Pieter Klazes Pel

Pieter Klazes Pel (1852 - 1919) Dutch physician and professor of internal medicine. He came from a generation of physiciains, both his father and grand-father had been doctors, and his sons also went on to become doctors. Pel is widely known for his description of the Pel-Ebstein fever, a cyclical fever that occurs rarely in patients suffering from Hodgkin's lymphoma. He also described the Pel's crises, an ocular crises occuring in tabes dorsalis, causing intense paroxysmal neuralgic pain in the eyes and nearby ophthalmic areas. Pel also was a renowned medical teacher, who shared the opinion of his other great contemporary Sir William Osler, that medicine is best taught and learned at the bedside rather in classrooms. His lectures were well attended and enjoyed by students, one of his famous quotes being "When someone tells me that an animal on four feet is walking around in the yard next door, it could be a small tiger or elephant, but I would still think of a cat or a dog."