Abstracts fra Bibliotek for Læger 2/2010

Originalartikel: Ligbrænding og lægerne                         
Anna Sommer 

Cremation and the doctors. The debate about cremation in Denmark ca. 1874–1892

Bibl Læger 2010;202:100–113.

 

The topic of this article is the debate about cremation in Denmark in the period 1874–1892. The debate started in the 1870s in continuation with debates on the poor conditions of the cemeteries. It was further intensified by the founding of the first Danish cremation society, Forening for Ligbrænding, in 1881 and it culminated with the passing of the first Cremation Act in 1892. Initially, cremation was primarily discussed in a medical context shaped by a modern, scientific paradigm defined by the new bacteriological understanding of hygiene. Cremation was presented by its proponents as the best possible solution to the increasing problem of cemeteries polluting the environment. Danish doctors never agreed on a common decision to promote cremation motivated by hygienic reasons. This left room for another prominent group to join the debate, namely the theologians who refused to deal with the topic in a solely scientific context. However, not all Danish theologians opposed cremation, but many denounced cremation as a threat to the religious foundation of society.

 
Kvartalets genstand
Morten A. Skydsgaard

 
Originalartikel: Døden på glas
Ion Meyer

 

Death in a jar. On fetuses in anatomical collections

Bibl Læger 2010;202:116–126.

 

Medical Museion in Copenhagen holds a collection, which attracts particular attention. The Museum Saxtorphianum contains a teratological collection of approximately 400 fluid-preserved specimens of fetuses, children or parts thereof. We do not know where they originated, but the article gives examples of how these items could have become part of the collection. The significance of the collection changed when it became a part of the museum, but it has retained the original clinical approach, which makes it appear very authentic. The article discusses considerations regarding the exhibition of these items and addresses the question of why we are so fascinated by them.

 
Originalartikel: »Hvad veed Lægen egentlig?«                
Ib Søgaard

 

“What does the doctor really know?” Søren Kierkegaard’s final illness and death in 1855

Bibl Læger 2010;202:127–146.

 

The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) was admitted to the Royal Hospital in Copenhagen on October 2’nd 1855. Upon the admission he was awake with severe paresis of both legs, but with preserved sensation. The following days and weeks his illness progressed, involving abdominal muscles, arms, neck and lower cranial nerves. On November 11’th he died in a state of respiratory failure. His final illness has been retrospectively diagnosed by several scholars to be tuberculosis with compression of the spinal cord. However, a careful study of his medical record by the author resulted in an alternative suggestion. The ascending part of the disease has previous been overlooked, and the most liable diagnosis is now an acute ascending polyradiculitis, better known as Guillain-Barré’s disease. Luckily, Kierkegaard’s medical record was preserved, and generally medical records are valuable tools for research in medical history. However, according to the Danish Archive Act from 2003 it is now possible to destroy all medical records later than 1949 except for records from persons born on the first of every month. The author argues that the Act is devastating to future research and suggests alternative (i.e. digital) means of preserving medical information.

 
Originalartikel: Napoleons nyrer
Arne W.S. Sørensen

Napoleon’s kidneys. Notes on Napoleon Bonaparte’s illness and death

Bibl Læger 2010;202:147–167.

 

Napoleon suffered from kidney problems most of his life. He was ill as a child and in his youth, on Corsica, at the school in Brienne, and as a young officer. During the Italian campaign 1796–1797 and the Battle of Marengo his doctors realized that he had a urinary disease, which deteriorated over the years. Napoleon took pride in having an “iron constitution”. This, however, proved to be quite an illusion.

Based on the autopsy reports and on the clinical manifestations the author argues that Napoleon’s primary illness was most likely stenosis of the urethra with a contracted urinary bladder and obstructive chronic pyelonephritis. Thus, most of his symptoms can be readily ascribed to a kidney illness. Moreover, since the 1960s abnormally large contents of arsenic have been identified in more than 30 specimens of hair from Napoleon’s head. Exactly how much this intoxication has influenced the functions of his kidney is uncertain, but arsenic can cause extremely severe kidney damages. Napoleon, the author argues, died from kidney insufficiency and terminal uraemia on May 5th 1821 on St. Helena. “My bladder will cause my death”, Napoleon stated on St. Helena, but his doctors never understood the seriousness of his severe lifelong illness. Despite all conspiracy rumors he was probably not the victim of a crime. He died from natural causes. And even though the patient is deceased, the author suggests that we have finally reached the correct diagnosis.

 
Et billede fra min hverdag
Troels Frølund Thomsen

 
Internationale tilbageblik: Broer til Japan                       
Erik Holst

Forside: Debatten om ligbrænding versus kistebegravelse blev skudt i gang i 1870’erne af den britiske hoflæge Sir Henry Thompson (1820–1904), og diskussionen nåede hurtigt Danmark, hvor prominente læger stillede sig i spidsen for ligbrændingssagen. Illustrationen skulle anskueliggøre for lægmand, hvordan en moderne kremering kunne se ud (Illustreret Tidende, 31. maj 1874).