The Medical Humanities Podcast: Recent Episodes
Eve Elliot
Welcome to the Medical Humanities podcast. I’m your host, Eve Elliot.
You may not hear the words ‘medical’ and ‘humanities’ in the same sentence very often. In fact, at first glance they seem to represent two very different disciplines: one generally scientific and the other generally artistic. This podcast is about the many fascinating ways medicine intersects with history, culture and the arts.
In the summer of 1890, Vincent Van Gogh committed suicide by shooting himself in the abdomen. Or did he?
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https://www.patreon.com/posts/death-of-vincent-95057977?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
Elizabeth Tudor, Queen Elizabeth I of England, is perhaps one of the most famous monarchs in all of history. She reigned for forty-five years during a time of tumultuous religious and political upheaval, survived several assassination attempts, and famously addressed her army with the proclamation that she had the ‘heart and stomach of a king’.
But in spite of her many accomplishments, even in spite of famously — or infamously — ordering the death of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I is primarily known for one particular thing: her virginity.
Please note - this episode features mild references to sexuality.
Error - I misspoke in this recording and referred to Lettice Knollys' husband as Robert Devereaux, when it should have been Robert Dudley. The error has been corrected in the transcript available here .
These episodes are more than a minute, but about a third the length of a more in depth episode. They're little tasters, I suppose, I'm just not sure what to call them!
Today we take a brief look at the Oracle at Delphi.
As I mentioned in the podcast, if you'd like to visit the ruins of Delphi yourself, it's now a Unesco World Heritage Site.
For transcripts and more, visit https://eveelliot.wixsite.com/medicalhumanities
Franz Liszt was one of the world's first superstars, driving audiences to the point of hysteria.
Ever since Lord Carnarvon died shortly after entering King Tutankhamun's tomb in 1923, rumours of a deadly curse have abounded. But what's the real story?
*Opening scene taken from the movie The Mummy (1932), now in the public domain.
Transcript available on the episode page:
How did Agatha Christie know so much about poisons? Today on The Medical Humanities Podcast, you'll find out!
episode webpage - https://eveelliot.wixsite.com/medicalhumanities/poisons-of-agatha-christie. (includes sources)
But what is this oath, exactly? Is it just a myth? Is it something doctors used to do but no longer swear to? Was it really something Hippocrates came up with? And is it legally binding? Today on the Medical Humanities break, we’ll find out a bit more about the Hippocratic oath.
Join me as I countdown my top five tv medical scenarios that are either mistakes, myths, or just plain made up.
Find out more at eveelliot.wixsite.com/medicalhumanitiespodcast
As any student of life sciences will tell you, medical terminology can feel like a foreign language. Fossae and foramina, erythropoietin and encephalomalacia, atelectasis and acromegaly—students have to assimilate an enormous number of Latin and Greek root words, suffixes, and prefixes to know that brachioradialis is called the "drinking muscle" for a reason, that eating ice cream can result in sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia (brain freeze), and that unilateral periorbital ecchymosis is just a fancy way of describing a black eye.
Why do we use these fifty cent words? And where do they come from?
Find out more at eveelliot.wixsite.com/medicalhumanitiespodcast
Today on the Medical Humanities Break - the Caduceus Symbol
The caduceus. The winged staff with two serpents wound around it, almost instantly recognizable around the world as the symbol for the medical professions.
The thing is - it doesn’t have anything to do with medicine...
Enjoy these 5 minute audios on a variety of subjects in the medical humanities. Transcript and notes available on the show website:
https://www.eveelliot.wixsite.com/medicalhumanities
Did King George III of England really go insane, or was a hereditary disease the cause of his erratic behaviour? Today on the Medical Humanities Podcast, the Madness of King George.
When Queen Mary I of England, daughter of Henry VIII, announced that she was with child, her subjects were overjoyed…and bewildered. Many were skeptical, due to her age and the recency of her marriage, and some were outright convinced she was either mistaken or delusional…because as they suspected, no royal baby ever appeared. Today on The Medical Humanities Podcast - The Queen’s Quickening: The Phantom Pregnancies of Mary I. First published in the Journal of Medical Humanities, by the Hektoen Institute of Medicine in Chicago, 2022
Why did so many characters in classic literature believe rain could make you deathly ill? Today on The Medical Humanities Podcast - Catching Your Death: Infectious Disease in the Work of Jane Austen written and performed by me, Eve Elliot.
This piece received an Honourable Mention in the 2021 Essay Contest held by the Hektoen Institute of Medicine's Journal of Medical Humanities, and was published that same year. Please visit their site to read more fascination stories about medicine and the arts.
https://hekint.org/2021/09/30/catching-your-death-infectious-rain-in-the-works-of-jane-austen/
janeausten #classicliterature #rain #colds
Welcome to the Medical Humanities podcast. I’m your host, Eve Elliot.
You may not hear the words ‘medical’ and ‘humanities’ in the same sentence very often. In fact, at first glance they seem to represent two very different disciplines: one generally scientific and the other generally artistic. This podcast is about the many fascinating ways medicine intersects with history, culture and the arts.
I’ll explore topics on the history of medicine, from the ancient Egyptians’ advanced medical knowledge, to the mistakes and misconceptions made by early physicians that persisted even into the nineteenth century.
I’ll discuss how medical terminology developed and influenced our language, and explore the close connection between medicine and the Greek and Roman pantheon. I’ll relate tales of famous people in history whose behaviour or personality quirks may have had a biological cause, such as the ‘madness’ of King George III or the phantom pregnancies of Queen Mary I.
I’ll also look at art and classic literature and discuss the medical elements in them, and even discuss nursery rhymes like “Ring Around the Rosey”, which actually referred to the Black Death.
Medicine has informed our fine art, literature, language and culture in many ways, and vice versa. Several famous physicians of the past, such as Dr. William Osler, believed that a classical education in the humanities was essential for rounding out the skill set of successful physicians. I’ll discuss doctors who were also poets, such as William Carlos Williams, and many other areas of medicine and the arts.
Join for me for an intriguing look at medicine and the arts.