The Grand Old Man

Roelof Oldeman, the grand old man of the forest

Meeting Prof. Oldeman is a memorable experience. I remember well his entries in the lecture hall. A towering figure appears, clad in a green cape, his posture a striking blend of Sandeman and Zorro. So I had met with Prof. Oldeman: a lucid, multilingual, well-spoken gentleman, who travels all continents and boasts a wide range of interests that includes his students. These were the beginnings o...

Samuel Wilks: the "grand old man" of British medicine.

A 50 Year Old Man with Fever and Abdominal Pain

The patient is a 50-year-old man who has been diagnosed with abdominal pain, fever, shivering and constipation with nausea and vomiting with a possible diagnosis of typhoid. Computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen and pelvis was performed by injection of contrast agent for the patient. What is your diagnosis?

The old man and his doctor.

Doctor, I am consulting you about the state of my health. My condition is fairly stable. Of course, like everyone else, I am getting older year by year. Strangely, I am not aware of this. The days and weeks pass by without my really noticing them. Years succeed each other, and I am not conscious of them. The other day, I realized that almost 10 years had slipped by since the arrival of the thir...

Environmental Problems and the grand old Theory of ‘ Human Nature ’

While the notion of ‘human nature’ has been devaluated from the status of ‘grand theory’ to a marginal anthropological debate, I argue that it deserves to be resurrected in order to comprehend some of the explanatory gaps inherent in other theories. Industrialization signifies a turning point in human history, which in combination with certain ‘universal’ human traits led to recent environmenta...