Author Biography: ragiel

Some doctors actually get through medical school without learning about this common but devastating disease. Not if I've taught them, though! A brief true/false review on depression.

I noticed that this section covers plenty of horses and dogs, but I'm a cat person! I want to see more cats! Well, here are a few...

Cat coat colors range from black to white, and their patterns are unique! Still, some patterns show up again and again...

We can't transplant it, reproduce its functions, or live without it... the brain has been called the last vital organ we have!

The pearl: an irritating speck is trapped inside an oyster. Iridescent nacre flows over it and hardens. Then, in perhaps one of ten thousand shells, the rarest gem in nature forms. If the process were assisted, could every woman be radiant as a queen?

People have been intrigued for millenia by this mysterious and precious material. This quiz provides only a sample of amber lore! (In memoriam LAC 1923-1999.)

Can the brain be healthier than its body? Let's look at delirium and the range of conditions that cause it.

The liver, largest of the internal organs, is the target of many viruses. Some of these are generally benign, others deadly. Let's look at a few.

The ads are history, but those (American) cigarette-advertising jingles play on and on in my head! I can still hear them! After 50 years! Can you remember them too?

A quiz for silver collectors. Since I first collected US hand-made coin spoons, this quiz will deal with UK silversmiths. Hey, collecting is a passion, and who ever said a passion was logical?

Meet some of the people and cats who have founded unusual cat breeds! I've tried to avoid the better-known stories, as they are already well represented in this section.

Quartz is all around us, a part of many common rocks. Its crystals can form gorgeous gems, or can swirl, layer, and dance in a thousand colors...

Tales of the sapphire could fill more than one quiz! All folklore and legend cited here can be found in George F. Kunz's book "The Curious Lore of Precious Stones." Other sources list more; I limited myself to one source to keep this quiz's length down!

A favorite piece of jewelry, the ring is also a symbol of love, of commitment, and of belonging. Let's look at the power of betrothal and wedding rings over the ages.

My favorite stone and my astrological talisman. This quiz was difficult for me to compose, perhaps for just that reason.

The development of mass-production techniques in the 1800s permitted silver to swirl and blossom as never before - or since.

Before teabags, loose tea had to be measured directly into the pot. The small, often fanciful, scoops called caddy spoons are avidly sought by spoon collectors. Let's look at British ones here...

Worcester porcelain met an eighteenth-century demand for useful wares and superb cabinet art. Learn some of the details here!

The greatest diamonds are given proper names and gather a history and legends all their own. Meet some of the most celebrated diamonds ever described!

This quiz is about historic natural pearls. Perhaps I'll look at cultured pearls another time.

Much more than a mystical symbol or ultimate jewel, the history of diamonds extends backward to the birth of the universe.

Of course, it's not really a proper tea without a good set of proper English china! Which reminds me of the men who made it all possible...

A glance at my bookshelf shows that diamonds have at least as fascinating a place in history as they do in lore and legend. Here's just the facts...

Your challenge is this: identify the individual in each group who possesses a distinction not shared by the others. Warning: I deliberately tried to make this one hard.