MEDICAL ALLUSIONS PAGE TWO

  Hebe was the daughter of Hera, queen of the Olympians and the cupbearer to the gods. She was the personification of Youth and the wife of the great hero Hercules.

Hebe is the root of the term "hebephrenic", which means "suffering from a form of schizophrenia characterized by foolish mannerisms and senseless laughter along with delusions and regressive behavior", adolescent behavior in other words.

  Hermaphroditus was a handsome son of Aphrodite, goddess of love. He was a very desirable young man with whom the nymph Salmacis fell in love. One day he got undressed and plunged into the lake of Salmacis. When she tried to embrace her love, Hermaphroditus was repulsed and pushed her away. Salmacis then prayed to the gods to cause their bodies never to be separated. Suddenly their two bodies started to merge, until male and female became one, giving life to the first hermaphrodite.

A hermaphrodite in clinical terms is a person that possesses both male and female genitals.

Hygeia (health) was the daughter of the famous physician Asclepius, ancient Greek god of medicine. She was the personification of good health and gave her name to terms such as:

hygiene and hygienic

Hymen, or Hymenaeus was the son of Dionysus, god of wine, and Aphrodite, goddess of love. He was the ancient Greek god of marriage.

The piece of the elastic membrane to the entrance to the vagina is called after Hymen or Hymenaeus

 The word 'hysteria' comes from the Greek word 'hyster' meaning uterus. Ancient Greeks believed that women were especially susceptible to emotional disorders, which originated from the uterus. This also explains the use of the word 'hyster' in medical terminology such as:

 hysterectomy

Hypnos was the son of Nyx (Night) and Erebus and twin brother of Thanatos (Death). His name in Greek means 'sleep' and he had 1000 children. He gave us words such as:

Hypnosis, hypnagogic phenomena, etc.

Nyx was also the mother of Geras (old age) from whose name we get modern terms such as:

 Geriatric medicine

 Morpheus was one of Hypnos's 1000 children.

The drug morphine was named after him.

Mania was the personification of madness in Greek mythology.

The term "mania" is widely used in medical terminology to signify various forms of madness or mental disease.

Medical Allusions continues on page three!

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