Medical Historical Library

Meet our first Simbonis Intern!

Emma Brennan-Wydra

We are delighted to share a report on the work of our first Simbonis intern, Emma Brennan-Wydra, who joined the staff in the Medical Historical Library at the end of May 2018.  Emma offered the following glimpses into her life and experiences as our intern.

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Detail of an illuminated page from a manuscript titled Kitāb al-Qānūn fī al-ṭibb by Persian physician Avicenna (980-1037). The manuscript was copied in 1597, in medium sized naskhi script. Harvey Cushing purchased the manuscript from from Dr. Saʻīd Kurdustānī. Like our current medieval manuscript project, the digitization of our Arabic and Persian Medical manuscripts was made possible by a generous grant from the Arcadia Fund. This beautiful page was recently requested for reproduction by a German publishing house. #kitabalqanun #manuscriptillumination #illuminatedmanuscript #avicenna #ibnsina #naskhi #harveycushing #arcadiafund #historyofmedicine #histmed #medhist #librariesofinstagram Today we are celebrating the life of Doris Wethers, class of 1952, who was the third African-American woman to graduate from the Yale School of Medicine. Her research in sickle cell anemia increased life expectancy for the disease. With Drs. Yvette Fay Francis-McBarnette and Lila A. Fenwick she co-founded the Foundation for Research and Education in Sickle Cell Disease. In 1958, Wethers became the first black attending physician at St. Luke's Hospital in New York, where she later became director of the comprehensive sickle cell treatment clinical and research center until retiring in 1999. Doris Wethers passed away this January. #doriswethers #womeninmedicine #womeninscience #blackhistorymonth #sicklecell #sicklecelldisease #sicklecellanemia #yalemedicine #historyofmedicine #medhist #histmed We’re highlighting another one of our recently digitized medieval manuscripts! This beautiful medieval medical manual, titled Liber ad Almansorem, was translated by Girardus Cremonensis from the original Arabic work authored by Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā Rāzī, also known as Rhazes. Dr. Cushing purchased the manuscript from Wilfrid A. Voynich in 1929. The Arcadia Fund provided the funds for us to make these freely available online through our account on Internet Archive (also available via the Medical Heritage Library). Happy Friday! #manuscript #medievalmanuscript #renaissancemanuscript #harveycushing #wilfridvoynich #rhazes #alrazi #medhist #histmed #rarebooks #librariesofinstagram According to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Unit “the toxins on the skin of frogs presents huge opportunity for new drug discovery.” Historically, frogs and toads have been important to the field of medicine. Unfortunately, frog and toad populations have been in decline for decades. The Peabody Museum’s Frogwatch citizen scientist program, which is currently seeking volunteers, is trying to better understand this decline. We recently came upon this beautiful hand-colored illustration from the 1877 issue of Atti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei. #frog #frogs #amphibians #toxins #tropicalresearch #drugs #frogwatch #naturalhistory #historyofmedicine #historyofscience #medhist #histmed #peabodymuseum For International Day of Women & Girls in Science we are celebrating Gueh Djen (Edith) Hsiung (1918-2006), pioneer in the field of diagnostic virology. Hsuing spent almost her entire career at Yale and the affiliated Veterans Medical Center in West Haven. In 1960, she was appointed the first director of the Virology Laboratory at Grace-New Haven Hospital. Her textbook, Diagnostic Virology, appeared in 1964. Through her intensive diagnostic virology courses and workshops in the United States and in Taiwan, she trained generations of researchers. She developed new laboratory methods of cell culture in order to find, identify, and study the behavior of viruses. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she worked on antivirals for HIV. The G. D. Hsiung Papers, available at the Yale’s Medical Historical Library, contain correspondence, scrapbooks and photographs, laboratory notebooks, teaching material, drafts of articles, handwritten notes, lectures, and other items of Gueh Djen (Edith) Hsiung. #edithhsiung #internationaldayofwomenandgirlsinscience #womeninscience #virology #diagnosticvirology #viruses #virus #hiv #antivirals #archives #archivesofinstagram #medhist #histmed We found this fanciful skull in an article denouncing dueling from the 1843 issue of The illuminated magazine. From the text: “Perhaps in the whole history of the follies of mankind, not one stands out so pre-eminently conspicuous… than the absurdity of arranging differences of opinion by the whiz of a bullet or the lunge of a rapier.” Engraving by artist and political reformer William James Linton (1812-1897). #dueling #duel #illuminatedmagazine #follies #skull #engraving #woodcut #woodcutwednesday #librariesofinstagram #rarebooks