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The disease called cancer was named after the animal known as the crab. According to ancient tradition, cancer was named after the crab because of the aggressivity or obstinacy of the crab or because of the appearance of the crab's tangled legs., (© 2024 The Author(s). Cancer published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Cancer Society.)

Vinegar is a natural product derived from fruits or grains after being subjected to food fermentation processes. Vinegar is a beneficial food additive, preservative, and condiment. It is appreciated across the Islamic world following the Prophetic teaching where Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) recommended its utility, saying: "The best of condiments is vinegar". Modern medicine recognizes the health benefits, especially upon metabolism and circulation, mediated by the bioactive constituents of vinegar, including acetic acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, chlorogenic acid, gallic acid, p -coumaric acid, catechin, and epicatechin. Using a variety of search engines, including Google Scholar, Sci-Finder, Wiley publications, Springer Link, Scopus, MDPI, Web of Science, and PubMed, a thorough survey of the literature was carried out. To compile a comprehensive data on the various varieties of vinegar, this review highlights and updates the existing information of different vinegar-related topics including production methods, quality assessment using different quantitative analysis tools, preclinical and clinical studies, structure-activity relationship, consumption, and applications from antiquity to the present.

Maroons in Suriname and French Guiana descend from enslaved Africans who escaped the plantations during colonial times. Maroon farmers still cultivate a large diversity of rice, their oldest staple crop. The oral history and written records of Maroons by colonial authorities provide contrasting perspectives on the origins of Maroon rice. Here, we analyzed the genomic ancestry of 136 newly sequenced Maroon rice varieties and found seven genomic groups that differ in their geographical associations. We interpreted these findings in light of ethnobotanical and archival investigations to reconstruct the historical contexts associated with the introduction of rice varieties to the Guianas. We found that two rice groups trace to West Africa, which we propose are linked to the transatlantic slave trade (c. 1526 to 1825). We posit that the Maroon rice stock additionally contains varieties that derive from rice introduced by indentured laborers from Java (1890 onwards), USA rice breeders (1932 onwards), and Hmong refugees who fled the Vietnam War (1991). Furthermore, on the Maroon fields, we found rice types never documented before that were derived from crosses. Overall, our results demonstrate that the Maroon farmers prioritize maintenance of a high stock diversity, which we posit reflects the expertise they inherited from their (African) ancestors. Ignored by agricultural modernization initiatives, Maroon farmers today are custodians of a unique cultural heritage. Notably, the genomic findings underline many Maroon stories about their past. We anticipate that a similar study approach can be applied to other heirloom crops of (Indigenous) communities that may have preserved their history on their farms to reconstruct, acknowledge, and honor the past., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest The authors declare no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.)

The jet stream is an important dynamic driver of climate variability in the Northern Hemisphere mid-latitudes 1-3 . Modern variability in the position of summer jet stream latitude in the North Atlantic-European sector (EU JSL) promotes dipole patterns in air pressure, temperature, precipitation and drought between northwestern and southeastern Europe. EU JSL variability and its impacts on regional climatic extremes and societal events are poorly understood, particularly before anthropogenic warming. Based on three temperature-sensitive European tree-ring records, we develop a reconstruction of interannual summer EU JSL variability over the period 1300-2004 CE (R 2  = 38.5%) and compare it to independent historical documented climatic and societal records, such as grape harvest, grain prices, plagues and human mortality. Here we show contrasting summer climate extremes associated with EU JSL variability back to 1300 CE as well as biophysical, economic and human demographic impacts, including wildfires and epidemics. In light of projections for altered jet stream behaviour and intensified climate extremes, our findings underscore the importance of considering EU JSL variability when evaluating amplified future climate risk., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The current research aimed to analyze the history of bioterrorism in antiquity and to adapt the data to modern medical knowledge. To this end, a thorough evaluation of the literature related to the ancient history of bioterrorism and modern data was done using the Web of Sciences, Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Results showed that knowledge of bioterrorism has existed since antiquity in different civilizations. Biological and toxicological agents were used as an instrument of legal execution, as a warfare tool in battles, or to eliminate political rivals across nations. Ancient people researched bioterrorism to apply it against enemies and at the same time provide countermeasures in favor of themselves and allies. Despite the existence of the principles of bioterrorism since ancient times, adaptation of the data to modern research can assist in planning countermeasure efforts, preventive actions, and treatments in the framework of modern counterterrorism medicine., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Austria, ein Teil von Springer Nature.)

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) presented some of the most spectacular artworks of all times in frescos on the ceiling and behind the altar of the Sistine Chapel. While Michelangelo's presentations depict events described in the Bible, there is broad consensus that Michelangelo was conveying his knowledge and theoretical ideas gleaned from his experiences with anatomic dissection. Michelangelo appears to have communicated several ideas about the brain in the images of the Days of Creation and the Last Judgment . Taking the Days of Creation and the Last Judgment together, Michelangelo appears to be symbolizing that God is in the brain, specifically the brainstem, and the brain performs mental functions. The five images on the ceiling of the chapel showing Days of Creation may be interpreted as reflecting the course of vertebrate brain evolution. There are further suggestions about brain function, including perceiving light and complex images and giving spirit to Adam. Furthermore, on the front wall of the Sistine Chapel behind the altar, within the work titled the Last Judgment , the central ellipse, in which Jesus is sitting, appears to represent a midcoronal cross section of a human brain, suggesting that it is the brain that renders judgments about good and evil., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

It has long been known in historical research that the Habsburg Emperor Maximilian II (1527-1576) suffered from heart complaints throughout his life. Numerous biographers mention this fact. His medical history and even the results of the autopsy of his body have been handed down; however, it has not been sufficiently investigated how Maximilian's physicians explained his heart condition, often referred to as "tremor cordis", and what causes and triggers they held responsible for this complaint in general and in the specific case of their famous patient. This article addresses these questions, primarily on the basis of a detailed consultation by the imperial personal physician Andrea Gallo, dating from 1555. Gallo's consilium, which has been ignored by scholares so far, first summarizes the state of knowledge on heart tremors at that time. It then turns to Maximilian's case and provides revealing insights into his mental state., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

We conduct a synthetic archaeological and ethnohistoric dating program to assess the timing and tempo of the spread of peaches, the first Eurasian domesticate to be adopted across Indigenous eastern North America, into the interior American Southeast by Indigenous communities who quickly "Indigenized" the fruit. In doing so, we present what may be the earliest absolute dates for archaeological contexts containing preserved peach pits in what is today the United States in the early to mid-16 th century. Along with our broader chronological modeling, these early dates suggest that peaches were likely in the interior prior to permanent Spanish settlement in the American Southeast and that peaches spread independently of interactions with Spanish colonizers. We further argue that that eventual spread of peaches was structured exclusively by Indigenous communities and the ecologies produced through long-term Indigenous land management and land use practices, highlighting and centering the agency of Indigenous societies in the socioecological process of colonization., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This study challenges historical paradigms using a large-scale integrated bioarchaeological approach, focusing on the female experience over the last 2,000 years in Milan, Italy. Specifically, 492 skeletons from the osteological collection of Milan were used to elucidate female survivorship and mortality by integrating bioarchaeological and paleopathological data, paleoepidemiological analyses, and historical contextualization. Findings revealed changes in female longevity, with a notable increase from Roman to contemporary eras, albeit plateauing in the Middle Ages/modern period. Significant sex-specific differences in mortality risk and survivorship were observed: females had higher mortality risk and lower survivorship in the Roman (first-fifth century AD) and Modern (16th-18th century AD) eras, but this trend reversed in the contemporary period (19th-20th century AD). Cultural and social factors negatively impacted female mortality in Roman and modern Milan, while others buffered it during the Middle Ages (sixth-15th century AD). This study underscored the importance of bioarchaeological inquiries in reconstructing the past, providing answers that may challenge historical assumptions and shedding light on how the interplay of cultural, social, and biological factors shaped the female experience across millennia., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The glans clitoris has a corona; however, unlike the corona of the glans penis, the corona of the glans clitoris is practically "nonexistent" as evidenced by the noteworthy absence of its mention and depiction in anatomical and clinical sciences. Accordingly, the corona of the glans clitoris has been neglected in anatomical education and clinical practice. This report details the history regarding the anatomical terminology of the glans and identifies that descriptions of the glans penis, corona of the glans penis, and other penile structures have preceded descriptions of the homologous anatomy of the clitoris by at least a century. Today, recognition of the corona of the glans clitoris, as well as the coronal sulcus and neck of the clitoris should be commonplace. Henceforth, the corona of the glans clitoris and its related anatomy including the sulcus of the glans clitoris and neck of the clitoris should be incorporated into anatomical and clinical language, illustrations, textbooks, education, and practice. Likewise, efforts should be made to propagate knowledge regarding the corona of the glans clitoris, coronal sulcus, and neck of the clitoris to the general public. Giving names to the anatomical structures of the clitoris will undoubtedly increase the awareness of their existence which, in turn, will encourage their clinical assessment and result in decreased morbidity and mortality. Likewise, improved self-awareness of clitoral anatomy will promote self-care which is important in the prevention of disease and the promotion of optimal sexual health., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Japanese Association of Anatomists.)

The oldest extant anatomy textbooks compiled in ancient Rome were by Galen who described in writing most of the various parts and organs of the body. History tells us that ever since the time of Galen, anatomical terminology would be a necessary and beneficial feature, but it also brought unexpected and annoying consequences into the field. The benefits are readily apparent in the case of muscle terminology. Galen identified more than 150 different kinds of skeletal muscles, most of which were unnamed, hence difficult to identify without professional knowledge of anatomy. Vesalius introduced detailed anatomical illustrations in Fabrica (1543), which made the identification of the muscles easier. Bauhin then introduced proper descriptive names for the muscles in Theatrum anatomicum (1605), which enabled the identification of the muscles without illustrations. After the terminology became complex and diverse, a logically consistent standard nomenclature was established by Nomina anatomica (1895). The unexpected consequences may be found in the terminology of bones and joints. Galen gave 39 proper names for individual bones, and classified and termed the types of bony joints. Many of these terms have survived in modern anatomy as literal translations of the bone terms, as well as the joint terms. The annoying consequences may be found in the terminology of intestines. Galen divided the small and large intestines into three portions, such that the major part of the small intestine suspended by the mesentery was divided into two without sufficient reason. The Latin translations of jejunum and ileum were, respectively assigned to them by Mondino in his Anatomia written in 1316., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Japanese Association of Anatomists.)

Latin anatomical terminology has been codified since 1895. However, the situation is different for national anatomical terminologies. There are countries that have standardized anatomical terminology in their language, e.g., Poland, Slovenia, Japan, Spain, Hungary, others, such as the Czech Republic or Slovakia, are still lacking their own standardized and official terminology. In the Bohemian Lands, the first terms describing parts of the human body appeared as early as the ninth century in works written in Cyrillic script. The first comprehensive references to Czech anatomical terminology appeared in the fourteenth century. From the Baroque period, anatomical terms were preserved in the educational works of the Teacher of Nations Jan Amos Comenius' Janua linguarum reserata and Orbis sensualium pictus. Many of these terms have remained almost unchanged to this day, but some of them have acquired a pejorative meaning over time. We present here an overview of the history and examples of these terms describing parts of the human body., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Japanese Association of Anatomists.)

Objective: Dental disease is frequently used as a proxy for diet and overall health of individuals of past populations. The aim of this study is to investigate dental disease in a sample of enslaved African individuals recovered from an urban dump (15th-17th centuries) in Lagos, Portugal., Design: In all, 81 African individuals (>12 years old) were analysed (19 males, 49 females, and 13 of unknown sex), in a total of 2283 alveoli, 2061 teeth, and 2213 interdental septa. Analysed oral pathologies include dental caries, periodontal disease, and ante-mortem tooth loss. Dental wear was also recorded., Results: Dental caries affected 52.0 % of the teeth, although only 31.9 % were cavitated lesions. In all, 96.3 % of the individuals presented at least one cariogenic lesion. Gingivitis and periodontitis were recorded in 56.7 % and 19.0 % of the septa, respectively. Only one male individual had all septal areas healthy. Ante-mortem tooth loss was recorded in 38.3 % of the individuals, in a total of 96 teeth lost (4.2 %). Regarding occlusal wear, 70.8 % of the surfaces were recorded with grades 1-3., Conclusions: The frequencies of the oral pathological conditions observed may not only reflect a cariogenic diet (rich in starches and with a high frequency of meals) but also the conditions during the maritime voyage of the first victims of the North Atlantic slave trade (xerostomia due to lack of water, sea sickness and vomiting, vitamin C deficiency, poor hygiene), and also the impact intentional dental modifications had on the dentitions., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors report no declarations of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

During the 14th century CE, a pivotal shift took place in the world of medicine as its epicenter transitioned from the Middle East to Europe. The emergence of the European Renaissance sparked skepticism regarding the significance of Avicenna's contributions to the advancement of medicine. This paper explores how the rise of secularization and the Renaissance in Europe marked significant cultural transformations, fostering the spread of literacy. These societal shifts influenced the trajectory of medical thought, and Avicenna's "Canon of Medicine" received both praise and condemnation amidst the evolving intellectual landscape. In this context, Lorenz Fries composed his "Defense of Avicenna," a testament to his profound admiration for Avicenna's legacy. This paper presents an English translation of Fries' 1530 work, and introduces Fries and Avicenna's "Canon," contextualizing Fries' defense within the broader rejection of Arab-language medical texts in the 16th century. It also explores Avicenna's influence on European medicine and anatomy during the Renaissance and highlights the enduring relevance of his contributions to the annals of science. Fries' defense underscores Avicenna's methodological acumen and emphasizes the importance of a robust theoretical foundation in medical practice. Avicenna's integration of Aristotelianism with Platonism highlighted the necessity of a rigorous method informed by theory in medical analysis. Fries' defense remains relevant today, particularly in advocating for systematic medical analysis against subjective approaches. Avicenna's medical philosophy seems nested within a larger, hopeful attempt to resolve the tensions between science or naturalism and religion or spiritualism. The rejection of Avicenna reflects broader conflicts between Aristotelian and Neoplatonic traditions, suggesting a complex interplay of secularization and theological influences in shaping medical thought during the Renaissance., (© 2024 American Association of Clinical Anatomists and British Association of Clinical Anatomists.)

Objective: To explore how Michel de Montaigne's battle with urolithiasis influenced his writings and philosophical outlook during the Renaissance period., Materials and Methods: The study examines historical texts, Montaigne's personal essays, and contemporary medical literature from the Renaissance era. A comprehensive review of Montaigne's extensive travels across Europe, interactions with prominent physicians, and the various treatments he sought for urolithiasis is conducted. The analysis focuses on how these experiences shaped his literary work and philosophical reflections., Results: Montaigne's struggle with urolithiasis began at the age of 45, profoundly impacting his life and writings. His journey through France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy in search of relief, along with consultations with renowned physicians such as Félix Platter and Girolamo Borro, significantly influenced his philosophical inquiries into human suffering and mortality. Montaigne's detailed accounts of his condition, describing 19 episodes of renal colic, offered early patient-centered perspectives in medical literature, highlighting the importance of understanding the psychological and emotional dimensions of illness. His therapeutic use of thermal baths and other non-invasive treatments reflected the medical practices of the time., Conclusion: Montaigne's experience with urolithiasis not only shaped his philosophical essays but also underscored the importance of empathetic and holistic patient care. His writings emphasize the need for integrating patient narratives into medical practice, a concept that remains crucial in contemporary health care. Montaigne's legacy continues to inspire a compassionate approach to urological care, emphasizing the interconnected nature of physical and emotional well-being, and advocating for a more patient-centered perspective in medical treatments., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

As the title indicates, this article deals with the origins of anatomic terminology and its development up to the present day. The first attempt to name anatomical structures in animals and humans date back to Alkmaion, i.e. to the fifth century BC. Further work has been done at the same time by the Hippocratics and about 100 years later by Aristotle. As the Alexandrians Erasistratos and Herophilos first in history dissected human bodies, they expanded the anatomical terms. Until Celsus (around Christ's birth) and even later on, anatomical terminology was almost exclusively based on the Greek language. Thus, Celsus and not-as frequently done-Galenos has to be called the father of Latin-based anatomical terminology. Due to several translations including Arabic, first periods of proverbial Bable resulted. Return to systematic order was achieved finally by Andreas Vesal (1514/15-1564) and Caspar Bauhin (1560-1624). But again due to translations into several national languages, the uniformity of the anatomical nomenclature was undermined. Thus, by the end of the nineteenth century, in 1895 the newly founded Anatomische Gesellschaft created a uniform terminology, the Basle Nomina Anatomica (BNA). Although it has been revised several times, it is still the very basic of human anatomical terminology. Recently, an attempt was made to replace it by English translations of the original Latin (and also still Greek) terms to mainly get machine-readable denominations. As this will result again in non-uniformity of terminology, the Anatomische Gesellschaft proposes a version of the latest, generally accepted terminology, based on the Latin terms but incorporating recent developments., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Phrenitis is ubiquitous in ancient medicine and philosophy. Galen mentions the disease innumerable times, Patristic authors take it as a favourite allegory of human flaws, and no ancient doctor fails to diagnose it and attempt its cure. Yet the nature of this once famous disease has not been properly understood by scholars. My book provides the first full history of phrenitis . In doing so, it surveys ancient ideas about the interactions between body and soul, both in health and in disease. It also addresses ancient ideas about bodily health, mental soundness and moral 'goodness', and their heritage in contemporary psychiatry, offering a chance to reflect critically on contemporary ideas about what it means to be 'insane'., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

This article deals with drugs obtain and distribution during the Goryeo Dynasty. In particular, I analyzed the case of 'Bupleuri Radix', which corresponds to 'dot-ui minali' as Idu, an archaic Korean notation, and Ginger, which was intentionally introduced and cultivated in Goryeo. Drugs of the Goryeo Dynasty can be classified into 5 types. Drugs that use the Chinese character name as the name of Goryeo were type A, drugs that correspond 1:1 with the archaic Korean notation to the Chinese character name were type B, and drugs that have the Chinese character name translated directly into the Korean name were type C. And although it were originally the foreign drugs, the drugs cultivated in Goryeo were Type D, and the drugs imported from foreign countries were Type E. Among these, types B and D are particularly interesting. Bupleuri Radix and Ginger discussed in this article were representative examples of type B and D respectively. Looking overall, type B had the highest proportion, followed by type A. Type E was the next most common. On the other hand, type C and D were relatively small. However, regardless of the high or low proportion, these types coexisted and constituted the therapeutic drugs of the Goryeo Dynasty. In conclusion, during the Goryeo Dynasty, interest and use of local drugs, namely Hyangjae, greatly expanded.

This Ambix special issue explores premodern alchemical ideas and practices in their entanglements with medicine. It employs diverse methods, from traditional close reading to the new distant-reading framework of computational humanities, to investigate alchemical thought over a timespan of several centuries. In medieval times, everyday practices could offer heuristic models of material transformation - such as the fermentation of bread as a model for metallic transmutation (Schmechel). Paracelsus relied on "fire" to link his natural philosophy with his medical alchemy; new computational methods show how his ideas evolved over time (Hedesan). Early modern medical pluralism favoured the thriving of chemical medicine in Italy; diplomatic efforts introduced chemical remedies into acknowledged pharmacopoeias (Clericuzio). An English physician offers William Cavendish both practical distillation recipes and the hope of learning more about the principles of chemistry (Begley). In eighteenth-century France, Diderot draws on chemical ideas to blur the conceptual boundary between living and non-living matter (Wolfe). The papers largely adhere to integrated history and philosophy of science (iHPS) and to a pragmatist "operational ideal of knowledge" (Chang). They showcase the interdisciplinarity of premodern scientific thought and examine how medicine and alchemy, but also theory and (everyday) practice informed each other fruitfully across the ages.

Despite the increasing interest in Italian medicine, comparatively little attention has been paid to the establishment of iatrochemistry. Though this process spread throughout the Peninsula, Naples witnessed an impressive growth of chemical research and the outbreak of a conflict between the medical establishment and the chemical physicians. The purpose of this article is to explore the emergence of chemical medicine in Naples in the period that precedes the founding (1663) of the Accademia degli Investiganti . In the first part of the seventeenth century, chemistry achieved recognition in settings like academies, pharmacies, hospitals, and monasteries. Chemical studies and the making of new remedies were spurred by the scientific exchange that Neapolitan savants established with scholars from different areas. The so-called medical pluralism and the recurrent outbreaks of epidemics stimulated the introduction of new chemical therapies, which coexisted with old ones . The establishment of chemical medicine was triggered by Marco Aurelio Severino (1580-1656), who, besides promoting chemical remedies, resorted to chemical theories, including Paracelsian ones, to account for physiological processes. Severino was the mentor of the chemical physicians who gave rise to the Accademia degli Investiganti . One of Severino's disciples was Giuseppe Donzelli (1596-1670), who fostered chemical remedies in Naples.

Since the Palaeolithic Age food has been closely linked to the development of the human species, meeting our energy needs and fuelling our cell metabolism. Without food there can be no life. However, over the centuries food and our eating habits have also had a damaging effect, whether through deficiencies, excesses, direct toxic effects or as a vector of pathogenic agents. The human species has known two major food revolutions: one at the start of the Neolithic Age and the other very recently in the years following the Second World War. In this article we will be looking at the ambiguous relationship between food and human health as well as the health of our planet., (Copyright © 2024 European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

"The study of emotional expression," it has recently been said, "has long been the provenance of scientific discovery and heated controversy" (Keltner et al., 2016, p. 467)-and nothing has been more central to this inquiry than attempts to understand the precise connection between affective experience and human facial expression. But as science moves forward, it is also wise to consider where it has been. This Brief Report reproduces a pre-Darwinian account of the facial expression of emotion from Thomas Wright's The Passions of the Minde in Generall (1604), one of the most interesting books on emotion from the English Renaissance. Before the modern scientific revolution, Wright's theorization anticipates several key aspects of 21st Century thought on the facial expression of emotion, an intriguing reminder of the connection between historical folk understanding and modern research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

In our historical study, we are unveiling one of the very first surgical treatments of hydrocephalus originally scripted in Latin by Fabrici d'Acquapendente and then transcribed into the French language by Chez Pierre Ravaud. During the European Renaissance, Italian pioneering surgeon Fabricid'Acquapendente illustrated the technique performed at that time. Fabrici described the drainage of fluid for hydrocephalus using the insertion of a cannula. The cannula was kept in place for several days and the fluid was drained slowly and in regulated controlled amounts. Layers of bandage drapes were applied to prevent the leakage of fluid escaping from the wound. Unfortunately, we are missing some significant information regarding the surgical techniques as these were not documented by Fabrici. Although skull trephination was relatively well known, it is unsure whether at the time the cannula was inserted deep within the ventricles. Drainage of the fluid may have still occurred from the extracranial space. Moreover, we are unaware of how long the cannula was kept in place. Nonetheless, Fabrici d'Acquapendente may be considered among the first in Italy and possibly in Europe to lay down the foundations for external ventricular drainage system for hydrocephalus., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

"The only history is a mere question of one's struggle inside oneself. But that is the joy of it. One need neither discover Americas nor conquer nations, and yet one has as great a work as Columbus or Alexander to do," said David H. Lawrence. In this historical vignette, we look at the lives of certain western giants of neuroanatomy from the past. To understand the origin of today's advancements and successes in neurosurgery, a strong foothold on the path taken by anatomical greats is necessary. What curiosity inspired them to search the meaning of the human nervous system? Learning this from the paths of Herophilus, Galen, Franciscus Sylvius, Thomas Willis, Alexander Monro secundus, Luigi Rolando, François Magendie, and Martin Rathke, will propel us to create a better future for our successors.

The Swiss physician and philosopher Theophrastus von Hohenheim, called Paracelsus (1493-1541) is known for his strong advocacy of medical alchemy. That his natural philosophy was tied to medical alchemy is perhaps uncontroversial, but just how it was so is less straightforward. This article provides an insight into the connection between the two by means of Paracelsus's concept of active agents, with an emphasis on fire, its master Vulcanus , and the associated term Archeus . I will show how these evolved in the thought of Paracelsus by taking an evolutionary view of his works. The complexity of his views comes to light as a result of employing the method of hybrid reading, which integrates the traditional close reading technique with the much more novel one of distant reading. The latter is part of the emerging field of digital and computational humanities, and involves the analysis of corpora by means of digital tools, including computer programming (Python). In the article, I will attempt to combine distant and close reading and showcase how such hybrid reading approaches may provide new insights into historical corpora.

This article focuses on a curious manuscript treatise in the British Library, Harley MS 6940, which the learned physician Samuel Bispham composed for the English patron and horseman William Cavendish (1593-1676), most likely in the mid-1640s. Sitting somewhere between a practical medical recipe book and theoretical chymical treatise, while being peppered with traditional causal explanations and Galenic precautions, Harley MS 6940 testifies to the erosion of the entrenched dichotomy between chymical and Galenic medicine in the mid-seventeenth century. Harley MS 6940 also lays bare how a learned physician used (and taught the use of) practice to confirm and sometimes challenge his learning, offering a counterpoint to recent scholarship that underscores the learning that apothecaries used to shore up their practice. Produced at the behest of a leading Royalist who sought both to acquire techniques for distilling and fermenting herbs and to advance his knowledge of chymical conceptions of spirits, seeds, and salts, the manuscript allows us to appreciate that the chymical art animated a broader set of individuals than the historiography often implies.

Significant regional variability in lifespan in Europe is influenced by environmental factors and lifestyle behaviors, including diet. This study investigates the impact of geographical region on the lifespan of European rulers spanning from the fourteenth century to the present day. By analyzing historical records and literature, we aim to identify region-specific dietary patterns and lifestyle factors that may have contributed to longer lifespans among rulers. The hypothesis to be tested is that rulers from Southern European countries, where the traditional Mediterranean diet is consumed by the local people, may exhibit longer lifespans compared to rulers from other regions, due to the well-documented health benefits associated with this dietary pattern. We extracted comprehensive information for each ruler, encompassing their sex, birth and death dates, age, age of enthronement, duration of rulership, country, and cause of death (natural vs. non-natural). To determine their nationality, we coded rulers based on their hypothetical present-day residence (2023). Utilizing the EuroVoc Geographical classification, we categorized the countries into four regions: Northern, Western, Southern, Central and Eastern Europe. While Cox regression models did not find significant differences in survival rates among regions, further analysis stratified by time periods revealed intriguing trends. Contrary to our initial predictions, the Northern region displayed better survival rates compared to the Southern region between 1354 and 1499, whereas survival rates were similar across regions from 1500 to 1749. However, after 1750, all regions, except the Southern region, exhibited significantly improved survival rates, suggesting advancements in healthcare and lifestyle factors. These findings underscore the dynamic influence of both region and time period on health and longevity. Interestingly, despite the prevalence of the Mediterranean diet in the Southern region of Europe, rulers from this region did not demonstrate longer lifespans compared to their counterparts in other regions. This suggests that additional lifestyle factors may have played a more prominent role in their longevity. In conclusion, our study sheds light on the intricate relationship between region, time period, and lifespan among European rulers. Although the Mediterranean diet is often associated with health benefits, our findings indicate that it alone may not account for differences in ruler longevity across regions. Further research is warranted to explore the impact of other lifestyle factors on the health and lifespan of European rulers throughout history., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

This study aims to shed light on the role of Solomon ben Nathan Ashkenazi, an Ottoman Jewish physician, in Ottoman diplomacy. Despite being a German-born Jew and practicing medicine for several years, Ashkenazi played a crucial part in Ottoman relations with Venice and Poland after arriving in Istanbul. The study explores how Ashkenazi, a physician by profession, attained the position of diplomat and examines the reasons behind his involvement in Ottoman foreign relations. While it is common for Ottoman Jewish physicians to be involved in Ottoman foreign affairs, Ashkenazi's example provides valuable insight into the mechanisms and motivations behind their participation in Ottoman diplomacy. The study shows that Jewish physicians in the Ottoman Empire contributed to Ottoman medicine with their medical expertise and played a significant role in bridging the gap in Ottoman-European relations with their diplomatic skills., Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

In what follows I examine Diderot's chemically influenced vital materialism. Once condemned as "mechanistic," materialism has had something of a renaissance in recent decades as scholars have rediscovered a tradition of "vital materialism" which they have opposed to older, cruder forms of the idea, e.g. materialisms full of life, affect, chimiatry, and transformation. Sometimes these rediscoveries have attached themselves to a figure of the past, like Margaret Cavendish's metaphysics of active matter, or to a construct of the still-emerging future, like Karen Barad's quantum physics-nourished "agential realism" present in all of matter. Another question concerns the extent to which these revivals of "vital" or "active-matter" materialism should be traced back to older Renaissance naturalisms. In what follows, I return to Diderot and the question of his "vital materialism." Diderot draws both on older traditions, approvingly citing Van Helmont and gesturing towards a new chemistry of living matter and also speaks the language of scientific revolution, writing that "We are on the verge of a great revolution in the sciences." In earlier work I sought to connect this language of revolution in the sciences to the emergence of biology as a science. Here I focus on his chemically charged materialism.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Historical texts on materia medica can be an attractive source of ethnopharmacological information. Various research groups have investigated corresponding resources from Europe and the Mediterranean region, pursuing different objectives. Regardless of the method used, the indexing of textual information and its conversion into data sets useful for further investigations represents a significant challenge., Aim of the Study: First, this study aims to systematically catalogue pharmaco-botanical information in the Receptarium of Burkhard von Hallwyl (RBH) in order to identify candidate plants in a targeted manner. Secondly, the potential of RBH as a resource for pharmacological investigations will be assessed by means of a preliminary in vitro screening., Materials and Methods: We developed a relational database for the systematic recording of parameters composing the medical recipes contained in the historical text. Focusing on dermatological recipes, we explored the mentioned plants and their uses by drawing on specific literature. The botanical identities (candidate species) suggested in the literature for the historical plant names were rated based on their plausibility of being the correct attribution. The historical uses were interpreted by consulting medical-historical and modern clinical literature. For the subsequent in vitro screening, we selected candidate species used in recipes directed at the treatment of inflammatory or infectious skin disorders and wounds. Plants were collected in Switzerland and their hydroethanolic crude extracts tested for possible cytotoxic effects and for their potential to modulate the release of IL-6 and TNF in PS-stimulated whole blood and PBMCs., Results: The historical text analysis points up the challenges associated with the assessment of historical plant names. Often two or more plant species are available as candidates for each of the 161 historical plant names counted in the 200 dermatological recipes in RBH. On the other hand, our method enabled to draw conclusions about the diseases underlying the 56 medical applications mentioned in the text. On this basis, 11 candidate species were selected for in vitro screening, four of which were used in RBH in herbal simple recipes and seven in a herbal compound formulation. None of the extracts tested showed a noteworthy effect on cell viability except for the sample of Sanicula europaea L. Extracts were tested at 50 μg/mL in the whole blood assay, where especially Vincetoxicum hirundinaria Medik. or Solanum nigrum L. showed inhibitory or stimulatory activities. In the PBMC assay, the root of Vincetoxicum hirundinaria revealed a distinct inhibitory effect on IL-6 release (IC 50 of 3.6 μg/mL)., Conclusions: Using the example of RBH, this study illustrates a possible ethnopharmacological path from unlocking the historical text and its subsequent analysis, through the selection and collection of plant candidates to their in vitro investigation. Fully documenting our approach to the analysis of historical texts, we hope to contribute to the discussion on solutions for the digital indexing of premodern information on the use of plants or other natural products., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

There are numerous studies dealing with olive oil management from ancient civilizations to the mid last century, but they are limited on the historical value of information. At the same time, much knowledge is widely available and accessible on the contemporaneous production of olive oil, the necessary inputs (water and energy) and outputs (by-products) of the production process. The present study aims to shed light on olive oil extraction management from antiquity to present and to bridge the gap between archaeological and modern agricultural, engineering, and environmental disciplines. For the purposes of this study, Crete, Greece, a well-known and traditional olive oil producing region is investigated. This study is dedicated to unveil practices concerning: (a) the processing of the olives, (b) the various energy aspects per era, (c) the role of water and energy at each stage of the extraction process, and (d) management of by-products per era. The main findings support that: (a) the evolution of the extraction processes was relatively slow and remained almost the same from Minoan times until the middle of the 20th century, (b) the importance of water has been demonstrated from the beginning in the efficient extraction of the maximum amount of olive oil, (c) wastewater was first reported during the Hellenistic-Roman period due to the increased quantities produced, (d) by-product management was only considered in the previous century for environmental purposes, (e) olive oil production has been a human-based process for centuries and was greatly increased by the introduction of animals, and (f) olive oil production was further increased with the utilization of mechanical and electrical energy. It can be therefore clearly concluded that past practices have both similarities and differences with the present ones, which in turn have been optimized in terms of energy sources, water uses, olive mill equipment, and environmental considerations, to result in maximum olive oil production with minimum environmental impacts. Based on this work, important lessons can be drawn that show the historical evolution of extraction and management practices., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: The present paper highlights the potential of osteological data for answering demographic questions through the development and application of a Bayesian approach incorporating age estimations of adults., Materials and Methods: The metropolis of London is a rewarding study region for such an approach due to the large number of cemeteries, with thousands of individuals, spanning a period from 1100 AD to the mid-19th century, that have been excavated and published in the past two decades. Furthermore, London has a rich tradition of early written records on mortality that can be used for comparison purposes. In order to gain comparable results from the different source categories, we use a Bayesian framework in which the Gompertz distribution features centrally., Results: Our intensive simulations show that the Bayesian approach performs better than maximum likelihood estimation or ordinary least squares in terms of recovering the original age distribution parameters. They also show how strongly population growth affects mortality patterns. The osteological data suggests that during medieval times and the Early Modern period, the modal age-at-death of the general population of London remained more or less constant and hovered around 30 years, and that only monks showed a higher modal age, of about 45 years. However, from the 17th century onwards, life expectancy of adults increased markedly., Discussion: Our comparison of written sources and osteological data demonstrates their general comparability and highlights the much higher mortality among adults in London than in the rest of England and Wales. We conclude that Bayesian modeling has great potential for recovering true mortality patterns from osteological data., (© 2024 The Author(s). American Journal of Biological Anthropology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

It is little appreciated not only how closely linked are the disciplines of neurology, psychiatry, and anthropology but even more so the degree to which they share a "common ancestry". This paper briefly reviews the definition and historical origins of each area of study to then begin to illustrate how their "genealogies" overlap. This illustration is by way of a sampling of the many key figures who contributed to the rise of not just neurology, psychiatry or anthropology but of all three disciplines. That is, a selective review is undertaken of paragons whose careers bridged medicine, neuropsychiatry, and anthropology. A sampling from among the dozens who have made major contributions to spanning these disciplines illuminates the significant extent of their co-mingled intellectual ancestry. This series is akin to a data table of necessarily concise biographical vignettes - past scholars with some or full medical training who also advanced both anthropology and neuropsychiatry as these disciplines grew into intellectual maturity. Each is, in a sense, a data point that bolsters the overarching thesis that the intellectual history of these disciplines have shared ancestry. Thus, even this preliminary and topical survey of a few past "exemplars" underscores the importance of this unique intellectual siblingship. Moreover, there is now a profusion of living scholars who add fulsomely to what might be deemed this 'trilateral marriage' of anthropology, psychiatry, and neurology. A compilation of more contemporary contributors is well worthy of a future review that expands from this first consideration. This initial work is meant to engender more robust scholarship that better elucidates and, thereby, enriches and enlivens further work while also uncovering new avenues of deeper insight, notably as to the "conceptual and heuristic progression" of evolutionary neurosciences with respect to the normative and pathologic., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Investigating changes in temporal bone pneumatization (TBP) and paranasal sinus volumes (PSV) across different eras may help understanding not only changes in skull anatomy but also pathophysiology of chronic otitis media and sinusitis, respectively, which are common health problems., Methods: Eight skulls from the second century AD, 20 skulls were from the 10th-11th centuries AD, 20 skulls from the 16th-19th centuries AD, and 60 contemporary skulls were included in this cross-sectional observational study. Using computerized tomography (CT) scans, the PSV were calculated by multiplying the height, width, and antero-posterior distance of the sinuses. TBP was divided into three types. Internal acoustic canal (IAC) length and width, and olfactory cleft (OC) width were measured., Results: No statistically significant differences were found between the paranasal sinus (frontal, maxillary, and sphenoid) volumes between the groups. However, TBP decreased statistically significantly over time on both sides of the skulls (p = 0.001). The contemporary IAC and OC measures were found to be significantly lower on both sides compared to the skulls from the other three eras (p < 0.001 for both)., Conclusions: Although no significant change was observed in PSV, decreases were evident in TBP, OC width and IAC length and width over time. It appears a fair inference that changes in size of OC and IAC might be another indication of the fact that olfaction and hearing were more vital for survival in old eras. Since we do not know incidence of chronic ear problems in old eras, we cannot speculate outcome of increased TBP in terms of developing chronic ear diseases. On the contrary, increased TBP was likely to play a protective role in traumas in old ears. Additionally, the environmental influences may be crucial role in the development of paranasal sinuses., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Martin Luther (1483-1546) reported attacks of headache and of vertigo in his letters and in his lectures. The symptomatology of his headache attacks fulfilled, at least in part, the diagnostic semiological criteria of migraine. However, because we cannot be sure about the time pattern and the exclusion of other disorders that might explain the headache, the diagnosis of migraine is not final. The vertigo attacks sometimes fulfilled the criteria of Ménière's disease. Vertigo also occurred together with headache attacks fulfilling the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition criteria for vestibular migraine; however, we do not know exactly the pattern of attack frequency and duration. In summary, it is possible that Martin Luther suffered from attacks of vestibular migraine and had in addition a comorbidity of migraine and Ménière's disease., (© 2023 The Authors. European Journal of Neurology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Academy of Neurology.)

Min Daoyang, known as Shou Quan Shan Ren, was a traditional Chinese medicine physician in the Xin'an School, from Shexian in the Anhui area during the period of Jiajing and Wanli in the Ming Dynasty. He had many medical books published, such as Yi Zhi Ru Yi Fang Mai , Quan Ying Yao Lan , Yi Xue Ji Yao,Shang Han Zuan Lu , Yi Xue Hui Zuan , Nv Ke Bian Lan , Yao Fang Ge Kuo and Yi Xue Ren Shu Bian Lan . However, currently only three of these books remain. They are Yi Zhi Ru Yi Fang Mai , Quan Ying Yao Lan and Yi Xue Ji Yao . The current version of Yi Zhi Ru Yi Fang Mai was printed in the 4th year of the Gengwu in the Ming Dynasty (1570), and the remains of this version are held in the Wujiang Library. Quan Ying Yao Lan , published in the 6th year of Renshen (1572) in the period of Longqing of the Ming Dynasty, as a complete Jinling version, is now held in the "National Central Library" of Taiwain province. Yi Xue Ji Yao , as a transcript version in the Edo period in Japan, is now held in the Cabinet Library of the National Archives of Japan.

Giordano Bruno (Nola 1548 - Rome 1600) published in 1582 Candelaio , a comedy that anticipates the core arguments he developed in the six dialogs written in volgare during the philosopher's stay in England (1583-1585). In the comedy, the term candelaio (candlebearer) is deployed not only as a trope for light and illumination, but also as a slang designation for sodomite. Thus, sexual dissident Bonifacio, the tragicomic personage to which the title refers, brings to light the mostly unavowed or denigrated, albeit ineradicable complexities of every sexual individuality. In this framework, the personality, lifestyle, and views of disruptive Bonifacio/Candelaio serve as narrative support for a critical stance aiming at undoing the validity claims of the man/woman dichotomy. At the antipodes of the finitization of sexuality fostered by Christian creationism, Bruno's sexual approach is framed within a conception of "natura naturante," the all-pervasive, inexhaustible and animating power, which enables the emergence of utterly diversified beings throughout the infinitude of the existing worlds. Having dismantled the epistemic pretentions of sexual binarity and its possible closed supplementations, Bruno effectively frees Bonifacio's sexual heteroclisis from the stigma of unnaturalness. Notwithstanding the trailblazing traits of Bruno's sexual thought and its ontological framework, Brunian scholarship to the present has ignored that the philosopher from Nola posed the arguably most profound and consistent challenge to binary sexuality and its finite suppletions in pre-Darwinian Modernity. In view of the critiques of patriarchy and anti-feminism that began to develop at the turn to the twentieth century, it is striking that no systematic effort has been undertaken to relate Bruno's principled reversion of the form/matter hierarchy to his advocacy for the axiological restauration of femaleness in the masculinist-centered culture of the West. In accordance with Bruno's explicit design to "turn upside down the reversed world," his philosophy seeks to reveal the endless profusion of sexual forms not as creations of an omnipotent paternal figure, but as emergences from an inexhaustible source, which he signally terms "the maternal womb of Nature."

Art is a promising pathway to raise emotional engagement with nature, while enabling an indirect exposure to nature through aesthetic experience. However, the precise relationships between aesthetic experiences of art and experiences of nature remain unclear. The aim of this observational study is to highlight the effect of nature experiences on the aesthetic reception art, based on Early Modern paintings (16th-18th century). By focusing on marine ecosystems, that are difficult to directly interact with, the results presented are intended to explore whether marine activities and fish consumption affect the aesthetic reception of artworks depicting marine biodiversity. A photo-questionnaire survey based on four paintings has been conducted with 332 French participants with a diverse range of marine practices, fish consumption and artistic sensitivity. Fish consumption and value attributed to fish as food had a significant positive impact on the aesthetic reception, suggesting that taste and food consumption could be considered as a relevant nature aesthetic experience that elicits affective and emotional responses. Results also showed an indirect effect of fishing and diving on the aesthetic reception of paintings whose iconography relates with the observers' experiences. These findings are of particular interest in both environmental psychology and ecological mediation through art. This study brings evidences of the connection between art and nature experiences, and that art could be an innovative way of experiencing nature. Finally, this study also highlights the need to broaden the scope of nature experiences, for instance by including food., Competing Interests: The authors declare that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Tribot et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Whereas medical practice stems from Hippocrates, cardiovascular science originates with Aristotle. The Hippocratic philosophy was championed by Galen (129-216 CE), whose advocacy of a tripartite soul found favor in the early Christian Church. In contrast, Aristotle's works were banned as heresy by ecclesiastical authority, only to survive and prosper in the Islamic Golden Age (775-1258 CE). Galen theorized that the circulation consisted of separate venous and arterial systems. Blood was produced in the liver and traveled centrifugally through veins. When arriving in the right ventricle, venous blood passed through tiny pores in the ventricular septum into the left ventricle, where it became aerated by air passing from the lungs through the pulmonary veins to the left side of the heart. Following arrival at distal sites, arterial blood disappeared, being consumed by the tissues, requiring that the liver needed to continually synthesize new blood. The heart was viewed as a sucking organ, and the peripheral pulse was deemed to result from changes in arterial tone, rather than cardiac systole. Galen's framework remained undisputed and dominated medical thought for 1,300 years, but the reintroduction of Aristotelian principles from the Islamic world into Europe (through the efforts of the Toledo School of Translators) were nurtured by the academic freedom and iconoclastic environment uniquely cultivated at the University of Padua, made possible by Venetian rebellion against papal authority. At Padua, the work of Andreas Vesalius, Realdo Colombo, Hieronymus Fabricius ab Acquapendente, and William Harvey (1543-1628) methodically destroyed Galen's model, leading to the modern concept of a closed-ended circulation. Yet, due to political forces, Harvey was ridiculed, as was James Lind, who performed the first prospective controlled trial, involving citrus fruits for scurvy (1747); it took nearly 50 years for his work to be accepted. Even the work of William Withering (1785), the father of cardiovascular pharmacology, was tarnished by professional jealously and the marketing campaign of a pharmaceutical company. Today's cardiovascular investigators should understand that major advances are routinely derided by the medical establishment for political or personal reasons; and it may take decades or centuries for important work to be accepted., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures Dr Packer has received personal fees for consulting from 89bio, Abbvie, Actavis, Altimmune, Alnylam, Amarin, Amgen, Armgo, Ardelyx, AstraZeneca, Attralus, Biopeutics, Boehringer Ingelheim, Caladrius, Casana, CSL Behring, Cytokinetics, Imara, Lilly, Medtronic, Moderna, Novartis, Pharmacocosmos, Reata, Regeneron, Relypsa, and Salamandra., (Copyright © 2024 The Author. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

From the mid-seventeenth century, resorption of a testicular "ferment" and resorption of some part of the semen constituted reputable accounts of secondary sexual characteristics. Only in the early twentieth century was the latter, "recrementitious secretion" theory, explicitly considered superseded by one of internal secretion, an advance ushering in the hormone era. A reconstruction of these proto-endocrinological concepts is offered onward from the first, 1490 print edition of Galen's On Semen. Early modern physicians picking up from Galen deliberated widely on the medium and pathway of male and female testicular influences on "the entire body," including the mind, causing "femininity" and "masculinity" in physical, mental-temperamental, and behavioral terms. A switch is discernible from "heat and strength" (Galen) to blood-borne "virility" or testicular vapor (such as proposed in 1564 by Tomás Rodrigues da Veiga), to iatrochemical postulations of a "seminal ferment" (suggested in the late 1650s, perhaps independently, by Thomas Willis at Oxford and Lambert van Velthuysen in Utrecht), finally to a "seminal recrement" or "reabsorbed semen" concept soon after (emergent in the posthumous work of Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, among others). During the late eighteenth century, mounting controversy surrounded both the very idea of that concept and the involved anatomical pathways, informed by multiple experiments., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

The history behind the biological, mechanistic, and clinical insights into concussion provides awareness of the current understanding and future areas for study. Although the initial description of concussion appeared in the 10th century, the potential long-term structural consequences were first defined by Harrison Martland, M.D., who performed a postmortem study of former boxers in 1928. He found evidence of perivascular microhemorrhage that he believed eventually evolved into a "replacement gliosis" underlying a clinical syndrome that he named "punch drunk," which was characterized by acute confusion with chronic cognitive and physical symptoms developing in those with prolonged exposure. Further research into the potential long-term consequences of repetitive concussions, particularly in athletics and the military, led to an understanding of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. To ameliorate possible long-term risks, research has been focused on preventative and therapeutic measures for concussion. In this review article, the authors present the history of concussion and the long-term sequelae of repeated head injury. Specifically, they consider how the understanding of concussion has evolved from antiquity into the modern era, and how this change in understanding of head injury has led to an appreciation of the fact that its long-term implications sometimes manifest as the clinical and histopathological entity of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

Introduction: From at least the fifteenth to late nineteenth centuries, peasants in the Austrian province of Styria ate up to several hundred milligrams of arsenic trioxide or sulfide daily or weekly for periods up to a number of years. Taking these doses of arsenic was believed to increase muscular power and enhance the beauty and sexual attractiveness of peasant girls. There do not appear to be contemporaneous records of the known consequences of chronic arsenic exposure. The historical records of arsenic eating there are reviewed and appear to be valid. The benefits are subjective judgements by arsenic eaters. The lack of objective reports of the anticipated external and internal clinical and pathological effects of arsenic poisoning depends on a smaller number of clinical accounts and autopsy reports and the general medical literature of those times, so it is weaker, but it is consistent., Can the Claimed Benefits of Arsenic Eating and the Apparent Absence of Harmful Toxic Effects Be True?: Why the arsenic eaters did not show the well-known consequences of prolonged exposure to high doses of arsenic is not known. Possible explanations include increases in detoxifying metabolism in the consumers due to induced genomic changes and selection in people and in the gut microbiome, as shown in other populations. Whether these effects would suffice to protect people against their high doses of arsenic has not been explored., Conclusion: Although the nature and mechanisms of arsenic toxicity have been extensively described, much still remains to be discovered.

Spasmodic torticollis was an early designation used for cervical dystonia. The origin of this name is attributed to French physician and writer François Rabelais in the mid-sixteenth century. This early description of torticollis in the book Pantagruel was an inspiration for the understanding of cervical dystonia. The art expressed in Rabelais' literature ‒ which was immortalized by the drawings of Gustave Doré ‒ influenced poetry, art, and photography, and led to the adoption of the term torticollis in the neurological sciences., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare., (The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).)