Oxford Dictionary of Medical Quotations

(WallPaper) #1
Ali ibn-Hazm –

Arab theologian of Persian descent


No one is moved to act, or resolves to speak a
single word, who does not hope by means of this
action or word to release anxiety from his spirit.
Epistle on the to Apply to SoulsSect. 


R. J. (‘Bill’) Heald –

Professor of Colorectal Surgery, Basingstoke, UK


There can be little doubt that the ongoing
laparoscopic revolution remains the largest
stimulus to the refinement of surgical
instrumentation the world has yet experienced.
Foreword to Laparoscopic Colorectal SurgeryS. Wexner (ed).
Wiley-Liss, New York ()


William Heberden –

English physician, London


There is one ailment in the chest which has
difficult and peculiar symptoms. It should be
heeded, as it is neither free of danger nor
particularly uncommon. Its localisation, the
patient’s feeling of suffocation, and the anguish
accompanying it, give reason for calling it angina
pectoris.
Lecture at the Royal College of Physicians ‘Some Account
of a Disorder of the Breast’ July ()


The love of life, or fear of death, makes most men
unwilling to allow that their constitution is
breaking; and for this reason they are ready to
impute to any other cause what in reality are the
signs of approaching and unavoidable decay.
Commentaries on the History and Cure of DiseasesCh. 
()


The signs of a stone in the bladder are, great and
frequent irritations to make water, a stoppage in
the middle of making it and a pain with heat just
after it is made.
Commentaries on the History and Cure of DiseasesCh. 
()


The hemicrania, or pain of one half of the head,
was very early distinguished by medical writers
from the other species of headaches: but we have
not yet advanced much in knowing how this
differs from other pains of the head.
Commentaries on the History and Cure of DiseasesCh. 
()


A violent itching of the skin without any eruption
is familiar to the jaundice, and adds sometimes to
the discomforts of old age.
Commentaries on the History and Cure of DiseasesCh. 
()


The epilepsy may be called the reproach of
physicians as well as the gout; for it was well
known before the writing of the most ancient
medical books, and yet no certain method of cure
has been discovered.
Commentaries on the History and Cure of DiseasesCh. 
()


A bad state of health is often joined with a fistula
in ano, and the mischief, after the cure of the
ulcer, has many times fallen upon other parts, and
particularly the lungs, and has brought on
asthmas, spittings of blood, and consumptions.
Commentaries on the History and Cure of DiseasesCh. 
()

Consumptive women readily conceive, and during
their pregnancy the progress of the consumption
seems to be suspended.
Commentaries on the History and Cure of DiseasesCh. 
()

Women during the state of pregnancy, and just
after the menses have finally left them, are
peculiarly subject to the piles.
Commentaries on the History and Cure of DiseasesCh. 
()

In affections of the liver, haemorrhoidal bleedings
are very common.
Commentaries on the History and Cure of Diseases()

Swellings of the ankles or legs towards evening,
which vanish, or are greatly lessened in the
morning, are very common in women while they
are breeding, and in hot weather.
Commentaries on the History and Cure of DiseasesCh. 
()

The globus hystericus in the throat is scarcely ever
heard of among men, but is one of the most
familiar symptoms with hysteric women.
Commentaries on the History and Cure of DiseasesCh. 
()

The rheumatism is a common name for many
aches and pains, which have yet got no peculiar
appellation, though owing to very different
causes.
Commentaries on the History and Cure of DiseasesCh. 
()

Hebrew proverbs

Adultery brings on early old age.

Do not dwell in a city whose governor is a
physician.

Honour a physician before thou has need of him.

’Ben Hecht –

US Jewish writer
Despite all our toil and progress, the art of
medicine still falls somewhere between trout
casting and spook writing.
Miracle of the Fifteen Murderers
Doctors have a sense for things unseen and
complications unstated.
Miracle of the Fifteen Murderers
The talent for secrecy is highly developed among
doctors who, even with nothing to conceal, are
often as close mouthed as old-fashioned bomb
throwers on their way to a rendezvous.
Miracle of the Fifteen Murderers

 -·’  

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