Eponyms are commonly used in medicine; some of them derive from the name of literary characters or make reference to classical myths. In this article, we underline some eponyms obtained from literature and review the characteristics of the literary characters, the circumstances that led to their creation, and the physicians who coined and adapted them to the field of medicine. A literary eponym offers a cultural and humanist perspective to our daily practice and is part of the history of medicine.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.