grand Masters in the Cinquecento : their persona & death

The manuscript records of the Order of Malta understandably turn out to be rather stingy with information about the health and psychological profile of individuals. Unless illness, (e.g. insanity), hampered the proper discharge of their official functions, health remained a matter of eminently private domain. Similarly, the printed histories, foremost among all Giacomo Bosio's truly monumental and detailed chronicle of the Order from its foundation in Palestine to the year 1571, have very little about the medical problems and the passing away of dignitaries, including Grand Masters. Of course, this reticence or restraint were not peculiarities of `Maltese' recorders and historians. A `non-subjective' approach to chronicle responded closely to the ethos of the age. Why write history? The scope was to teach, in a manner faithful to truth and to theology, and to mould the spirit through learning, abstracting from personal interpolation and researches that pandered to purely subjective curiosity. One could say that, to this limited extent, history then respected privacy more than it does today.peer-reviewe

Reforms in the Holy Infirmary, 1680

The Holy Infirmary, at least in theory, bore witness to the very raison d'etre of the Order of St John ­ the care of the infirm. If the knights came to be known as the Hospitallers, it is because the care of the sick became their historical mission through the centuries, a mission they never abandoned.peer-reviewe

The persona and deaths of Six 16th century Grand Masters of the Order of St. John

In a previous issue of this Journal, I focused on the personal and psychological traits of four sixteenth century Grand Masters of Malta, perhaps the most popular, or, anyway, the better known. I believe it would be equally rewarding to investigate the physical and mental set-up and health of the other six, who may have left a more indistinct impact on the course of Maltese history, but are nonetheless net contributors to the formation of our nationhood.peer-reviewe

Medical Digressions in a Maltese novel

A rather mysterious and atypical manuscript preserved in the National Library under wraps of massive oblivion, eventually saw the light in 1929. 1 It recounts at considerable length and substantial detail the desolate life of Gabriello Pulis and his misadventures in Malta and through the Mediterranean. Pulis, an irresistible magnet for misfortune and calamity, strove hard to prove that, for some elected ones, if anything could go wrong, it would.peer-reviewe

Doping

Since centuries ago, man has always tried to find ways to improve human performance whilst suffering less in doing so. People who were thought to be the best were preferentially fed better diets and given treatments that were considered to be beneficial to their performance.peer-reviewe

Landmarks in Maltese Constitutional History 1849-1974

In this final chapter the author would like to thank Professor Frendo and the members of the panel for providing a context to the historical events that were planned to commemorate through the issuance of five two-euro coins between this year and 2014. Their erudite presentations have enriched our knowledge about a very important phase in Malta 's millennia! History during which our ancestors took decisive steps to assert their commitment to the principles of democratic governance, culminating in Statehood as an independent republic. The author also thanks his colleagues, led by the Director of Financial Services, who not only worked tirelessly to prepare this symposium, but who were also developing a new line of business for the Bank in the shape of a profit centre for the sale of numismatic products. This activity is intrinsically linked to one of the Bank's main functions, namely its responsibility for the issue and management of the nation's currency.peer-reviewe

The use of I.C.T. in the teaching of kinematics at post-secondary level – a case study

Περιέχει το πλήρες κείμενοThis paper is meant to probe into the effectiveness of I.C.T. as a teaching resource. An experimental method was adopted as the research design of this study and two groups of students i.e. a test and a control group participated. The students were college students (16-18 year olds) who were studying Physics at Intermediate level. All students did a pre-test in order to establish equivalence of groups and to identify the different misconceptions that they have in the area under study - Kinematics. Two course layouts were designed for the test and control group. The test group was taught using simulations and video graphing as a teaching aid. The control group were taught using the lecture method and some simple demonstrations. Both courses ran parallel and addressed the misconceptions identified. A post-test was carried out to check for differences in achievements between the groups. Analysis of the results provided the raw material to identify how effective was the use of I.C.T. as a resource in the teaching of kinematics. The paper tries to identify the possible reasons for these results