Men In Philadelphia Research Articles

Louis A. Duhring, MD—Pathfinder for Dermatology.

This book fills a hiatus in our medical history for it is the first complete biography of an unusually productive man. Thomas Duhring (1845-1913) described pruritus hiemalis and dermatitis herpetiformis, the latter commonly called Duhring's disease. He was the son of immigrants; his father was from Germany, and his mother was from German speaking Switzerland. Although from modest origins, his father, by virtue of industry and intelligence, became one of the ten richest men in Philadelphia. Thus it was financially easy for Duhring to spend two years in sundry dermatology centers in Europe. He was an exceptional teacher and a very prolific writer. We are told that his descriptions were accurate and precise. Yet he described one patient as being clay-colored. I wonder what color he meant; for Merriam Webster gives clay colored as "yellowish red yellow in hue" and the Encyclopaedia Britannica refers to white, red, blue, and gray

The Demise of the "Philadelphia Medical Journal."

ABSTRACT Philadelphia, June 29, 1903.To the Editor:—Certain inaccuracies in the statement made by the late editor-in-chief of the Philadelphia Medical Journal, in your issue for June 20, seem to need correction in order that the profession may be better able to point the moral which adorns this tale. I refer particularly to the words:Two and a half years ago the Philadelphia Medical Journal reached a crisis in its affairs which led to a change in editorial management. There were many prominent medical men in Philadelphia and elsewhere who were interested in keeping the journal alive; and in spite of the fact that its short career up to that time had been marked by threatening disaster (due largely to the opposing aims and temperaments of men who commanded its various departments), a determined effort was made to rehabilitate the journal and give it a new lease of life. At