Mission

Well, you haven't totally missed it. Some of the auctions are still going on at this point. You can see them here.

Some more from Hippocrates on treating a fractured arm that I thought was interesting. You may be wondering why I am quoting Hippocrates, but many of the period surgical manuals do not describe certain treatments in great detail because the "ancient" authors had already done so. The GAoP was in the beginning/middle of the transition away from the "ancient" authors, but the elimination of things like bleeding were still more than a century away Curiously, Hippocratic writings only recommended bleeding in a couple of cases - it appears to have been Galen who, many centuries later, expanded the role of bleeding in medicine. So some of the detailed explanations of treatment that might have been used during period were actually what Hippocrates and Galen recommended. Albucasis was another ancient author they seem to have liked, although I haven't read his works yet. (He's on the list.) I do know he was not a big fan of the "ancient authors" (Galen and Hippocrates among them) and apparently recommended other treatments. However, the period authors cheerfully embrace and call upon treatments mentioned by all three of these authors. Wiseman and Woodall occasionally quote them verbatim. Naturally, the GAoP period medical authors were not totally unified on treatment methods. If fact, they sometimes argue with each other in their books - as do Hippocrates and, more particularly, Galen. Still, if you read the previous post and this one, you probably already sense that we still use some of the methods Hippocrates recommended today. Maybe that's why he's considered the father of medicine. Anyhow, here is Hippocrates talking more about treatment of fractures: “The following, then, is the most natural plan of setting the arm: having got a piece of wood a cubit of somewhat less in length, like the handles of spades, suspend it by means of a chain fastened to its extremities at both ends; and having seated the man on some high object, the arm is to be brought over, so that the armpit may rest on the piece of wood and the man can scarcely touch the seat, being almost suspended; then having brought another seat, and placed one or more feather pillows under the arm, so as to keep it a moderate height while it is bent at the right angle, the best plan it to put round the arm a broad and soft skin, or broad shawl, and to hang some great weight to it, so as to produce moderate extension; or otherwise, while the arm is in the position I have described, a strong man is to take hold of it at the elbow and pull it downward. But the physician standing erect, must perform the proper manipulation, having the one foot on some pretty high object, and adjusting the bone with the palms of his hands; and it will readily be adjusted, for the extension is good if properly applied.” (Hippocrates, Of Fractures, p. 78) “The bone of the arm is generally consolidated in forty days. When these are past, the dressing is to be removed, and fewer and slacker bandages applied instead of it. The patient is to be kept on a stricter diet, and for a longer space of time than in the former case; and we must form our judgment of it from the swelling in the hand, looking also to the strength of the patient. This also should be known, that the arm is naturally inclined outward; to the side, therefore, the distortion usually takes place, if not properly treated; but indeed, all the other bones are usually distorted during treatment for fracture to that side to which they naturally incline. When, therefore, anything of this kind is suspected, the arm is to be encircled in a broad shawl, which is to be carried round the breast, and when the patient goes to rest, a compress of many folds, or some such thing, is to be folded and placed between the elbow and the side, for thus the bending of the bone will be rectified, but care must be taken lest it be inclined to much inwards.” (Hippocrates, Of Fractures, p. 78)

Piccies. Piccies? Piccies! Welcome, Dueller. (You're lucky - you can drink hand-pulled Newcastle at the local pubs. The bottled stuff we get over here's got nothing on that.)

Ok, I bid on the fracca-rassin parrot. I dares someone ta' up my bid! (Please! Here's a convenient link.) (If I win it, I want to specify that it be sent to a different address.)

I thought of three more things to make it a nice round 20. Oh...and Ed...I actually screwed that apostrophe up (something that trips me up way more than it should, I must confess), but it was pretty funny. So I am incorporating it.

I actually wondered about the 'shoes' comment when I saw it because I know there have been discussions about this. One caveat with Barlow's Journal is that it was discovered in the 1900s and 'transcribed' by Basil Lubbock in 1934 into a 2 volume set of books. He modified all the words to their (then) modern spellings. I have seen photos of the original journal pages and he seems to have done a pretty good job from the little I've seen, going out of his way to note particularly interesting words and spellings in footnote form. I doubt he would have screwed up a comment about shoes in any case. Actually, this is my favorite period journal of all the ones I have read. The writing, wording and style inspired me to write a story, which I posted in the Fiction Forum under my fifth user name...one that doesn't have my sig on it.

Oh, and let's not forget modern medicine and diet and their impact on us. “It is difficult for us, nurslings of a soft age, to put ourselves in the old sailor-man’s place; to picture the life and turn of mind and thought of these unlettered fighters, starving or subsisting for weeks together on rotten meat and rum, flogged with a rope’s end at a tyrant captain’s whim, sore and bloated with scurvy and syphilis, scabrous with lice and the itch. The natural recourse of such men’s minds was drink, for that made merry men of poor tortured beasts. To see other suffer cannot have affected them that much, for what did they not continually suffer themselves; to see others die (how often had not they seen their own shipmates die?) of wanton cruelty, starvation, hardships and disease.” (Leo Eloesser, "Pirate and Buccaneer Doctors" Annals of Medical History, Vol. 8 p. 52) “Many conditions would have caused itching, including eczema, impetigo, ‘psorophthalmy’ (eyebrow dandruff), scabies, chilblains, chapped and rough skin, ‘tetters’ (spots and sores), ‘black morphew’ (leprous or scurvy skin) and ringworm. Few citizens enjoyed smooth unblemished skin. Cuts and grazes could lead to ugly and uncomfortable scabbing and unattractive scarring. In this pre-antibiotic era, skin eruptions in the forms of bulging pustules, lesions, acne and gout-induced ulcers could all have become infected, causing chronic wounds.’” (Emily Cockayne, Hubbub: Filth, Noise and Stench in England, 1600-1770, p. 54) "And I was always thinking that beggars had a far better life of it and lived better than I did for they seldom missed of their bellies full of better victuals than we could get: and also at night to lie quiet and out of danger in a good barn full of straw, nobody disturbing them, and might lie as long as they pleased; but it was quite contrary with us, for we seldom in a month got our bellyful of victuals, and that of such salt as many beggars would think scorn to eat; and at night when we went to take our rest, we were not to lie still above four hours; and many times when it blew hard were not sure to lie one hour, yea, often (we) were called up before we had slept half an hour and forced to go up into the maintop or foretop to take in our topsails, half awake and half asleep, with one shoe on and the other off, not having time to put it on; always sleeping in our clothes for readiness; and in stormy weather, when the ship rolled and tumbled as though some great millstone were rolling up one hill and down another, we had much ado to hold ourselves fast by the small ropes from falling by the board; and being gotten up into the tops, there we must haul and pull to make fast the sail, seeing nothing but air above us and water beneath us, and that so raging as though every wave would make a grave for us; and many times so dark that we could not see one another, and blowing so hard that we could not hear one another speak, being close to one another; and thundering and lightening as though Heaven and earth would come together, it being usual in those countries, with showers of rain so hard that it will wet a man ‘dunge wet’ before he can go the length of the ship.” (Edward Barlow, Barlow’s Journal of his Life at Sea in King’s Ships, East and West Indiamen & Other Merchantman From 1659 to 1703, Volume I, 1659-1677, p. 59-60) “Humans generally cope. People often get used to difficult situations or unpleasant experiences and no longer notice or comment on them. Those born into the roar and filth of the city would have become acclimatised to it during their childhood. Incomers gradually become habituated to the hustle and bustle of the urban environment. Bodies got used to their immediate surroundings in time – they became accustomed to particular tastes and smells…” (Cockayne, p. 241)

(You are either a skull or a non-skull. Everything else is irrelevant.) B)

Sorry, it's much funnier the way it is. I have to keep it that way. (This way goes the essence of stereotypical comedic writing. Alas.)

I'd be surprised if it's more than 60% myself. There is so much modern taint in our being that I seriously doubt we can shake it, even when seriously trying to pretend to be authentic. People today don't think like someone living in the time, society, conditions and politics of 300 years ago so I doubt we can get close to the language, postures and attitudes that affect the way we present ourselves, even as (re-en)actors. Sure, we can put some of this stuff on, but it's like putting on a coat. Beneath the layer of cloth, you're still the same person. We may even be widely missing the mark by relying on the materials we have. Keep in mind that the documents we rely on were written by people intelligent enough to write. Many of those we portray were not able to write and may have spoken, acted and behaved in very different ways than the writers.

I've noticed serious a lack of apostrophes in all of the docs I'm reading. Look at Woodall's title fer Chrissakes! “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. By Order of the Author” -Mark Twain

Having read several actual copies of period surgical manuals in pdf form, allow me to give some pointers. 1. When spelling a word, use any word order that comes to mind which is relatively close to the pronunciation. It is perfectly acceptable to spell a word three different ways in the same paragraph. 2. Randomly replace the letter 'j' with the letter 'i', particularly when it comes at the beginning of a word. So, 'juice' becomes 'iuce' (You can drop the second 'i' because of the spelling rule - see #1. Or you can not. I have also seen it written 'iuice.') 3. Ditto the letter 'w' with two v's: 'vv.' 4. Ditto the letter 's' with a letter that looks mostly like 'f.' In addition to the rule in # 2 about 's' coming at the beginning. You should also change it when there are two s's together in a word. So the first one is written like an 'f' and the second is written like an 's.' Like: 'fucsefs.' (That is not a swear word, it is written that way to keep people on their toes.) 5. If you are tired of writing a word because it's long or you've already written it before, feel free to superscript the last letter that you feel like writing. For example, you can write the word 'attitude' as 'attitu.' (Converting it using rule #1, you can really be PC by writing it as 'atatu.' 6. Sprinkle Latin phrases in occasionally. Misspell and abbreviate them for best effect. (Note: this may just be in the surgical manuals. Common folks probably couldn't write in Latin. Actually, common folks probably couldn't write at all.) 7. In place of 'etc.' always, always use '&c.' (This is mondo cool IMHO.) 8. Randomly italicize words. For example, a few (very few) authors always italicize locations, foreign phrases and things like '&c." Most just italicize these words occasionally. Some don't italicize them at all. 9. Occasionally run the letters o & e together in the Latin fashion to form 'œ' as well as running a & e together to form 'æ.' The 'æ' is more common than the 'œ.' It often appears at the beginning of words that have no reason to have one or the other letters, which looks like 'Æ.' So you might decide to say, "Æ ate eht pices of pi" or "I æte eyt peeces of pye." However, don't overuse this because "Æ æte æyt pæces of pæ" just looks silly. 10. Make some of the words ending with an 'ess' sound positively biblical by adding 'eth' to the end of such words. So, for example, 'suffice' becomes 'sufficieth' or (even better) 'sufeyceth.' 11. Apostrophe's are right out. Never use them. Ever. We're not even going to talk about it. [Edit: Ok, we are going to talk about it, but I'm not going to change it. ] Definitely don't fall into the modern trap of sticking an apostrophes in every other word ending in s. (Like 'Phreds Deliciou's Hot Dog's!') 12. If you want to change to the opposite meaning of a word, throw an 'un' at the beginning of it. So, if you wanted to talk about someone not wearing a cloth, you could write 'He was unwaring a cloath.' 13. A hard 'c' is clearly weak, so you must give it support. Add a 'k' to it or even a 'ke' if the 'c' looks like it might be vulnerable. 'Attic' is pretty wimpy, so you would want to write it as 'Atticke.' 14. Ditto words ending in 'e.' Throw an extra 'e' on occasionally in case the the first one gets lost. This is especially true in small words like 'be' (change to 'bee') 'me' (change to 'mee') and 'he' (change to 'hee'). 15. In fact, throw some 'e's at the end of other words that don't need them for any reason when the mood strikes you. 16. Mention God a lot. 17. Write in tedious run-on sentences. A sentence going for an entire page with lots of commas, semicolons and colons where there should obviously be periods is excellent 18th c. form. 18. Capitalize some words that seem like they might be important. This doesn't usually include linking words like 'and,' 'the,' 'or' or 'i.' And you don't usually capitalize adverbs, verbs or adjectives. Focus rather on impressive nouns like 'Literature' or 'Herbs' or 'Onomatopoeia.' (Ok, they would never have used the word onomatopoeia as it refers to language rules. I just stuck that in there for the joy of writing the word onomatopoeia. Say it, it's fun!) 19. Speaking of not capitalizing 'i' (sometimes), it is not always necessary to capitalize people's names or places. Some writers always do, others never do and others are rather hit and miss. So go with your first inclination on that one. 20. Feel free to stick nearly-rhyming poems into the middle of your text. They should start out rhyming pretty well, but as they go along and you start getting tired of trying to think of words that rhyme, just try to come close. For example, in the sixth or seventh stanza feel free to include rhyming verses that end in 'most' and 'clothes' or 'golf' and 'Ralph' and so forth. (This particular guideline is still actively used in the song-writing industry even to this day.) Here's a sample of such from Woodall's book The surgions mate which I basically randomly chose out of my 700 pages of notes for you. Unfortunately, I have already changed the i's back to j's, the f's back to s's and the vv's back to w's so you can't see that here. (Use your imagination to randomly change such things when you're reading this.) Of course, that's just some of them. If I think of any more, I'll post them for you. Have fun trying to write like that. (It's bad enough trying to read it.)

...and you're not involved in it?!

I finagled a way to get there this year partially in the hope of seeing you again! (Does this mean Captain Jim is our baby-sitter for the weekend again?)

That's interesting in and of itself. It tells you a lot about medical trends in the area and epidemics during that 20-30 year span, doesn't it just?

Great scott! What are you reading? 18th c. Period Pox, the Gathered Literature? Interesting that someone called syphilis 'Lues Alamode.' I've never come across that term before. (I believe this would mean "syphilis in the current fashion" or "fashionable syphilis.")

"If I didn't know this was hassenpfeffer, I'd swear it was carrots." (Dirty, no-account, woodland creature rabbits always borrowin' things.)

Here's one for Halloween:

They make rum with skulls on the bottles?! Well! (I am absurdly easy to market to, can you tell?)

(I asked for that. That last is a quote, BTW.)

Wow, I must not have been paying attention at all, because I stumbled across the bunny with pancakes on his head thing on Duchess' facebook entries and I thought I was on to something exciting. Yet here it is from a year ago. Well shut my mouth and call me cornpone.

Fair winds to you if we are. (But not too fair. ) I am only looking for a few things at this point (or really interesting things that I didn't know I wanted) and I have definite price points in mind for them, so I doubt we will cross paths too many times. What I really want to get my grubby paws on is a dental pelican. I wish someone would make a repro pelican because the cheapest I've found a real one for is $400+.

Sorry, I was talking about two different things. (I was being silly with the comment about the parrot.) However, I was asking for you to post the address where people can send donation checks. You get into all sorts of issues with taxes when gifts are attached to a donation; you have to deduct the value of the gift from the donation, so I don't even bother claiming them. (However, I did bid on something else in the auction.)

Well, if you wouldn't spend so much time fooling with that Steampunk stuff...

Say...no one has bid on Jabber... For those of us wanting to just write a check, to whom do we write it and where do we send it? (I've been told it's a 503c, so doing so is tax deductible.)