Enterobius vermicularis eggs discovered in coprolites from a medieval Korean mummy

While the presence of pinworm eggs in archaeological samples has been reported by many researchers in the New World, those have been detected very scarcely in the Old World, especially in East Asian countries. In fact, many parasite species were recovered from the archeological remains in Korea, eggs of Enterobius vermicularis had not been found. Recently, a female mummy buried in the 17th century was discovered in the Joseon tomb from Dangjin-gun, Chungcheongnam-do, Korea. After rehydration process for 12 days, investigations were carried on the luminal surface of the colon. From them, 3 eggs of E. vermicularis were recovered. They were elliptical, transparent with a thin egg shell, 50.3±5.2 µm (length) and 28.2±3.9 µm (width) in size. This is the first discovery of E. vermicularis eggs in East Asia.

Frederik Ruysch (1638-1731): Historical perspective and contemporary analysis of his teratological legacy

The Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) in Saint Petersburg is the oldest museum in Russia. It keeps the remains of the anatomical collection of the world-famous 17th century Dutch anatomist Frederik Ruysch. This unique collection was bought and shipped in 1717 by Czar Peter the Great, and presently still comprises more than 900 specimens, a modest number of which concerns specimens with congenital anomalies. We searched for teratological clues in the existing collection and in all his descriptions and correspondence regarding specimens and cases he encountered during his career as doctor anatomiae and chief instructor of the surgeons and midwives in Amsterdam. A total of 63 teratological specimens and case descriptions were identified in this legacy, including some exceedingly rare anomalies. As it turns out, Ruysch was the first to describe several of the conditions we encountered, including intracranial teratoma, enchondromatosis, and Majewski syndrome. Although his comments pose an interesting view on how congenital anomalies were scientifically perceived in early 18th century Europe, Ruysch mostly refrained from explaining the causes of the conditions he encountered. Instead, he dedicated himself to careful descriptions of his specimens. Almost 300 years after his demise, Ruysch's legacy still impresses and inspires both scientists and lay men. © 2016 The Authors. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Food flora in 17th century Northeast region of Brazil in Historia Naturalis Brasiliae

BACKGROUND

This article reports historical ethnobotany research conducted from a study of the work Historia Naturalis Brasiliae (Natural History of Brazil), authored by Piso and Marcgrave and published in 1648, with main focus on Caatinga of northeast region of Brazil.

METHODS

Focusing the content analysis on the section dedicated to plant species with multiple uses, Marcgrave's contribution to the aforementioned work, this research had the following objectives: the retrieval of 17th century knowledge about the food uses of the flora in the northeast region of Brazil, including the taxonomic classifications; the identification of plant parts, their modes of consumption and the ethnic group of consumers; and the verification of the use of these species over time.

RESULTS

The use of 80 food species at the time of the publication of the work is indicated, some of which are endemic to the Caatinga, such as "umbu" (Spondias tuberosa Arruda), "mandacaru" (Cereus jamacaru DC.) and "carnauba" (Copernicia cerifera Mart.). It is noticeable that among the species listed by Marcgrave, some species still lack current studies indicating their real nutritional value. The present study is an unprecedented work because it introduces, in a systematic way, the food plants described in a study of 17th century Brazil.

CONCLUSIONS

Finally, this study makes information about plants consumed in the past accessible, aiming to provide material for studies that could develop new food products today.

Physical and Chemical Characterisation of the Pigments of a 17th-Century Mural Painting in the Spanish Caribbean

The arrival of Spaniards in the Caribbean islands introduced to the region the practice of applying pigments onto buildings. The pigments that remain on these buildings may provide data on their historical evolution and essential information for tackling restoration tasks. In this study, a 17th-century mural painting located in the Cathedral of Santo Domingo on the Hispaniola island of the Caribbean is characterised via UV–VIS–NIR, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy, XRD and SEM/EDX. The pigments are found in the older Chapel of Our Lady of Candelaria, currently Chapel of Our Lady of Mercy. The chapel was built in the 17th century by black slave brotherhood and extended by Spaniards. During a recent restoration process of the chapel, remains of mural painting appeared, which were covered by several layers of lime. Five colours were identified: ochre, green, red, blue and white. Moreover, it was determined that this mural painting was made before the end of the 18th century, because many of the materials used were no longer used after the industrialisation of painting. However, since both rutile and anatase appear as a white pigment, a restoration may have been carried out in the 20th century, and it has been painted white.

Health care at the St. George Monastery at the Prague Castle in the 17th and 18th century

The article expresses main phenomena of the health care at the oldest Czech monastery - St. George Monastery at the Prague Castle - in the early modern period. The care is studied based on the period regulations, archive information about resident and local (para)medics, facilities, control or diseases. The medical problems had to be in the spotlight of the monastery inhabitants since every disease meant the paralysing of the nun community. In this respect, the monastery was not independent of its environs. The St. George nuns was often brought face to face with male (para)medics. Direction of the men within the monastery belonged to the main problems of the health care in the early modern female communities.

The discovery of the lymphatic system in the 17th century. Part VII: the rise of vascular injection

In the second half of the seventeenth century, vascular injection was introduced in anatomy for the study of the mechanism of secretion of bodily fluids, a phenomenon into which the lymphatic system plays an important role. Injection became a routine procedure in the second half of the seventeenth century. Reinier de Graaf developed an appropriate syringe to inject liquid into minuscule tubules. He was the first to observe that water injected into seminiferous tubules was partially repelled by transudation to be absorbed by neighbouring lymph vessels. He also injected lymph vessels in and around the uterus and ovaries. His study friend Johannes Swammerdam developed a coloured hardening wax and Ruysch injected coloured hardening wax into vessels and ducts of lymph nodes and excretory glands. Ruysch introduced combined injection - corrosion procedures which resulted in delicate structures, including capillaries. He denied the presence of glandular structures in organs as described by Malpighi, and made blood vessels inclusive lymph vessels agents instead of aids to fluid secretion. His ideas resulted in the concept of the body being completely vascular, a theory which became commonplace in Dutch medical circles. Antony Nuck, the professor in medicine at the Leiden University, injected an amalgam of quicksilver and tin for further evaluation of the lymphatic system. He thought that lymph vessels originated from distal arteries and sustained that the shape of pores in these arteries determined the mechanisms of secretion in secretory glands and in lymph glands. He introduced lymphography.

TREATMENT OF TUBERCULOSIS IN THE 17th CENTURY BASED ON THE ORIGINAL WORK DE PHTHISI (ON TUBERCULOSIS) FROM 1679

Galen was the first who defined phthisis as lung ulceration, accompanied by coughing, persistent low-grade fevers, and body wasting. Attempts to define tuberculosis and find the cause of the disease belong to significant errors in the period of medical theories about tuberculosis (TB). Even in the 17th century, the most common causes of this disease were pulmonary ulcers, incorrect shape and position of the lungs, or menstruation. This article endeavors to elucidate the history of TB and its therapy in the 17th century on the basis of the Latin inaugural academic disputation De phthisi (On Tuberculosis) from 1679, which was first translated into Slovak in 2021. It was written by Matthaeus Palumbini, a Hungarian physician of Slovak origin born in Turiec County (Comitatus Thurociensis) in the Kingdom of Hungary. Although this dissertation is due to the anatomical, physiological, and clinical views of the Early Modern period, the ideas about the disease inhalation route as well as the fact that the disease transmission happens indirectly through the air, are close to existing knowledge. Similarly, the TB classification, the description of indications, climatic treatment, or principles of healthy lifestyle surprisingly correlate with the current medical practice. The article is supplemented by examples of the period of drug prescriptions that constituted a part of the therapy. The archival source of the original text comes from the Digitale Sammlungen der Universitätsbibliothek Erlangen-Nürnberg.

Historical note: an analysis of a 17th century illustration of a child with split hand/split foot malformation

In one of Philipp Jakob Sachs von Lewenhaimb's (1627-1672) books, one may find perhaps the first illustration of a child with the split hand/split foot malformation. A short historical note and some clinical genetic data are given.

Huygens' headache

BACKGROUND

Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) was a Dutch mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He became well-known as inventor of the pendulum clock and described light as a wave phenomenon. He became Fellow of the Royal Society (London) and member of the Académie des Sciences (Paris). From the correspondence with family members and famous scientists, we learn that he suffered from frequent headaches.

AIM

To study Huygens' 22-volume Oeuvres Complètes (1888-1950) to find letters in which his headaches are mentioned and translate pertinent sections into English.

CONCLUSIONS

Although a posthumous diagnosis of Huygens' headaches is somewhat hazardous, the recurrent episodes with incapacitating headache and family history over two generations are suggestive for migraine. It becomes clear that it impeded his writing, reading, and research. From the letters we get an impression of the impact of the headache upon his life and the treatments that were applied in the 17th century.

The beginnings of health libraries of the Czech Brothers Hospitallers in the 18th century

During some 150 years in the 17th and 18th centuries the network of convents with hospitals and pharmacies run by the Brothers Hospitallers was established in the Czech Lands. At that time the members of the Order made use of quite a large amount of early modern European health literature. Although the need of those books was closely connected with the main mission of the Order, their position in convents was marginal at the beginning and depended on the personality of individual friars. For a long time, the Czech Brothers Hospitallers were forced to use second-hand literature (even from the 16th century) which was not replaced by new volumes until the moment when the convents overcame the "birth pangs" of the founding years (end of the 18th century). The study deals with the facts that are mentioned above on the basis of the hitherto ignored archive sources coming from Prague, Kuks, Nové Město nad Metují, Prostějov, and Vizovice. Key words: brothers hospitallers pharmaceutical literature medical literature 17th century 18th century history of libraries pharmaceutical history.

Disseminating "hidden" scientific collections: the medium and large-sized terrestrial mammals at the Museo di Anatomia Comparata "Giovanni Battista Grassi", Roma, Italy

The dissemination of specimen data in scientific collections is a crucial step in making them available to the scientific community. However, even today, especially in some countries, little or nothing is known about the contents of the naturalistic collections of some museums. This is regrettable, especially in cases where the collections include historic specimens and endangered species. The Museum of Comparative Anatomy "Giovanni Battista Grassi", situated in Rome, Italy, houses historical anatomical and didactic collections, with specimens gathered from 1600s and almost worldwide. The collection holds 444 specimens of medium and large-sized terrestrial mammals, comprising 25 fossils, 40 skins, 186 skulls, 70 skeletons and 123 anatomical pieces, representing 63% of recent mammal orders, mainly from localities of Africa and Europe. A list of this material, indexed by the orders and families, is provided, as well as comments on the conservation status of the species. Remarkable data are summarised, including new data on a hippopotamus specimen from an extinct population and the record of three rhinoceros species from 1600s. Besides comparative anatomical studies, the Museum of Comparative Anatomy of Sapienza University emerges as a source of important material for biodiversity genomics.

Are Old Men Impotent? On a Sparse Discourse of Early Modern Medicine and Its Forensic Implications in Paolo Zacchia's Quaestiones medico-legales

In early modern medical literature, there are increasing references to sterility and impotence in older men. This is especially true of the Quaestiones medico-legales by the Roman physician Paolo Zacchia (1584-1659). In several books of this systematically structured manual, its author discusses medical and legal arguments on the one hand. On the other hand, in the 10th, only posthumously published volume, a total of five cases of impotence in old men are described on the basis of court decisions of the Rota Romana and expert opinions of the author. The paper examines these cases with regard to central statements on male impotence in old age, which are placed in the medical as well as the social and legal-historical context of the time. It becomes clear that old-age impotence and sterility were less a medical than a legal problem in the 17th century. However, the physician Zacchia emphasises the concept of biological age instead of historically transmitted numerical age limits. In this respect, his expert opinions already show the first signs of medical empiricism.