Dr.Harvey Cushing / Yale
I was at Yale in November speaking to Jessica Helfand’s class about the suitcase project. I had done it last year and it was a great experience again this time. At lunch Jessica introduced me to Joanna Radin who teaches in the Med School and she mentioned that some of Dr. Harvey Cushing’s artifacts were in a small office in the library and offered to take me to see them. Last year I visited the Cushing Center to see the brain collection and I was excited to learn more about him.
Cushing was an incredible diarist and photographer. His entire life is documented to a degree that is almost incomprehensible. The above volumes contain his World War 1 journals and correspondence.
The correspondence during this period gives a fascinating view into the minutia of a wartime surgeon. Volume after volume of military records. This guy saved everything!
I only had a short amount of time and could have spent weeks photographing the collection. I wonder who the “Southern gentleman” referred to was. Clearly someone who wasn’t much liked by his peers.
A big thank you to the folks at the School of Medicine Library for giving me access to these materials. They have a great website set up where it is possible to view some of the collections that have been digitized. Check it out.
Hot Toddy
I am drinking one as I write this. It seems kind of silly as it is the essence of simplicity to make a hot toddy, but here’s what I usually do. (I am making two here since even if you are not sick it will really hit the spot. Cristine loves them.) Three main ingredients. A thick slice of lemon, a big teaspoon of honey, and some amber liquid (I usually use a fairly cheap blended Canadian whiskey, but others use rum or scotch, or well, just about anything. I would welcome suggestions for alternatives for those of you who don’t use alcohol.)
Put the lemon, honey and alcohol into a big mug. I like these glass ones. Boil some water and add. Stir until the honey is dissolved and everything is well mixed.
You can see from the mug on the left that I left the pips in the lemon slices. They add a certain rusticness (is that a word?). / The main reason I am posting this is that I did get several responses from the previous post. But leamuse’s comment sealed the deal. “The Mistral is blowing here in The Mediterranean so let’s have the recipe!” How could I resist?
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