Treasures of the P.I. Nixon



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October 11, 2019

  nterested in learning more about the history of medicine or health care? Ever wonder what remedies were used long ago to treat ailments? Subscribe to the Treasures of the P.I. Nixon blog and learn the fascinating truths about the history of the health sciences.  Last month’s post, Not Just Another Putti Face, features the […]


Annual P.I. Nixon Dinner Draws a Crowd

November 19, 2018

  The message to the 120 attendees of the 48th Annual Friends of the Nixon Medical Historical Library Dinner this year (on Friday October 26th) was that, yes, sugar is bad for you. Author Gary Taubes, award-winning science and health journalist, shared an historical account of the tracking of diabetes rates and made a convincing case […]


July 2018 Historical Book of the Month

June 28, 2018

  This month’s historical book selection is The Anatomy of Melancholy, What it is, with all the kinds, causes, symptoms, prognostics & several cures of it. Philosophically, Medicinally, Historically opened & cut up, by Robert Burton [Democritus Junior] (1576-1640).  Initially published in 1621, Burton edited and augmented four subsequent editions, and packed his psychological tome […]


We Have a Winner!: The 2018 History of the Health Sciences Essay Award

April 9, 2018

On March 29, the winner of the Danny Jones History of the Health Sciences Essay Award, Farhan Ahmad, was presented with a check by Senior Director of Libraries Owen Ellard. Farhan won the 2018 competition with his essay, Knee History: From Early Developments to the Total Knee Replacement. The annual $500 award is sponsored by […]


March 2018 Historical Book of the Month

February 27, 2018

This month’s book pick is The True Prophecies or Prognostications of Michael Nostradamus by Nostradamus, translated by Theophilus de Garencières 1672, 1st edition. Nostradamus is the Latinized name of Michel de Nostredame, a French astrologer, physician, and prophet. He is famous for his prophecies in his publication Centuries, which was originally published in his native […]


Treasures from the P.I. Nixon Library: Gold Stemmed Pessaries

October 2, 2017

    Check out the latest blog entry from the Treasures of the P.I. Nixon Library:  Gold Stemmed Pessaries: A Shadow of the Past


Gold Stemmed Pessaries: A Shadow of the Past

September 11, 2017

Although the above medical device appears to just be a thingamajig from the local hardware store, it is not. It is a spring-stem wishbone pessary first developed in Germany in the 1880s and used through the late 1930s. Generally, today’s medical pessaries are used for three types of issues: a supportive device for organ prolapse, […]


August 2016 Historical Book of the Month

August 1, 2016

The August 2016 Historical Book of the Month highlights the oldest resource in the P.I. Nixon Medical Historical Library, De Medicina, published in Milan in 1481. Aulus Cornelius Celsus was a first-century Roman historian who compiled this set of treatises as a home health reference for wealthy Patrician families. It includes principles of good surgery, dental […]