The Medical Miscellany Quiz

1. What is ‘rub anatomist’ an anagram of? (page 14)

2. What is carphology? (page 17)

3. How many doctors can you think of in opera? (page 19)

4. What is the longest medical term you can think of? (page 20)

5. Where would you find the painting by Rembrandt, ‘The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicoaes Tulp’? (page 22)

6. What prize was won by the authors of the scientific paper: ‘A man who pricked his finger and smelled putrid for 5 years? (page 26)

7. What are the tell-tale signs of thallium poisoning? (page 27)

8. When did coca cola stop containing cocaine? (page 21)

9. How did the ‘Krebs cycle’ get its name? (page 31)

10. Who is the one constant character across the medical ‘Carry On’ films? (page 21)

11. What happens if you drink ayahuasca? (page 35)

12. What is bagassossis? (page 34)

13. What is the Ayurvedic remedy for headache? (page 32)

14. Who or what is the Fat Controller? (page 38)

15. What is the origin of the name Alka-Seltzer? (page 41)

16. When was the stethoscope invented? (page 43)

17. Who runs faster, a Masai warrior or an African rhinoceros? (page 55)

18. When is it dangerous to eat broad beans? (page 56)

19. Which has the longest gestation: a sheep or a goat? A cat or a guinea pig? (page 57)

20. Who has played Doc Holliday in the movies? (page 57)

21. Who was Doc Holliday? (page 72)

22. What were Anton Chekkhov’s last words? (page 59)

23. What were Bradford Hill’s ‘Nine criteria’?

24. In the opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, how does the heroine commit suicide? (page 61)

25. If a doctor makes a Romeo error, what happens? (page 62)

26. How many euphemisms can you think of for Diarrhoea? (page 64)

27. When was Sigmund Freud’s birthday? (page 64)

28. What is the term for Siamese twins who are joined back to back at the pelvis? (page 66)

29. What is a ‘Q sign’? (page 68)

30. VAC can mean what? (page 68)

31. Name two podiatrists who have had brands of footwear named after them. (page 72)

32. What does CIBA as in CIBA-GEIGY stand for? (page 75)

33. Name two contemporary Hollywood actors who studied medicine but did not graduate. (page 75)

34. Devonshire colic is caused by poisoning with what substance? (page 77)

35. Where is the Rift Valley that has given its name to Rift Valley fever? (page 78)

36. What is the German for whooping cough? (page 78)

37. Name a folk hero of the American Revolution who was a dentist. (page 80)

38. What is the most striking symptom of Kwashiorkor? (page 82)

39. Who was the first British woman to qualify as a doctor? (page 82)

40. Warfarin is the acronym for what? (page 83)

41. What does ‘cyano-‘ mean in words like cyanosis and cyanopsia? (page 84)

42. What are the features of ‘Pinocchio appearance? (page 87)

43. Moorfields Eye Hospital has the motto Fiat Lux. What does it mean? (page 89)

44. How would you define ‘Ulysses syndrome’? (page 90 and 108)

45. Name the earliest known guide to herbal medicine. (page 91)

46. What did Lord Byron (the poet) die of? (page 93)

47. What has nicotine been used to treat? (page 100)

48. What is the Latin for hiccup? (page 101)

49. What is the motto of the Royal College of Pathologists?

50. What is the Ebers Papyrus? (page 106)

51. Why do caput Medusae have that name? (page 107)

52. What illness was Shakespeare describing when he wrote ‘Down with the nose, Down with it flat, take the bridge quite away’? (page 108)

53. Name an English king who died of dysentery. (page 109)

54. Which spelling is correct: fetus or foetus? (page 111)

55. Name an Agatha Christie novel in which Digitalis is the means of murder? (page 113)

56. What are you if you’re ‘two stops short of West Ham’?

57. In what way was Erastratus a pioneer? (page 119)

58. Which is correct: -penia or –paenia? (page 124)

59. In the eating disorder ‘pica’ what does the sufferer eat? (page 132)

60. To which saint do you pray for help if you have haemorrhoids? (page 134)

61. Name an American President who died from food poisoning (page 141)

62. What would you typically find in a GP’s Gladstone bag? (cover and page 142)

63. What is cog-wheel respiration? (page 144)

64. Name the world’s most infectious disease? And the most contagious disease? (page 147)

65. Why the expression ‘mad as a hatter’? (page 146)

66. What is the origin of the word nicotine? (page 100 and 148)

67. Who are the doctors in Shaw’s Doctor’s Dilemma? (page 151)

68. What do your fingers look like if you have arachnodactyly (page 157)

69. If you have ‘shark skin’ what mineral do you lack? (page 160)

70. How many movies can you think of with ‘virus’ in the title? (page 160)