Abstract
GF Handel (1685–1759) died at his house in Brook Street, London (now the Handel House Museum) 250 years ago. It is thought he died of lead poisoning. Lead contaminated wine, beer cider, rum and food, and Handel was a glutton who ate and drank to excess.
Last year (2009) was the tercentenary of Dr Samuel Johnson's (1709–84) birth. His illnesses and eccentricities were manifold: it is thought that he suffered from Tourette syndrome and he died of emphysema. Johnson's emphysema was described by Dr Matthew Baillie and his lung was illustrated by William Clift for Baillie's Morbid Anatomy (1793). A copy of this book, presented by Baillie in 1805, is in the Royal Society of Medicine library.
Steven Lomazow and Eric Fettmann have written FDR'S Deadly Secret published by PublicAffairs (ISBN 978 1 58648 744 7) a re-examination of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's last years. This re-analysis of Roosevelt's illness provides fresh information about the President's last months.
Volume 37 in the Wellcome “Witnesses to Twentieth Century Medicine” series is a transcript of a Seminar on the History of Dialysis in the UK: from about 1950 to 1980 (ISBN 978 085484 122 6). This series provides, as Tilli Tansey is reported on page 78 as saying, ‘These are very valuable resources for future historians’. Fortunately many such Wellcome Witnesses are listed and this volume demonstrates the way in which oral evidence is a strong base for recording personal reminiscences while they are still available.
Drimys winteri, a shrub of southern Chile, has a long association with the West. Its bark was gathered in 1578 from the Straits of Magellan by Sir William Winter (1546–89), sailing with Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540–96). ‘Taking a cue from the aboriginal tribes of Patagonia, Winter used it for spicing the ship's bland cuisine, in the process finding it curative for scurvy.’ Constance Casey. Book Review. Hortus 2009;
Raymond Hoffenberg, Physician and Humanitarian, is a fine tribute to a physician in Cape Town who moved to England and then to Queensland and who was widely respected not least for his work in South Africa. The publication by L Ross Humphreys, from the Royal College Physicians (ISBN 978 1 86016 366 1), is a well-illustrated paperback, which brings back good memories of those who knew him as President of the Royal College of Physicians.
Local history work can be very exciting and a booklet entitled Callington Doctors, the medical history of a Cornish Town has been published by Callington Local History Group. It covers much local history in its 65 pages and clearly has been a work of great interest to the local community in this Cornish town. It is a good illustration of the work that can be done in a locality. It is available from The Post Office at St Ann's Chapel, Callington, Cornwall.