Medical History Blog
J. Gordon Frierson, MD
Dr. Frierson is a retired internist and infectious disease consultant. He is interested in the history of medicine, the study of the rich heritage of our profession, and eager to make this heritage available to a wider audience. He is a Clinical Professor Emeritus, University of California San Francisco, and a member of the Bay Area History of Medicine Society. The Museum of Medical History would like to thank him for allowing us to link his blog to our website.
Contact information:
J. Gordon Frierson, MD
email: gfrierson@gmail.com.
2025
** THE FAME OF PADUA **
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2025/06/
**DISCOVERING THE LYMPHATICS**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2025/05/
**COCAINE AND EYE SURGERY**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2025/04/
**THE GUNFIGHTER’S SURGEON: GEORGE E. GOODFELLOW**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2025/03/
**TO REACH THE HEART: CARDIAC CATHETERIZATION**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2025/02/
**THE SOUNDS OF KOROTKOFF**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2025/01/
2024
**PHOTOGRAPHY AT THE SALPÊTRIÈRE: GUILLAUME-BENJAMIN DUCHENNE**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2024/12/
**THE SALPETRIERE AND THE BEGINNING OF PSYCHIATRY**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2024/11/
**THE ORIGINS OF BYSSINOSIS**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2024/09/
**THE EYES HAVE IT: THE EARLY DAYS OF OPHTHALMOLOGY**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2024/08/
**RICHARD MEAD AND PLAGUE**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2024/07/
**AZTEC CONTRIBUTIONS TO EUROPEAN PHARMACEUTICALS**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2024/06/
**MEDICAL NOTES FROM THE NEW WORLD**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2024/05/
**CHOLERA BEFORE ROBERT KOCH**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2024/04/
**THE "AUTOPSY" OF ST. IGNACIUS DE LOYOLA AND..**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2024/03/
**THE DISEASE OF THE DEPOSED CHILD**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2024/02/
**THE ORIGIN OF BLOOD BANKS**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2024/01/
2023
**THERIAC**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2023/12/
**TYPHUS AND REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2023/11/
**REVEALING THE AGENT OF SYPHILIS**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2023/10/
**THE CREATION OF THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2023/09/
**AMERICA'S FIRST PSYCHIATRIC SERVICE**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2023/08/
**MUSCLES’MONIKERS THROUGH TIME**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2023/07/
This month’s essay is contributed by Dr. Roy Meals, clinical professor of orthopedics at UCLA. He has written 2 books: Bones: Inside and Out and Muscle: The Gripping Story of Strength and Movement.
**THE FAMOUS MEDICAL CONGRESS OF 1881**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2023/06/
**OBSTETRICS COMES TO THE COLONIES**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2023/04/
**AIR IN THE BRAIN**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2023/03/
**THEODOR BILHARZ AND EGYPT’S ANCIENT DISEASE**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2023/02/theodor-bilharz-and- egypts-ancient.html
**DINNER AT EIGHT WITH ENGLAND’S FIRST UROLOGIST**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2023/01/dinner-at-eight-with- englands-first.html
2022
**THE PAP SMEAR**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2022/12/
**THE STRANGE CASE OF EVA PERON**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2022/11/
**THE LIFE AND DEATH OF CHLOROFORM**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2022/10/
**THEODOR ESCHERICH AND HIS BACTERIUM**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2022/09/
**A FAMOUS NAVAL HOSPITAL:HASLAR**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2022/08/
**THE VIBRANT LIFE AND TRAGIC DEATH OF RENÉ FAVALORO**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2022/07/
**IMMUNOLOGICAL CAPITAL IN NEW ORLEANS**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2022/06/
**A MIRACLE DRUG,MAYBE**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2022/05/
**FURTHER TALES OF ANGINA: A REMEDY AT LAST**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2022/04/
**TALES OF ANGINA**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2022/03/
**BENJAMIN FRANKLIN’S GOUT**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2022/02/
**EISENHOWER’S HEART **
2021
**CHRISTMAS DISEASE**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2021/12/
**MEDICINE AT HIGHALTITUDES**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2021/11/
**TWO DOCTORS WITH ACROMEGALY**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2021/10/
**A SPECIAL NOBELPRIZE**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2021/09/
**BURN DOWN THE QUARANTINE STATION! **
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2021/08/
**THE GUILLAIN-BARRÉ SYNDROME: ORIGINS**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2021/07/
**FROM SIENA TO NAPOLEON: A TALE OF TWO ANATOMISTS**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2021/06/
**NAPOLEON'S CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER AND THE PLAGUE IN EGYPT **
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2021/05/
**ANATOMY IN PHILADELPHIA AND SIAMESE TWINS**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2021/04/
**AMERICA’S FIRST GALLBLADDER SURGERY**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2021/03/
**WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TYPHUS VACCINE? **
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2021/02/
**INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS OF 1876**
2020
**DEATH AND MEDICINE: FORENSIC SCIENCE IN NEW YORK** https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2020/12/
**Surgery Enters the Modern Age on a Chance Observation **
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2020/11/
**Presidential Disability: The Case of Grover Cleveland and the Twenty-fifth Amendment**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2020/10/
**SAMUEL POZZI: FATHER OF FRENCH GYNECOLOGY**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2020/09/
**THE BIRTH OF THE CALIFORNIA STATE HEALTH DEPARTMENT**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2020/08/
**GUY’S HOSPITAL AND MODERN MEDICINE**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2020/07/
**America’s First Bronchoscopist**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2020/06/
**BERIBERI: AN INFECTION?**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2020/05/
**POLIO AND THE BIRTH OF RESPIRATORS**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2020/04/
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2020/02/
**A HISTORY OF CESAREAN SECTION**
2019
**A VANISHING DISEASE: GENERAL PARESIS**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2019/12/a-vanishing-disease- generalparesis-guy.html
**MESMER AND ANIMAL MAGNETISM**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2019/11/
**FROM GOLD MINER TO SURGERY PROFESSOR: THE LIFE OF HUGH TOLAND**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2019/10/
**THE FIRST WESTERN MEDICAL SCHOOL**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2019/09/
**A CONTROVERSIAL NOBEL PRIZE**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2019/08/
**VIEWING BONES THROUGH TELESCOPES**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2019/07/
**ALBERT NEISSER AND HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2019/06/
**USHER PARSONS AND NAVAL MEDICINE IN THE WAR OF 1812**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2019/05/
**EINSTEIN TO DEBAKEY: EVOLUTION OF ANEURYSM SURGERY**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2019/04/
**WILLEM EINTHOVEN AND THE FIRST ELECTROCARDIOGRAMS**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2019/03/
**THE MUSICAL SURGEON: THEODORE BILLROTH**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2019/02/
**VENEREAL DISEASE AND COMPULSION**
2018
**FLU SHOTS 100 YEARS AGO**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2018/12/
**Bike Spokes and a Wrong Turn Advance Fracture Treatment**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2018/11/
**WESTERN MEDICINE IN SHOGUNATE JAPAN**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2018/10/
**MEDICAL HISTORY ON NETFLIX: Life at the Charité**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2018/09/
**DANGER IN THE BITTERROOT VALLEY: EARLY STRUGGLES WITH SPOTTED FEVER**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2018/08/
**THE FIRST BRAINWAVE RECORDINGS**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2018/07/
**PROHIBITION AND THE PRESCRIPTION OF ALCOHOL**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2018/06/
**THE FAMOUS MEDICAL CONGRESS OF 1881**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2018/05/
**MEDICINE IN THE TIME OF FRANKENSTEIN**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2018/04/
**ALOIS ALZHEIMER**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2018/03/
**THE HIPPOCRATIC OATH**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2018/02/
**REMBRANDT’S ANATOMY LESSON OF DR. TULP**
2017
**CHRISTMAS, DICKENS, AND MEDICINE**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2017/12/
**SKIN DISEASE IN OLD VIENNA**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2017/11/
**GIANT IN PHYSIOLOGY**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2017/10/
**SURGEON’S GLOVES**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2017/09/
**CHIMBORAZO HOSPITAL: THE LARGEST IN THEWORLD**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2017/08/
**OUR “NORMAL” TEMPERATURE**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2017/07/
**THE RORSCHACH TEST**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2017/06/
**SCURVY AND THE GOLD RUSH**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2017/05/
**CHERRY TREES AND ADRENALIN**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2017/04/
**FRANCE’S MIDWIFE EXTRAORDINAIRE**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2017/03/
**THE YEAR OF THREE KAISERS**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2017/02/
**DR. DREW AND EARLY TRANSFUSION SERVICES**
2016
** RUSSIAN SURGERY IN THE CRIMEAN WAR: NIKOLAY PIROGOV AND THE FIRST ANESTHESIA **
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2016/12/
** ARSENIC POISONING: MEDICINE IN THE COURTROOM**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2016/11/
** HOW STANFORD CAME AND WENT FROM SAN FRANCISCO**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2016/10/
** DAKIN’S SOLUTION and THE GREATWAR**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2016/09/
**NATHAN SMITH: MOTIVE FORCE OF FOUR MEDICAL SCHOOLS**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2016/08/
** THE DEATH of PRESIDENT HARDING**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2016/07/
** THE FIRST VA SCANDAL**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2016/06/the-first-vascandal- hospitaldelays-are.html
**THE GUAIAC TREE: From syphilis to blood detection**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2016/05/
**ALEXANDER HAMILTON TO ROCKERFELLER CENTER: DAVID HOSACK MD**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2016/04/
** BONES and WORMS:A WRITER ON PARSITES INVENTS “ORTHOPEDICS”**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2016/03/
**THEODOR KOCHER AND THE BIRTH OF ENDOCRINOLOGY**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2016/02/
**SAN FRANCISCIO’S FIRST RADIOGRAPHER**
2015
**GET THE LEAD OUT!: Alice Hamilton and Industrial Toxins**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2015/12/
**A SAN FRANCISCO NEUROSURGICAL FIRST**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2015/11/
**OSCAR WILDE’S FATHER: A NOTED, AND KNIGHTED SURGEON**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2015/10/
**QUAKER, DOCTOR, DRUG CRUSADER**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2015/09/
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2015/07/
**PILGRIM HAVEN TO HOSPITAL: OSPEDATE SANTA MARIA DELLA SCALA**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2015/06/
**BOLOGNA**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2015/05/
**THE PILL GOES PUBLIC**
https://medihist2.blogspot.com/2015/03/