Question 16: Answer

Sir William Osler (1849–1919) is associated with a long list of contributions and eponymous entities including filaria, maneuvers, nodules, syndromes, and triads. Among the less known ones is the Oslerian pulling of the tongue for termination of obstinate hiccup (singultus). Janet Travell (1901–1977) Travell, JG. 1977. A trigger point for hiccup. Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, 77: 308–312. [PubMed] , [Google Scholar], physician to two United States presidents, attributed the tongue-pulling maneuver to Osler. Dr. Travell cites Osler's Principles and Practice of Medicine from 1912, where mention of the remedy can be found. The therapy, however, is much older and (perhaps not surprisingly) of French origin. It can be viewed as a spin-off of attempts by Jean Laborde (1830–1903) to resuscitate the “presque morts” (almost dead) via rhythmic traction of the tongue. Lesser known physicians involved in the treatment of singultus by traction of the tongue are Jean Viaud (1862–1946) and Raphaël Lépine (1840–1919).     

Formal ethnography at a distance

Michael Agar. Ripping and Running: A Formal Ethnography of Urban Heroin Addicts. New York: Seminar Press, 1973. xiv + 173 pp. Figures, glossary, appendixes, references, and index. $8.50.     

Cultural survival: Lessons from the native North Americans

Champagne, Duane. American Indian Societies: Strategies and Conditions of Political and Cultural Survival. Cambridge: Cultural Survival, Inc., 1989. 160 pp. including references. $19.95 cloth, $10.00 paper.

Cohen, Fay G. Treaties on Trial: The Continuing Controversy over Northwest Indian Fishing Rights. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1986. vii + 256 pp. including notes and index. $20.00 cloth, $9.95 paper.

Fahey, John. The Kalispel Indians. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1986. vii + 248 pp. including notes, bibliography, and index. $18.95 cloth.

Thornton, Russell. We Shall Live Again: The 1870 and 1890 Ghost Dance Movements as Demographic Revitalization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. ix + 95 pp. including appendices, bibliography, and index.