Eponymictionary

Just Read the Map

by Dr Chris Nickson, last update September 9, 2019

John Snow (1813-1858) was one of the first anaesthetists – he even chloroformed Queen Victoria! – but today he is famous for his investigation of the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak in Soho, London. By mapping the cases of cholera he was able to link transmission of the illness to contaminated water consumed from the […]

Lincoln sign

by Dr Mike Cadogan, last update August 21, 2019

Lincoln sign refers to forceful popliteal artery pulsation secondary to aortic regurgitation; exaggerated when the patient sits with legs crossed; and deemed positive if the elevated foot bobs up and down with each systolic contraction.

Guillain–Barré syndrome

by Dr Jeremy Rogers, last update July 22, 2019

Guillain-Barré syndrome is the most common and severe acute inflammatory paralytic neuropathy. The classical description of GBS involves rapidly progressive bilateral weakness, usually starting in the distal lower extremities and ascending proximally.

Oslerus osleri

by Dr Mike Cadogan, last update June 27, 2019

Sir William Osler was a man of not inconsiderable talent. A pathologist and clinician. A professor successively at McGill University, the University of Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins University and Oxford University. Historian and bibliographer of medicine. A naturalist, microscopist, proponent of comparative physiology…and a veterinarian The incessant concentration of thought upon one subject, however interesting, tethers […]

Crazy Bug Hunter 003

by Dr Mike Cadogan, last update August 28, 2019

Alfred Russel Wallace did not knowingly study infectious diseases or their microbial causes, but he did travel extensively and repeatedly put himself in the biological line of fire, as evidenced in his many writings.

Crazy Bug Hunter 001

by Dr Mike Cadogan, last update August 28, 2019

Fleming’s role in the discovery and subsequent development of penicillin is well-known parable of the importance of serendipity in medical research. Fewer people know anything about the Scots bacteriologist’s earlier discovery of lysosyme or his work on the bacteriology of traumatic wound infection.