Epilepsy's role in the historical differentiation of religion, magic, and science.

A distinction between religion, magic, and science has not always been recognized. Ancient Greek physicians, in their writings about epilepsy, were likely among the first to record the historically important differentiation between religion, magic, and science.

The contributions of Lavoisier, Carnot, and Mayer to understanding heat illness.

Although heat illness has been described throughout recorded history, an understanding of its pathophysiology was only achieved in the 20th century. Lavoisier, Carnot, and Mayer described fundamental concepts about thermodynamics in the late 18th and early 19th centuries that were crucial to the eventual understanding of heat illness. Lavoisier recognized that the human body was a heat engine.

"Guessing it right," John A. Simpson, and myasthenia gravis: the role of analogy in science.

In 1960, John A. Simpson hypothesized that myasthenia gravis "is an 'auto-immune' response of muscle in which an antibody to end-plate protein may be formed." Simpson's speculation was subsequently shown to be correct.