The Basiliad, likely the first hospital in history, was founded by St. Basil in Caesarea, Capadocia, cca. AD 365. Staffed by professional physicians and clergy from the adjoining church, it housed lepers, other sick, travelers, and strangers. bit.ly/3Xo1Lv1

The Gilyarovsky hospital, founded 1808 was the first psychiatric hospital in Moscow, initially called a madhouse, with only eighty beds. Conditions still rather primitive, with overcrowding, no privacy, and insufficient cleanliness. bit.ly/2OqMPXg

She speaks twenty-seven languages and can’t say no in any of them (Dorothy Parker) It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house. Proverbs 21:9

She speaks twenty-seven languages and can’t say no in any of them (Dorothy Parker) It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than with a brawling woman in a wide house. (Proverbs 21:9)

For much of his career, Giorgio Giulio Clovio, the greatest miniaturist and manuscript illuminator of his time, was pursued by ill luck - in war and in peace, yet lived to a ripe old age, living “well attended and in perfect peace” and dying in 1578. bit.ly/4bLWqlV

Thomas Mann’s novel The Magic Mountain describes how doctors treated tuberculosis at the beginning of the 20th century. His protagonist, Hans Castorp, intended to spend three weeks in a sanatorium in the Swiss mountains but ended up staying there for seven years,

In 1903, Willem Einthoven developed the first practical ECG, and in 1924, he received the Nobel Prize. He also invented the terminology P, QRS, and T for the EKG deflections. The term “Einthoven’s Triangle,” the imaginary equilateral triangle centered in the chest and indicating

With her husband Albert and their nine children, Victoria symbolized a new, confident age of connection and progress throughout Europe. But through her children, she spread the bleeding disorder hemophilia to almost every royal court in Europe. bit.ly/3wRJH1D

Sarah (Sairey) Gamp of Charles Dickens’ Martin Chuzzlewit was a fat woman with a husky voice. Her face, the nose in particular—was somewhat red and swollen—and it was difficult to enjoy her society without becoming conscious of a smell of spirits Her bottle, she insisted, was

British physicians believed in resuscitating sailors who had suffered drowning accidents by introducing smoke into their intestines, using bellows to propel the smoke, a small chamber to burn tobacco, and tubing to administer the enema bit.ly/2ODLnRz

“A man may be very entertaining and instructive upon paper, and exceedingly dull in common discourse… There is very seldom anything extraordinary in the appearance and address of a good writer” (Matt Bramble in Humphrey Clinker by Tobias Smollett)

Down syndrome through the centuries in art: Though fully described by John Langdon Down in 1862, this syndrome of delayed growth, characteristic facial features, and intellectual impairment has been featured in numerous works of art since antiquity. bit.ly/4cW0SOz

Childhood is an important time of learning and development. Play is the work of childhood, affecting sensorimotor, cognitive, emotional, moral, and social development. Children have always played. Throughout history, children’s games have changed with the social environment. In

Art and history: Brescia is home to many art treasures, including churches, a picture gallery, and a medieval museum. It is also considered one of Italy's most beautiful and ancient cities, with a history that spans about three thousand years.

The parallel paths of opera and medicine: In 1597 when Jacopo Peri composed Dafne, the first opera ever written, sporadic epidemics of bubonic plague still struck his city of Florence. Venice was also suffering greatly. It had been visited by the plague twenty-two times, and

When John Keats coughed, a small spot of blood appeared on the sheet. He said, “That is blood from my mouth. Please bring me the candle and let me it. I know the color of that blood; it is arterial blood. I cannot be deceived. It is my death warrant. I must die.

The ballet Giselle may be one of the most sublime examples of the ballet art form. Giselle is a simple peasant girl with a weak heart who has fallen in love with Albrecht, a recent arrival in her village. But Albrecht is a duke and is already engaged. The shock of this discovery

Juan Valdeverde de Amusco wrote a book on anatomy so successful that it went through 16 editions in four languages. Of its 42 plates, Valdeverde composed 15 and copied (but often altered) most others from Vesalius, saying he admired him greatly but used his illustrations to avoid

Although malaria remains a major illness in many parts of the world, indigenous forms of art portraying signs of this disease are rarely encountered. An exception is the Peruvian mask which, in its yellow color, represents jaundice resulting from malaria. In endemic areas,