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Skin Deep: Photographing Dermatology, an online exhibit

Here we present material from a Dittrick Museum digital exhibit--Photographing Dermatology: The collections of Dr William Thomas Corlett (1854–1948). William Thomas Corlett was born in Orange, Ohio and educated at Oberlin College from 1870 to 1873. He studied medicine at the medical department of the University of Wooster (forerunner of the College of Wooster), graduating in 1877. After teaching at Wooster for two years he traveled to London and Paris to study skin diseases and later become a Fellow of the London Royal College of Physicians. Corlett returned to Cleveland in 1882 and was appointed lecturer, then Professor of Skin...

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Deadly Effects: Epidemics, Vaccines, and the Measles Outbreak

The recent outbreak  of measles at Disneyland has spurred a rash of competing newscast, blog posts, and social media responses. One question continues to be foremost--as quoted by CNN correspondent Mariano Castillo, "how bad is it?" Castillo reminds the reader: "to call the news surrounding vaccinations a "debate" is misleading. The scientific and medical consensus is clear: Vaccinations are safe, and they work." The question is not about efficacy but about consequences; parents may have a variety of reasons for not vaccinating their children, sometimes on the grounds of safety or mistrust of the vaccine. However, as pointed...

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First Medical Publication in America? SMALLPOX!

On January 21st, 1677, the first medical publication in America was circulating around Boston. Its message? How to manage smallpox. The pamphlet was a broadside, 12 inches by 17 inches, and written by Reverend Thomas Thacher. John Foster of Boston printed and sold it under the title: "A Brief Rule to guide the Common People of New England How to order themselves and theirs in the Small Pocks, or Measles." A second version appeared in 1702. Pamphlets on smallpox continued to circulate (almost as much as the disease) well into the next century--but outbreaks continued even into the early...

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