By James Labosier and John Rees A new archival collection, The Mark M. Ravitch Papers, 1932-1989, is now available at the National Library of Medicine for those interested in the history of surgery, surgical techniques, and pediatrics. An internationally recognized pediatric surgeon, medical educator, author, and historian, Mark Mitchell Ravitch was born on September 12, […]
Tag Archives: surgery
February
12
A Decade of Phenomenal Progress in Heart Surgery
posted by Circulating Now
By Susan Speaker In March of 1959, Dr. Michael DeBakey testified in the U.S. House of Representatives about the phenomenal progress made against cardiovascular disease since 1949. Ten years earlier, diseases of the heart and blood vessels consigned millions to lives as invalids, and very often to an early death. These included children born with […]
December
03
“Wrapped in flesh”: Views of the body in East Asian Medicine
posted by Circulating Now
Circulating Now welcomes guest blogger Yi-Li Wu. Dr. Wu is a Center Associate of the Lieberthal-Rogel Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan, and a Research Fellow of EASTmedicine, University of Westminster and an organizer of the recent workshop Comparative perspectives on body materiality and structure in the history of Sinitic and East […]
September
24
Photography of the Invisible and Its Value in Surgery
posted by Circulating Now
By Tal Golan Originally published in Hidden Treasure: The National Library of Medicine, 2011. Dr. William J. Morton (1845–1920) hurried his book The X-Ray: Or, Photography of the Invisible and Its Value in Surgery into print in September 1896, a mere nine months after Wilhelm Röntgen made public his discovery of the new ray. The news […]
July
22
The “Wound Man” in Two Recent Acquisitions
posted by Circulating Now
By Margaret Kaiser The “wound man” was a most popular image, especially in early printed books. Pierced by a variety of weapons, he demonstrated the possible wounds and injuries a physician might be called on to treat. Two of the Library’s recent sixteenth century acquisitions have examples of the “wound man.” The first is from […]
June
06
Dr. Swan writes from Normandy, 1944
posted by Circulating Now
By Susan Speaker “Operation Overlord”—the invasion of France’s Normandy coast that began on June 6, 1944—was the largest amphibious military operation in the history of warfare, and the turning point for the Allied Forces in World War II. Among the thousands of troops that waded onto the beaches, there were over forty surgical teams from […]
April
04
A Civil War Surgeon’s Books Rediscovered
posted by Circulating Now
By Jill L. Newmark “…the sight of his uniform stirred the faintest heart to faith in the new destiny of the race, for Dr. Augusta wore the oak leaves of a major on his shoulders.” On the eve of the anniversary celebration of the signing of the D.C. Emancipation Act, April 16, 1863, the crowd […]
