Hummel or the trademark M.I. Hummel is a series of ceramic figurines based on the illustrations by the German nun Maria Innocentia Hummel (nee Berta Hummel) .
History
Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel's works were discovered by Franz Goebel after a small publisher began printing her artwork as postcards. Goebel started production of the figurines under the authorization of the convent of Siessen. Although sister Hummel died in 1946 from tuberculosis, Goebel carried her legacy of her design.
The first Hummel figurines were sold in 1935. The figurines are all based on the drawings and paintings of children by sister Hummel. Though much of the art was done in the 1930s, the newer figurines have adopted a more contemporary appearance.
In addition to figurines of children, there are figurines of saints - a stylistic departure from the figurines of playful children. There are also figurines that depict cartoon characters like Bart Simpson and Snoopy.
Goebel announced on 2008-06-18 that the Hummel line was to be discontinued and production ceased as of October 2008. However on 2009-02-09 it was announced that Manufaktur Rodental GmbH, planned to resume M.I. Hummel production in February 2009. Rodental a newly founded company by investors, initially planned to start with around 30 employees.
Crafting
At the Goebel company, Hummel figurines are made out of porcelain. The body is biscuit fired, dipped in glaze, and painted using oil and turpentine based colors which contain metallic oxides as pigments before another firing.
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A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of disease, injury, and other physical and mental impairments. Physicians may focus their practice on certain disease categories, types of patients, and methods of treatment—known as specialities—or they may assume responsibility for the provision of continuing and comprehensive medical care to individuals, families, and communities—known as general practice. Medical practice properly requires both a detailed knowledge of the academic disciplines, such as anatomy and physiology, underlying diseases and their treatment—the science of medicine—and also a decent competence in its applied practice—the art or craft of medicine.
Both the role of the physician and the meaning of the word itself vary around the world. Degrees and other qualifications vary widely, but there are some common elements, such as medical ethics requiring that physicians show consideration, compassion, and benevolence for their patients.
Modern meanings
Around the world the term physician refers to a specialist in internal medicine or one of its many sub-specialties (especially as opposed to a specialist in surgery). This meaning of physician conveys a sense of expertise in treatment by drugs or medications, rather than by the procedures of surgeons.
This term is at least nine hundred years old in English: physicians and surgeons were once members of separate professions, and traditionally were rivals. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, gives a Middle English quotation making this contrast, from as early as 1400: "O Lord, whi is it so greet difference betwixe a cirugian and a physician."
Henry VIII granted a charter to the London Royal College of Physicians in 1518. It was not until 1540 that he granted the Company of Barber-Surgeons (ancestor of the Royal College of Surgeons) its separate charter. In the same year, the English monarch established the Regius Professorship of Physic at the University of Cambridge. Newer universities would probably describe such an academic as a professor of internal medicine. Hence, in the 16th century, physic meant roughly what internal medicine does now.
Currently, a specialist physician in the United States may be described as an internist. Another term, hospitalist, was introduced in 1996,[7] to describe US specialists in internal medicine who work largely or exclusively in hospitals. Such 'hospitalists' now make up about 19% of all US general internists, who are often called general physicians in Commonwealth countries.
This original use, as distinct from surgeon, is common in most of the world including the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries (such as Australia, Bangladesh, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe), as well as in places as diverse as Brazil, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Ireland, and Taiwan. In such places, the more general English terms doctor or medical practitioner are prevalent, describing any practitioner of medicine (whom an American would likely call a physician, in the broad sense). In Commonwealth countries, specialist pediatricians and geriatricians are also described as specialist physicians who have sub-specialized by age of patient rather than by organ system.
Physician and surgeon
Further information: Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Doctor of Medicine
Around the world, the combined term "physician and surgeon" is used to describe either a general practitioner or any medical practitioner irrespective of specialty. This usage still shows the original meaning of physician and preserves the old difference between a physician, as a practitioner of physic, and a surgeon. The term may be used by state medical boards in the United States, and by equivalent bodies in Canadian provinces, to describe any medical practitioner.
