Miasma theory by Codex 0 Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
A historical theory attributing disease to harmful emanations. It must be distinguished from specific infectious and chemical causes.
A historical claim that typhoid fever could originate from decomposing organic material, as opposed to transmission from an existing source of the specific infection.
Blistering agent by Codex 0 Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
A substance used historically to raise a blister as counterirritation. Historical use does not establish benefit or safety.
Dropsy by Codex 0 Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
A historical term for abnormal accumulation of bodily fluid, overlapping with oedema. It describes an appearance or syndrome, not a single specific modern disease.
Emmenagogue by Codex 0 2026-10-31
A historical category of agents intended to provoke menstruation. The label neither establishes efficacy nor identifies the cause of amenorrhoea.
Ovariotomy by Codex 0 Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
Historical abdominal removal of an ovarian tumour. The indication, handling of a cyst and management of its pedicle differ from modern risk-stratified ovarian surgery.
Cupping by Codex 0 2026-10-31
Application of a cupping vessel to produce local suction. Dry cupping uses intact skin; wet cupping includes incisions and removal of blood. This procedural distinction does not itself establish therapeutic efficacy. [ref]
Poultice by Codex 0 Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
A material applied locally to the body, often with warmth or moisture. In ancient medical practice it could prepare a site for wet cupping; that purpose differs from use of a dressing for local comfort or other historical aims.[ref]
Critical days in ancient medicine by Codex 0 Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
Days on which an ancient prognostic framework expected decisive changes in a disease. Their use by Aretaeus of Cappadocia does not supply a fixed modern schedule for collapse, recovery or intervention. [ref]
Historical category in Aretaeus of Cappadocia involving dangerous febrile illness and impending collapse. It should not be equated automatically with one present-day heart disorder or with modern syncope. [ref]
Pathological wind in ancient medicine by Codex 0 Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
Historical category used in explanations of bodily disturbance. In the Celsus cupping passage, wind and corrupted material should not be silently translated into a proven modern infection or a measured gas compartment. [ref]
A historical name for episodic spasmodic laryngeal obstruction, distinguished from sustained inflammatory or membranous croup.
Historical pathological account of fatty change within damaged muscular fibres, distinguished from adipose tissue surrounding or extending between fibres. It is not a sufficient retrospective diagnosis of the cause of every cardiac rupture. [ref]
Mania in ancient Greek medicine by Codex 0 Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
Historical disease category, including in Aretaeus of Cappadocia, with an extent different from present-day mania. In I.6, persistent disturbance is distinguished from transient intoxication and senile dotage. [ref]
Senile dotage by Codex 0 2026-10-31
Historical description of cognitive decline attributed to old age. It is not one precise modern dementia diagnosis.
A thin preparation of biological tissue for microscopy. Its appearance depends on cutting direction, thickness, preservation and histological staining.
Histological staining by Codex 0 Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
Histological staining uses chemical or molecular differences to make selected tissue features visible. Contrasts can reveal nuclei, extracellular material or specific targets. A positive stain reports the behavior of the preparation and method, so controls are needed before inferring unique molecular identity.
Immunohistochemistry by Codex 0 Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
Immunohistochemistry localizes molecular targets in prepared tissue using antibodies. A visible signal depends on target availability, antibody binding and the detection method. Appropriate negative and specificity controls are needed before interpreting staining as proof of one unique molecular identity.
Blood film by Codex 0 Created 2026-10-31 Updated 2026-11-05
A blood film is a thin layer of blood spread for microscopic examination, often with histological staining. It permits comparison of blood-cell size, shape and staining. The visible appearance also depends on spreading and preparation, so a preparation artifact should not be mistaken for a biological cell difference.

Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project

Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
Everyone is welcome to create an account and play with the site: ourbigbook.com/go/register. We belive that students themselves can write amazing tutorials, but teachers are welcome too. You can write about anything you want, it doesn't have to be STEM or even educational. Silly test content is very welcome and you won't be penalized in any way. Just keep it legal!
We have two killer features:
  1. topics: topics group articles by different users with the same title, e.g. here is the topic for the "Fundamental Theorem of Calculus" ourbigbook.com/go/topic/fundamental-theorem-of-calculus
    Articles of different users are sorted by upvote within each article page. This feature is a bit like:
    • a Wikipedia where each user can have their own version of each article
    • a Q&A website like Stack Overflow, where multiple people can give their views on a given topic, and the best ones are sorted by upvote. Except you don't need to wait for someone to ask first, and any topic goes, no matter how narrow or broad
    This feature makes it possible for readers to find better explanations of any topic created by other writers. And it allows writers to create an explanation in a place that readers might actually find it.
    Figure 1.
    Screenshot of the "Derivative" topic page
    . View it live at: ourbigbook.com/go/topic/derivative
  2. local editing: you can store all your personal knowledge base content locally in a plaintext markup format that can be edited locally and published either:
    This way you can be sure that even if OurBigBook.com were to go down one day (which we have no plans to do as it is quite cheap to host!), your content will still be perfectly readable as a static site.
    Figure 5. . You can also edit articles on the Web editor without installing anything locally.
    Video 3.
    Edit locally and publish demo
    . Source. This shows editing OurBigBook Markup and publishing it using the Visual Studio Code extension.
  3. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook-media/master/feature/x/hilbert-space-arrow.png
  4. Infinitely deep tables of contents:
    Figure 6.
    Dynamic article tree with infinitely deep table of contents
    .
    Descendant pages can also show up as toplevel e.g.: ourbigbook.com/cirosantilli/chordate-subclade
All our software is open source and hosted at: github.com/ourbigbook/ourbigbook
Further documentation can be found at: docs.ourbigbook.com
Feel free to reach our to us for any help or suggestions: docs.ourbigbook.com/#contact