Tag: classics

Posted in Psychology & Medicine

Priapism

Posted on by Jinavie

The penis is an interesting organ that has the ability to harden, despite being made of spongy material. Contrary to the popular slang for erection (boner), the (human) penis contains no bone.

Instead, it is made of a pair of cylindrical, spongy tissue called the corpus cavernosa, and a smaller spongy tube that surrounds the urethra called the corpus spongiosum. An erection happens when the body redirects blood flow to fill these spongy tissues, engorging them with blood. As it expands, the corpora become rigid and tense as they are wrapped by a thick, dense tissue called the tunica albuginea. The tension compresses the surrounding veins, trapping the blood and keeping the penis erect. Once stimulation slows and less blood flows into the penis, the blood drains via the venous system and the erection withers.

A common problem with erections is that of erectile dysfunction (unable to become erect or sustain it), which is well-known to the lay person. However, a lesser-known, opposite problem is priapism.

Priapism refers to an erection that will not die down even when the stimulation has ended, or with no stimulation at all. Although this may not sound like a medical problem other than causing embarrassment, priapism can be a very painful condition and depending on the cause, the penis can become starved of fresh blood (ischaemic), resulting in permanent damage to the cells and tissue.

Priapism is named after the Greek god, Priapus. He was a minor god worshipped in rural Asia Minor as a god of fertility, livestock and gardens. Priapus is depicted as having a permanent erection to symbolise fertility, but ironically, was cursed with impotence by Hera while still in the womb. His massive, erect penis was a popular theme for Roman erotic art and can be seen in various pieces of ancient art.

Priapism can arise from various causes such as blood disorders, medications and spinal cord damage. The problem is usually due to blood being trapped in the penis, or the nervous system continuously stimulating blood flow into the penis. As the main issue is engorgement with blood, the acute treatment for priapism involves decompressing the penis by using a needle to aspirate (draw out) blood directly from the corpus cavernosa.

Posted in Science & Nature

Maze

Posted on by Jinavie

A maze is a puzzle with a simple rule – travel from start to finish. The tricky part is that the path from start to finish is not straightforward, but full of twists and turns. It is usually packed in a compact rectangle or circle, with numerous forks and branches. Because of its simplicity, it has been a popular puzzle for millennia.

Like any puzzle, there are tricks to solving mazes. The most basic, but highly effective rule, is the right-hand rule. This is a form of wall following rule, where you run the maze while tracing the wall your right hand is touching. Keep following a wall with your right hand and you will eventually reach the end. 

The rule works for most simple mazes that are simply-connected, where each wall is connected to the outermost wall. But in some cases, the maze is not simply-connected and you will end up in a loop. In this case, you will eventually end back at the beginning, so you will have to try follow a different wall (i.e. use your left hand instead and see how you go).

One of the most famous mazes in history is the Cretan labyrinth, featured in Greek mythology (likely based on the actual palace of Knossos). The Cretan labyrinth was a cryptic maze within the palace the housed the fearsome minotaur, to whom human sacrifices were sent to be devoured. The minotaur is slain by the hero Theseus, who navigates the labyrinth and safely escapes by using a ball of thread given to him by the princess, Ariadne, as a trace.

Mazes were especially popular amongst nobles in Europe, with many castles featuring hedge mazes as part of their magnificent gardens. It is likely that these mazes were popular not because they offer an intellectual challenge, but because it is an ideal date location. 

Walking a maze gives you a sense of intimacy, because the paths are narrow and you can only perceive a small space of 10-20 square metres, due to its many-walled nature. You walk side-by-side with each other, while your footsteps echo on the hedges. You have nothing else to distract you other than plain walls and the sky, so you can focus on each other. But most importantly, it provides privacy, by transporting you to a secret, little world of your own.

Posted in History & Literature

Sword Of Damocles

Posted on by Jinavie

Damocles was a courtier to Dionysius II, king of Syracuse, Sicily. One day, he exclaimed how envious he was of the sheer power and authority the king wielded. To Damocles’ surprise, King Dionysius II responded by offering to switch places with him for a day to experience what it is like to be a king. Damocles jumped at this chance and agreed to it immediately.

So Damocles was changed into royal attire and was allowed to sit on an ornate throne. But as he sat on the throne, indulging in the magnificence he was surrounded by, he noticed that Dionysius had arranged for an addition to the throne room. He had arranged for a large sword to be hung above the throne, suspended on a single hair of a horse’s tail. The sword loomed over Damocles’ head, threatening to drop and kill him in an instant at any given moment.

The constant threat of death was too much for Damocles and he quickly begged the king for mercy to leave the throne. He finally understood that with great power, comes great danger around every corner. It was impossible for Damocles to enjoy the luxurious life of a king with a sword above his head.

The allegorical sword may not just be the threat of death. Many of us voluntarily hang a sword above our heads: anxiety for the future, paranoia that something will go wrong and of course, existential dread. How can we possibly be happy with a sword dangling above us? Happiness cannot blossom from a soul drenched in fear.

Look above you: what kind of sword hangs above your head? What is preventing you from being happy?

Posted in History & Literature

Fortune Telling

Posted on by Jinavie

Humanity has always been interested in trying to predict the future. Even if the future cannot be changed, we seem to have a primal craving to know something that should not be known. The history of fortune telling can be traced back to ancient times in almost every culture.

The ancient Greeks were particular fans of divination – the art of foreseeing with the inspiration of a god – and the most famous example is of course the Oracle of Delphi. The priestesses of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi were known to give very accurate, yet cryptic, prophecies inspired by Apollo. For example, when Croesus, king of Lydia, consulted the Oracle regarding his invasion of Persia, he was advised: 

“If you cross the river, a great empire will be destroyed”. 

Croesus believed this to mean that he would conquer Persia, but ultimately, the invasion failed and his own empire was destroyed by the Persians instead.

However, as the Oracle of Delphi would only give prophecies on the 7th day of every month, most commoners could not afford to have their fortunes told by them and would instead turn to seers. Seers told fortune through variable method, all with the purpose of interpreting “signs from the gods”. An example would be a haruspicy – divination through the inspection of an animal’s organs, commonly a sacrificed sheep’s liver.

Divination was an important part of Native American cultures. Diviners would use potent hallucinogens to reach an altered state of mind to derive visions. Scrying was also common – the practice of “seeing” the future by using reflections in mirrors or water surfaces.
In ancient China, oracles would read the future by reading the patterns of cracks on a burnt turtle shell (plastromancy). Nostradamus, the famous French seer, would scry the future in a bowl of water. The most classic, stereotypical image of a fortune teller is a gypsy woman gazing into a crystal ball or reading the palm of a person to foresee an individual’s future.

Fortune telling still plays an important role in the modern world, with a significant proportion of people in multiple cultures believing that the future can be predicted by fortune tellers. In the Western world, horoscopes are a common feature of newspapers and astrologists and tarot card readers are frequented by people seeking advice. In countries such as Korea, China and Japan, a significant number of people will seek fortune tellers to see how “well-matched” a couple are before marriage is decided.

There has been zero scientific evidence to suggest that clairvoyance is real. However, perhaps that is not the point of fortune telling. Another name for fortune tellers is soothsayers – perhaps having our fortune told gives us a sense of comfort as it eases our morbid curiosity for what the future holds. The future is an endless sea of possibilities and the realisation that anything could happen can be crippling. So maybe the aim of fortune telling is not to predict the future, but to temporarily treat your fear of the future so that you may live in the present.

Posted in History & Literature

Marathon

Posted on by Jinavie

In 490BC, The Greek city states were hard at war with the almighty Persian Empire. One well-known battle (out of many) is the Battle of Marathon, fought between about 10,000 Athenian soldiers (with some Plataean reinforcements) versus 26,000 Persian soldiers. Despite the Persians having superior numbers and cavalry, the battle concluded with a decisive victory to Athens thanks to a well-implemented flanking strategy and the temporary absence of the Persian cavalry at the base camp. The battle was a turning point in the First Greco-Persian War and the crushing defeat drove the Persian invasion force off Greek lands for ten years.

The popular story goes that a runner named Pheidippides was sent from Marathon to Athens after the battle to bring the good news, as the people of Athens were still gripped in fear that the Persians would directly strike the city soon. It is said that Pheidippides ran a distance of about 40 kilometres back to Athens and on arrival cried out “We have won!”, then collapsed and died from exhaustion.
When the modern Olympics was being designed at the late 19th century, the organisers decided to use this story to inspire what we now call the marathon – a 42.195km endurance run. The story was to recall the glory of ancient Greece and the heroic act of Pheidippides (also referred as Philippides in some texts).

Unfortunately, the story is a romantic amalgamation of two separate stories. But then again, the actual story is just as incredible.
Despite the decisive Athenian victory at the Battle of Marathon, the war still raged on and the Persians changed directions and headed for Athens instead. The Athenian army marched swiftly back home to pre-empt the Persian landing force. They marched 40km within a day – an amazing feat considering the fact that they just fought a massive battle and were armoured from head to toe.
The runner, Pheidippides, actually ran a distance of 225 kilometres from Athens to Sparta seeking reinforcements before the Persian army landed in Marathon (i.e. before the Battle of Marathon). He then ran back to Athens, meaning he ran roughly 450~500km within a few days. There is not much historical evidence of whether he actually ran this far in such short time but there are some anecdotal recordings.

The world record for the fastest marathon is 2 hours 3 minutes 23 seconds (as of 2014) by Wilson Kipsang of Kenya. The world record for the longest marathon ever run is set by Shiso Kanakuri, who started the marathon on July 14, 1912, during which collapsed from heat exhaustion around the 27km mark. He had to withdraw from the race, but could not bear with his “failure” all throughout his life. In 1967, he challenged himself again at the age of 75 to finish the remaining 15km, eventually setting the record time for the longest marathon ever run – 54 years, 8 months, 6 days, 5 hours, 32 minutes and 20.3 seconds.

Posted in Psychology & Medicine

Mithridatism

Posted on by Jinavie

Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus (ancient Greek/Persian state located in modern day Turkey), had a paranoia that there were people who wanted to assassinate him through poison. This likely stemmed from his father being poisoned by his mother (reportedly), who favoured his brother over Mithridates as the heir to the throne. He noticed in his youth that the meals brought to him induced stomach pains. He connected the dots and deduced that his mother was trying to poison him slowly so that his brother would become the next king. He fled to the wilderness and devised a plan to protect himself. It is said that he began taking a concoction of various poisons in non-lethal doses every day, to develop an immunity to the most common poisons available during his time. This led to the idea of mithridatism – the gradual self-administration of non-lethal doses of poison to develop immunity. Ironically, Mithridates’ plan backfired eventually when he attempted suicide by poison after a massive defeat against Rome. He found that the poison had no effect on him and had to request his bodyguard to kill him by sword.

Mithridatism has been recorded or suspected in various times of history. Indian epics tell the story of the king Chandragupta Maurya – the first king to unite India – who selected a group of beautiful girls and raised them in the palace. He gave the order to administer small amounts of poison to these girls as they grew up, making them invulnerable to toxins. He called these girls vishakanyas (poison maiden) and believed that they could be used as assassins who could kill men through the act of sex.
There are suggestions that Rasputin was also a practitioner of mithridatism and that this was why he survived an assassination attempt involving poison, but there is not much evidence for this.
The practice of mithridatism is also mentioned in various fictions, such as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Princess Bride.

The concept of taking small doses of something to build up an immunity is still used in modern medicine. Desensitisation therapy is used to treat certain allergies, by exposing the body to small doses of the allergen. It is well-known that alcoholics and drug addicts required more substance to achieve the same effect as most people because they develop tolerance to it. There is some evidence that mithridatism is an effective way to build immunity to venomous snake bites.
However, not all poisonings can be avoided with mithridatism. Poisons such as cyanide pass through the system too quickly to create any tolerance, while heavy metals simply build up in the body to create a toxic effect after a history of exposure.

Posted in History & Literature

The Oldest Trick

Posted on by Jinavie

Magic has been a great source of entertainment for the masses for thousands of years. Across the globe, under many guises, magicians have amazed audiences with seemingly impossible “miracles” using misdirection and clever trickery. The oldest recorded trick – that is to say one performed purely for entertainment and not under the guise of religion or supernatural power – dates back to ancient Egypt.

According to the Westcar Papyrus, a magician by the name of Dedi was famous for his miraculous feats. The Papyrus tells the story of how Dedi was called to put a show on for King Khufu. He proceeded to decapitate a goose, then reattach the head, bringing the bird back to life. He repeats the magic with a duck, then with a bull, wrenching its head off then bringing it back to life by reattaching the head. For his amazing performance, he is rewarded by being allowed to live in the palace. This trick is still practised by magicians to this day, thus making it the longest performed trick in history.

Posted in History & Literature

Prostitution

Posted on by Jinavie

They say that prostitution is the world’s oldest profession. The job sure lives up to its reputation – the first recorded incidence of paying money for sex is in 2400BC, where prostitution is recorded among a list of professions in ancient Sumer. Of course, there is no proof of it being literally the “oldest” profession, because the money (or any currency) to pay for sex must have come from somewhere else. Evidence of prostitution can be found in almost every other ancient civilisations, including the ancient Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Jews, Aztecs, Korean, Chinese and Japanese. It is also heavily referenced in the Bible, suggesting that it was a widely spread profession.

As unnatural as the act of paying for sex may seem, prostitution has been recorded in animals as well. In 1998, a marine biologist named Fiona Hunter was studying the mating behaviour of Adélie penguins. She observed that the penguins would couple up and begin building a nest for their future offspring. The females would go out alone to look for pebbles at the beach. But then, she noticed that some female penguins would not head to the beach to collect the pebbles. Instead, they approached another male penguin (usually one that was single) and engage in courtship rituals to lure them into having sex. The female would then grab some pebbles and run off, while the male just let her go. Hunter concluded that this behaviour was indeed a material exchange for sexual pleasures.

Similar behaviour of offering food or grooming for sex has been observed in different primate species such as chimpanzees and crab-eating macaques. The most interesting study on this topic was that of training capuchin monkeys to use a currency. As soon as they learned that the silver discs could be used to purchase food, monkeys were seen “gifting” these silver discs to each other in exchange for sex. This kind of behaviour does not seem too unnatural if you consider that sex is a biological need (or at least a strong want), and sexual pleasure is, psychologically speaking, one of the strongest rewards.

Prostitution is generally deemed immoral and looked down upon, especially given the exploitation of women for their bodies and cheapening the act of making love. However, it should also be noted that throughout history, there are several cases of women using it as an opportunity to achieve something great. For example, Rahab was a harlot from Jericho in 1400BC. Back then, intelligent, independent women could not have much freedom as a married woman was treated as a slave to her husband. As a harlot, Rahab could live her own life and make her own decisions. When the city of Jericho was laid under siege by King Joshua, he sent in two spies to scout the area. Rahab hid these two men from the guards of the king of Jericho and showed them the secret passages of the city, ultimately allowing for Joshua to conquer the city with easy.

There is also the case of Theodora of Constantinople, who rose from being a harlot to an empress by seducing the Emperor Justinian, who made her a valued co-ruler of the empire. She then proceeded to use her power to crack down on the exploitation of women and protecting women’s rights.

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Posted in Psychology & Medicine

Viscera: Liver

Posted on by Jinavie

(Learn more about the organs of the human bodies in other posts in the Viscera series here: https://jineralknowledge.com/tag/viscera/?order=asc)

The liver is the second largest organ (next to the skin) in the human body, weighing about 1.4~1.6kg. It is found tucked under the right side of the ribcage, underneath the 5th to 10th rib in height and almost spanning the entire width of the trunk. When enlarged, the liver grows downward and can be felt in an abdominal exam (sometimes it is so large that it covers most of the abdomen).

It is a vital organ with many life-sustaining functions (hence “liver”) such as building various proteins, breaking down toxins, storing sugars in the form of glycogen, decomposing red blood cells and producing bile. The liver metabolises (breaks down) a large proportion of medications and drugs as it treats them as “toxins”. For example, the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase breaks down alcohols into acetaldehyde, which causes hangovers and liver damage. Many Asians have a variant of this enzyme that is extremely efficient, causing a massive build-up of acetaldehyde when they drink alcohol. This is responsible for the so-called “Asian flush”.

Liver disease is associated a myriad of symptoms. The classic sign of jaundice (yellow skin and whites of eyes) is caused by obstruction of bile flow. Because of its location, pain in the right upper quadrant of the abdomen is commonly seen. As the liver is involved in synthesising various proteins, signs such as ascites (fluid in the abdomen) or bleeding may occur when the liver is damaged. A syndrome called portal hypertension is commonly seen in chronic liver disease such as cirrhosis as a major vein to the liver is blocked. This can cause an enlarged spleen, oesophageal varices that can bleed, ascites and prominent veins radiating from the belly button (caput medusae).

An interesting property of the liver is that it can regenerate at an amazing rate. A liver will regenerate to its original size even when a half of it is cut out (this is how live donor liver transplants work). What is more interesting is that the ancient Greeks probably knew of this fact as well. In Greek mythology, the gods punish Prometheus for bringing fire to humans by chaining him to a mountain and commanding an eagle to peck out his liver. The liver would then regenerate overnight and the eagle would return every morning to eviscerate him, causing him eternal anguish.

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Posted in Philosophy

Ship Of Theseus

Posted on by Jinavie

An ancient Greek philosopher named Plutarch pondered this scenario. Imagine that the Greek hero Theseus was to repair his ship after a long journey by replacing broken parts with new timber. If he was to embark on so many journeys and repair his ship so much that all of the original material that made the ship were replaced, is that ship still the same ship of Theseus?

This is an interesting philosophical question where some may argue that the ship is still, by definition, the “ship of Theseus” while some may argue that it is no longer the same ship Theseus once owned, but merely a replacement.

Although it is hard to grasp the significance of this question when using an analogy of ancient Greek heroes and ships, it comes closer to home in the field of biology. It is a known fact that the human body is under constant change; cells divide to produce a new lineage of fresh cells while shedding away old, dead cells. Different cells turnover at different rates; skin is almost completely replaced every 4~6 weeks, the lining of the gut is turned over every 4~6 days, while brain cells are almost never replaced (but contrary to popular belief, they can regenerate). If this is the case, are you the same “you” as you were a year ago when the majority of your skin and gut cells were technically “different” (but genetically identical) cells to what they are now? Or are you simply a replacement shell for your brain?

A simpler way of thinking about this would be to consider the case of clones: are clones the “same” as their originals?

The paradox of the ship of Theseus can be extended into a larger scale. Consider a large city like New York. If we were to assume that all of the inhabitants of a city are replaced over a hundred years, then is that city still “New York”? Not only would it looks different because of its new buildings and whatnot, but the people that make up the culture and substance of the city would be completely changed. However, New York is still called “New York” just as it was in the early 1900’s. So is the modern day New York still New York or New New York?

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