Historical book spotlight: Guinea Pig Doctors: The Drama of Medical Research Through Self-Experimentation

Published in 1984, Guinea Pig Doctors: The Drama of Medical Research Through Self-Experimentation is a collection of stories about doctors who used themselves as "guinea pigs" for testing their theories about diseases and testing out new medications.

Chapter titles include:

• How the Ghouls Got John Hunter's Heart
• The Sad Tale of Laughing Gas
• The Riddle of the Rimac Valley
• The Last of the Miasmatists
• The Forgotten Hero of Yellow Fever
• A Brave But Tarnished Prussian
• A Dangerous Transfusion
• The Fastest Man on Earth

Call Number: WZ 112 F832g 1984

Historical book spotlight: Disability in Antiquity (1970)

Thanks to movies like Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Aladdin, it is general popular knowledge that losing a hand was the go-to penal repercussion for theft in past times. Losing a hand or another limb would clearly lead to hardships- the individual would be disabled for life.

Disability in Antiquity (1970) is a book that looks back on the history of visible disabilities in the Middle East. While the author focuses less on the medical aspects of disabilities and more on "describing disabling conditions as they existed at that time (p.11)," emphasis is placed on the cultural environment that caused disabilities (such as communicable diseases spread through travel and trade, war injuries, and amputations and torture), as well as the reality of life for individuals with disabilities.

From the introduction (p. 13):

The purpose of this study is to determine the origins of visible disability in the Near East during the Arab caliphate from its inception at the death of Mohammed in A.D. 632, to its collapse in Baghdad in A.D. 1258. The study aims at examining the medical, social and juridical causes of disability, and the comparative significance of each disabling factor throughout the era under discussion. The investigator plans to achieve this purpose by examining and analyzing the problem of the origins of disability from the following angles. 1. Types of communicable diseases and their crippling effect. 2. Types and significance of war injuries. 3. Types of penal disability. 4. Disabilities of heredity and old age.

Call Number: WZ 70 JA2 H12d

Historical Book Spotlight: "Do You Want to Become a Doctor?" (1939)

 

This is a question that many students sitting in the Tulane Health Sciences Center have encountered at some point during their life (and may likely be considering again at this very moment).

Back in 1939, Dr. Morris Fishbein set out to give aspiring doctors information about the (then current) landscape of the medical field, along with issues that would be faced in the future.

Topics covered in this book include Medical Education Today, Preparation for Medical School, Cost of Medical Education, The Internship, The Specialist, On Beginning Practice, and The Future of Medical Practice. While written over 70 years ago, many of Dr. Fishbein's topics are relevant for aspiring and practicing doctors today.

Tulane's School of Medicine blurb:

Do You Want to Become a Doctor by Morris Fishbeing, M.D. (Call Number: W 21 F532d 1939)