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Learning, Learning Difficulties and Mental Illness
Today’s effort is a bit of a mish mash. I don’t have the skill to tell a story as ER does, and I don’t have that element of controversy that AG has in his work, and I certainly cannot weave a factually detailed narrative in the way Phoebe does it. All of our brains work in different ways; some of us are academically gifted, others good at solving problems or creating amazing works of art. Some people are just good at making or fixing stuff. But each one of us is good at something. And that is the point of my offering today. That mental health is no bar to…
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The Loony Gas Building
In 1924, five men dropped dead in New Jersey. Not altogether a strange occurrence, but it led to the discovery of a case of industrial poisoning. The bodies were taken to the New York medical examiner’s office to be studied by our old friend, Chuck Norris. This Chuck Norris, as you know from a previous post (http://wp.me/p7RlFb-4z), was not the martial arts specialist, but a badass in a different arena. Dr. Charles Norris was one of the foremost pioneers in the science of forensic pathology. The five men all worked in the Standard Oil Refinery in Bayway, New Jersey in a building nicknamed the Loony Gas Building. It looked like…
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Chuck Norris and Prohibition
No Virginia, I do not mean Chuck Norris the martial arts expert. I am referring to Dr. Charles Norris of Hoboken, NJ who grew up to be New York City’s first medical examiner. Working with toxicologist Dr. Alexander Gettler, the two revolutionized the science of forensic pathology. You can thank them for every CSI show on television today. The two of them worked for the state of New York at the height of prohibition. Coroners in New York was a government job like everything else and handed out like a political appointment. Many were corrupt and charged fees to turn over a body or sold causes of death on the…
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The History of Medicine – The development of early hospitals
Following on from our look at Vesalius and the science of Anatomy, I got the idea for this article from the rulebook of the order known as Camillans, who by the time of its publication had been in service for a little over twenty years in Milan. It is offered as regulation so we can surmise that the contents were rigidly adhered to, by the nursing assistants. The Maggiore hospital in Milan was run by an order of brothers, the Camillans, who offered basic healthcare, interspersed with a substantial amount of religious guidance to the poor. Hospitals such as the Maggiore were designated mainly for the treatment of the poor.…
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Andreas Vesalius and the road to modern medicine
Andreas Vesalius was born Andries van Wesel on the last day of 1514, in Brussels. Now part of Belgium, at the time was part of the Netherlands. His Great-grandfather Jan, grandfather Everard, and father Anders, were all in the medical profession. After earning his degree, Jan taught at the new University of Leuven, Everard was the Royal Physician to the Emperor Maximillian and Anders followed in his father’s footsteps as Royal Apothecary, first to Maximillian, and then Charles V. After enrolling in 1528 and studying the Arts at Leuven for four years, Andreas moved to Paris to study for a career in the Military. Here he developed an interest in…
