Henry Ingersoll Bowditch and Oliver Wendell Holmes: stethoscopists and reformers

Two Bostonians, Henry Ingersoll Bowditch (1808-1892) and Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894), went to Paris for advanced medical training and came home ardent disciples of Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis, leader of the French school that derived its eminence from expert auscultation and careful correlation of bedside and autopsy findings. Both Bowditch and Holmes became leaders in 19th-century American medicine. Bowditch, a successful practitioner and prolific medical writer, wrote the first important American text on physical examination and became our first specialist in pulmonary disease. He pioneered in the public health movement, was a charter member and later president of the American Medical Association, and was an abolitionist and an advocate for equal rights for women in medicine. Holmes left practice to become a medical educator. As Dean of Harvard Medical School, he tried unsuccessfully to admit white women and free black men to the school. Although his greatest fame came as a man of letters, Holmes considered himself first a physician and medical educator, and was justifiably proud of his definitive study, "The Contagiousness of Puerperal Fever" (1843). Today, Bowditch and Holmes are little appreciated as pioneers and reformers, but we remain in debt to them both.     

Advances in the study of benthic marine algae since the time of E. M. Holmes

E. M. Holmes's major interests in the marine benthic algae were, like those of most of his contemporaries, taxonomic and floristic; he was much occupied with the acquisition, for areas of the British Isles, of new records of species known already elsewhere. Records established by Holmes and his contemporaries have increasingly been subjected to examination by means of more recent laboratory and field techniques. Data thus gathered continue to reveal connections between taxa hitherto considered distinct; it is mainly this revealed capacity for structural and reproductive variation, at many levels, in the benthic marine algae that has led to amendment by posterity of earlier taxonomic opinions. Even in the areas widi a long tradition of benthic marine phycological study, there remains much to be understood; apart from the need for more workers and for yet more sophisticated research techniques, the biotic situation is itself dynamic. Nevertheless, the importance of the ground work achieved and herbaria assembled by Holmes and his contemporaries (especially Batters) cannot be denied.     

Selling research, and it pays

While conceding that time has proven him wrong in doubting public acceptance of the idea of the "science shops," first sponsored by the Free University of Amsterdam to provide access to technical expertise for customers who could not afford more orthodox services, the author remains convinced that the somewhat analogous concept of "fee for service research," which offers experimental medical treatments for those who can afford to pay for them, is wrong. Such research has been justified as a private sector enterprise that provides patients who are unresponsive to standard forms of therapy with scientifically sound experimental options. However, the objections that such work might be kept secret and not contribute to medical knowledge, and that therapy would be available only to the rich, remain unanswered and pose an insurmountable obstacle to the support of this idea.     

Vygotsky's Nonclassical Psychology

Nonclassical psychology has laws that differ from those in classical psychology. Nonclassical psychology uncovers the specifically human course of development and views people as self-regulated individuals. Vygotsky's writings reveal his lifelong engagement with the psychology of art, which for him was the essence of the new nonclassical psychology. The author looks at "play" and "positioning" as two key units in understanding nonclassical psychology.     

Garland Allen,Thomas Hunt Morgan,and Development

Garland E. Allen’s 1978 biography of the Nobel Prize winning biologist Thomas Hunt Morgan provides an excellent study of the man and his science. Allen presents Morgan as an opportunistic scientist who follows where his observations take him, leading him to his foundational work in Drosophila genetics. The book was rightfully hailed as an important achievement and it introduced generations of readers to Morgan. Yet, in hindsight, Allen’s book largely misses an equally important part of Morgan’s work – his study of development and regeneration. It is worth returning to this part of Morgan, exploring what Morgan contributed and also why he has been seen by contemporaries and historians such as Allen as having set aside some of the most important developmental problems. A closer look shows how Morgan’s view of cells and development that was different from that of his most noted contemporaries led to interpretation of his important contributions in favor of genetics. This essay is part of a special issue, revisiting Garland Allen's views on the history of life sciences in the twentieth century.     

Elementary systems of medicine

The beliefs about causes of disease, orientations to medical problems, and the treatment practices of relatively small and elementary societies are reviewed and analyzed. Selected published reports of this problem area of ethnomedicine serve as source material. An attempt is made to induce generalizations which will serve as a possible baseline for studies dealing with related material pertaining to more advanced societies.The author would like to express his appreciation of the assistance given him by Mrs Victoria Manning.     

2009 Society for Medical Anthropology Conference: The Intersection of Anthropology and Medicine as Portrayed in Paul Farmer’s Photo Album

Paul Farmer, physician, anthropologist, and author, spoke at the 2009 Society for Medical Anthropology Conference at Yale University in September.Medical anthropology is a very young field, only approximately 50 years old. The underpinnings of medical anthropology have been around for some time, but as a discipline, the burden to ensure that it continues to flourish and grow belongs to future generations of students and scholars. However, future generations of medical anthropologists cannot carry the field forward unless they examine the teachings of previous teachers and scholars. By narrating his own story, just as he so frequently narrates the intricacies of Haiti [1], Paul Farmer, physician, anthropologist, and author of Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor [2], displayed a parallel between the stories of his own past with that of medical anthropology.At the 2009 Society for Medical Anthropology Conference at Yale University in September, Farmer began his aptly titled presentation, Photo Album, with a discussion of his introduction to medical anthropology while an undergraduate at Duke. He stumbled upon medical anthropology quite by chance as an ambitious pre-med who was interested in taking every course that had the word “medical” in its title. He credited many people, including Patricia Pessar, Arthur Kleinman, and Linda Garro with aiding the development of his ideas and perception of the world and teaching him to use medical anthropology not only in passive observation, but in the active practice of medicine. You “don’t have to be a faculty member to teach,” stressed Farmer. Some of the most important lessons to learn come from the poor, to whom few listen.Farmer believes that listening can form the work we do. He honed his listening skills, which are used in anthropology in an ethnographic context, after his first night in an emergency room, when he saw that many minor cases were brought in solely because individuals had no other outlet for treatment. Being a good listener allowed Farmer to understand the full impact of a 1981 slavery case involving migrant workers in Florida. It was this skill of listening that enabled Farmer to understand and tell Haiti’s story, as well as understand the intricate web that exists between privilege and privation. Just as the line between medical anthropology and primary care is often blurred, the “bracing connection between privilege and privation” becomes even more apparent the longer one spends studying both extremes.This is a vantage point Farmer was particularly susceptible to, given his trips from Haiti to Harvard and back again. Listening to his patients in Haiti and the United States would allow Farmer to draw parallels of inequality and injustice that exist for the impoverished in both places. The only difference between the United States and Haiti is that eventually many impoverished individuals in the United States will wind up in somewhat adequate medical facilities. In the story of global economics, Farmer said, “Good things get stuck in customs and bad things get traded freely.” A practicing physician may easily note that inequalities between the rich and poor are not unique to the United States or to Haiti, but what, Farmer asks, can anthropologists say about this division?The cursory glance through Farmer’s photo album ended with a picture of friends whom he fondly termed “the structural violence mafia” and anthropological ideas regarding unequal access to health care. While at first, the portion of anthropology that dissects the structures of violence seems isolated from medical anthropology, those structures of violence institute the vast inequalities that cause medicine to seem inaccessible. Farmer also stressed that “how we think about social theory influences global health.” Work in Haiti taught Farmer firsthand about the phenomenon of blaming the victim [3]. To understand this entrenched system of structural violence fully, an intensive bio-social analysis must be undertaken. Structural violence results in a system in which the victims are blamed, empowering those who suppress the victim while inhibiting the victim’s access to health care. Pointing fingers at the vulnerable is illustrated by the fact that Haiti is often blamed for the introduction of AIDS into North America [4,5]. Farmer stressed not only the inherent trauma of structural violence, but Carolyn Nordstrom’s ideas on violence having a distinct tomorrow [6]. The perpetual cycle of structural violence enables this concept of violence having a clear future with the inherent cultural systems that allow for violence remaining stagnant while the individuals entrapped within the system change.Beyond this concept of structural violence is that of structural healing [3]. Though structural healing is a new phenomenon being examined by anthropologists, it provides a balance to structural violence with the idea being that there are certain societal standards that are either in place or can be introduced that allow for an alleviation of the suffering caused by structural violence. While Farmer’s discussion of the path that led him to his current position was inspirational in itself, the sharing of his story is of even more importance because he has been a teacher to so many. His story reinforces the idea that even though structural violence has a definite past and future, so do medical anthropology and the idea of structural healing. Thankfully, medical anthropology may be used as a relatively new force to combat structural violence. Farmer’s speech may have been unexpected in its autobiographical content, but perhaps the main point is that the intersection between medicine and anthropology can be seen not as a single point but a line that runs the full length of each of these disciplines. We all have a distinct responsibility to not only hear but to listen and learn, not to just passively observe, but actively understand. It is with this listening and acting, that future medical anthropologists can bridge the gap between social sciences and practical medicine.     

Anthropomorphic effigy vessels from Chupicuaro,Mexico*

The subjectivity of the anthropologist is grounded in the historical and ideological worlds in which he is positioned. The author finds the basis of his comparison of Australian and Sinhalese Buddhist nationalisms in the Australian cultural context, which leads him to a particular construction of the Sinhalese “otherness”. The Australian egalitarian nationalism and the Sinhalese Buddhist hierarchical nationalism are traced as ideologies through a range of practises, showing differing relationships between nation and state. Both nationalisms, the author argues, are to be understood as equally “modern” .     

Problems in the Psychology of Development (Reading O. Mandel'shtam)

In August of this year, our regular author V.P. Zinchenko celebrated his sixtieth birthday. The editorial board asked him to give an interview about his view of the contemporary science of psychology. Vladimir Petrovich preferred a series of articles on the eternal problems of developmental psychology. We publish the first of these articles, written in the genre of an essay on scientific themes, in this journal issue. But the editorial board did not abandon its request, and hopes that his interview on the science of psychology will be published in the journal. The editorial board congratulates V.P. Zinchenko on his birthday and wishes him success in his scientific work.     

Fisher's contributions to genetics and heredity, with special emphasis on the Gregor Mendel controversy

R. A. Fisher is widely respected for his contributions to both statistics and genetics. For instance, his 1930 text on The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection remains a watershed contribution in that area. Fisher's subsequent research led him to study the work of (Johann) Gregor Mendel, the 19th century monk who first developed the basic principles of heredity with experiments on garden peas. In examining Mendel's original 1865 article, Fisher noted that the conformity between Mendel's reported and proposed (theoretical) ratios of segregating individuals was unusually good, "too good" perhaps. The resulting controversy as to whether Mendel "cooked" his data for presentation has continued to the current day. This review highlights Fisher's most salient points as regards Mendel's "too good" fit, within the context of Fisher's extensive contributions to the development of genetical and evolutionary theory.     

Morphologic evolution of the musculi extensores digitorum and abductor pollicis longus in man. Part I: Introduction, methodology, M. extensor digitorum

The author discusses first of all the theoretical principles of the evolutionary myology and gives a detailed explanation on the 3 types of studies included in this complex method. The investigated material is distributed into 3 groups, which correspond to the above mentioned 3 types of studies: 1. The variations of the muscles, object of research, are studied on 200 upper limbs of adults and cn 100 limbs of human fetuses. The crown to heel length of the latter and the number of the studied limbs could be seen on the Table on page 823. 2. The comparative-anatomic research is performed on 122 limbs of animals. The different species of animals as well as the number of the examined limbs are given on the table on page 824. 3. The organogenetic material includes 18 upper limbs of human embryos and fetuses, the age of which could be seen on the table on page 825. After expressing his gratitute to all, who have assisted him in his work the author gives the already known literature data related to the phylogenesis and ontogenesis of the muscles studied by him. His own investigations start with searching of m. extensor digitorum in man, as special attention is paid both to the muscles' bellies and their tendons and the connexus intertendinei.     

The herbarium of Trinity College, Dublin: its history and contents

The herbarium was established in 1840, with the personal herbarium of Thomas Coulter as its nucleus. Extensive purchases were made by him and by his successor, W. H. Harvey, whose personal herbarium was also incorporated. Harvey also received numerous donations, partly through his friendship with W. J. Hooker and Asa Gray, but also from his position as joint author of Flora Capensis. After Harvey's death in 1866 growth continued at a slower rate till 1950, when it once more accelerated. The herbarium contains c. 206000 specimens in all: 166000 seed plants, 8000 pteridophytes, 8000 bryophytes, 20 000 algae and 4000 lichens. An analysis of the geographical origin of the specimens is given, and a list of the chief collectors. The regions most fully represented are Europe (especially the west and south), India, South Africa, North and South America. There is relatively little from China and Tropical Africa. Among the largest collections are those of Spruce (Amazon and Andes), Harvey (world-wide, especially Australian algae), A. F. G. Kerr (Thailand), Drege (South Africa) and Kotschy (Orient).     

The bacteriophage, its role in immunology: how Macfarlane Burnet's phage research shaped his scientific style

The Australian scientist Frank Macfarlane Burnet-winner of the Nobel Prize in 1960 for his contributions to the understanding of immunological tolerance-is perhaps best recognized as one of the formulators of the clonal selection theory of antibody production, widely regarded as the 'central dogma' of modern immunology. His work in studies in animal virology, particularly the influenza virus, and rickettsial diseases is also well known. Somewhat less known and publicized is Burnet's research on bacteriophages, which he conducted in the first decade of his research career, immediately after completing medical school. For his part, Burnet made valuable contributions to the understanding of the nature of bacteriophages, a matter of considerable debate at the time he began his work. Reciprocally, it was while working on the phages that Burnet developed the scientific styles, the habits of mind and laboratory techniques and practices that characterized him for the rest of his career. Using evidence from Burnet's published work, as well as personal papers from the period he worked on the phages, this paper demonstrates the direct impact that his experiments with phages had on the development of his characteristic scientific style and approaches, which manifested themselves in his later career and theories, and especially in his thinking regarding various immunological problems.     

Duclaux,Chamberland, Roux,Grancher, and Metchnikoff: the five musketeers of Louis Pasteur

The Institut Pasteur was created thanks to worldwide generosity with the aim to welcome and treat rabies patients, to provide a place for scientific research and to offer new teaching programs in microbiology. Louis Pasteur invited his main collaborators, who had accompanied him during his previous investigations at École Normale Supérieure, to join him in his new institute. They contributed to the principle discoveries of Pasteur, such as the fight against spontaneous generation, the identification of the ferments of putrefaction, the fight against the silk worm disease, the research on wine and beer, and the set-up of the first vaccines against avian cholera, anthrax, swine erysipelas and rabies. There were two scientists, Émile Duclaux and Charles Chamberland, and two medical doctors, Émile Roux, and Joseph Grancher. In addition, two Russian scientists were invited to join the Institute and to head a research laboratory, Élie Metchnikoff and Nikolaï Gamaleïa, the later will finally never join the institute.     

Industrial injury; a dynamic concept for rehabilitation

Present methods of work capability evaluation are frequently subjective, disputable, and nonobjective. There is inadequate reconditioning especially in cases of older workmen where a return to previous employment under competitive conditions is expected. A "capability evaluation center" is suggested as a possible solution. It should be so organized as to preserve the patient's incentive to return to full production if possible, let him know his potential if less than it was before injury, and help him overcome any tendency that he might have to seek refuge in invalidism.     

The characterization of restriction endonucleases: the work of Hamilton Smith

Purification of the HhaII Restriction Endonuclease from an Overproducer Escherichia coli Clone(Kelly, S., Kaddurah-Daouk, R., and Smith, H. O. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 15339–15344)Catalytic Properties of the HhaII Restriction Endonuclease(Kaddurah-Daouk, R., Cho, P., and Smith, H. O. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 15345–15351)Hamilton Othanel Smith was born in 1931 in New York City. In 1937, he and his family moved to Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, because his father had joined the faculty of the department of education at the University of Illinois. As a boy, Smith was interested in chemistry, electricity, and electronics, and he spent many hours with his brother in their basement laboratory, which was stocked with supplies purchased from their paper route earnings. Smith attended a small college preparatory school called the University Laboratory High School and graduated in 3 years largely due to his science teacher who allowed him to complete chemistry and physics during the summer.Open in a separate windowHamilton O. SmithAfter finishing high school, Smith enrolled at the University of Illinois, majoring in mathematics. During his sophomore year, his brother showed him a book on mathematical modeling of central nervous system circuits by Nicolas Rashevsky. This caught his interest, and after transferring to the University of California, Berkeley, Smith immersed himself in courses in cell physiology, biochemistry, and biology. A guest lecture by Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC) Classic author George Wald (1) describing his studies of retinal biochemistry soon converted Smith into a devoted student of visual physiology and eventually motivated him to apply to medical school.In 1952, Smith began his studies at the Johns Hopkins University Medical School. He received his M.D. 4 years later and went to Barnes Hospital in St. Louis for a medical internship. However, in 1957, Smith was called up in the Doctor Draft and joined the U.S. Navy. He finished his Navy service in 1959 and moved to Detroit to begin a medical residency training at the Henry Ford Hospital. There he became interested in bacteriophage and decided that this would be the focus of his research.So, in 1962, Smith began his research career with Myron Levine in the department of human genetics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He and Levine carried out a series of studies demonstrating the sequential action of the phage P22 C-genes, which controlled lysogenization. They also discovered the gene controlling prophage attachment, now known as the int gene, and carried out a study of defective transducing particles formed after induction of int mutant prophage.In 1967, Smith joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University as an assistant professor of microbiology and continued his bacteriophage research. A year later, working with Thomas J. Kelly, Jr. and Kent W. Wilcox, Smith isolated and characterized the first Type II restriction endonuclease (HindII) from Haemophilus influenzae and determined the sequence of its cleavage site (2, 3). In recognition of this discovery, he was awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Werner Arber and Daniel Nathans.These studies led to Smith''s subsequent research on DNA methylases and nucleases in H. influenzae. The two JBC Classics reprinted here detail Smith''s efforts to discover the rules governing sequence recognition in the Type II restriction endonuclease HhaII via x-ray crystallography. To facilitate these studies, Smith and his colleagues engineered a two-plasmid system in Escherichia coli that overproduced HhaII on induction with isopropylthiogalactoside (IPTG). The first paper describes the induction characteristics of the two-plasmid overproducer clone and purification of the endonuclease. The second paper, published back-to-back with the first, details the catalytic properties of the endonuclease. Smith used two methods to follow the reactions: 1) gel electrophoretic analysis of nicked circular and linear DNA products, and 2) release of ³²P-labeled inorganic phosphate from specifically labeled HhaII sites in a reaction coupled with bacterial alkaline phosphatase. Smith''s two-plasmid system eventually allowed him to obtain crystals of the HhaII endonuclease with a heptanucleotide DNA duplex (4).Smith served on the faculty at Johns Hopkins for 30 years before retiring as American Cancer Society Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Molecular Biology and Genetics in 1998. In 1993, he accepted an appointment to the scientific advisory council of The Institute for Genomic Research, which led to his collaboration with J. Craig Venter in the sequencing of H. influenzae by whole genome shotgun sequencing and assembly. Five years later, Smith joined Celera Genomics, where he was senior director of DNA Resources and aided in the sequencing of the Drosophila and human genomes. In 2005, he co-founded Synthetic Genomics, an off-shoot of Celera. He also serves as scientific director of the Synthetic Biology & Biological Energy Groups at the J. Craig Venter Institute. In addition to the Nobel Prize, Smith has received several honors including election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1980.¹     

Names and naming: Instances from the ORU-IGBO

Conclusion People have many names. But, changing one's name is no small thing. It can signify a major step in life or an embarrassing story, as in the last case.A person has a complex individual identity. His collective identity is clear from the moment he is conceived. He is one with a body of people, his kinsmen, who share one common ancestor and through him access to land and resources. The continuation of this group and its name is perpetuated through paternal descent.Kingroup membership ensures a person's place in life, his right to exist, eat, live and enjoy. But, who is he, apart from being a kinsman? Which kinsman is he? How are people going to interact with him? His individual identity will become clear through time. He is a re-incarnation of ancestor x. The circumstances of his birth were such. He behaves like this. He has these personal traits. This has happened to him. He has achieved that. There is no permanent role attached to an individual. He is neither bound to class nor caste. He is dynamic and changes constantly. His life is one of achievement, constant striving and upward mobility till death — when it all begins again. His name signals his state of being in time and existence.Sabine Jell-Bahlsen is an anthropologist and filmmaker.     

Ethical aspects of statistical practice

This paper embodies a personal view of the ethical considerations that the author believes should be continuously in the mind of any applied statistician or biometrician whose work involves extensive collaboration with other persons and organizations. It looks particularly at the contribution of the International Statistical Institute to the codification of principles, the duties of the statistician in relation to data and the interests of his employer or client, his responsibilities to his professional colleagues and towards society as a whole, and, by no means least; the responsibility of the client towards the statistician who works with him.