MadRose Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 From the Times today: "Over the centuries, doctors described disorders like “wrist drop,” in which housepainters using leaded paint would suddenly lose control of their wrist musculature, and “dry gripes,” a complaint among early American colonists that was linked to the drinking of West Indian rum that, as a result of its processing, was brimming with lead." If West Indian rum was "brimming with lead", then sailors were probably affected, right? Does anyone have any leads on this? The "dry gripes" were a condition in which the intestines would temporarily shut down. Other acute symptoms of lead poisoning: lead encephalopathy, attacks of coma, delirium, convulsions. Chronic symptoms: mental dullness, inability to concentrate, poor memory, headache, deafness, wrist drop (loss of muscle control in painters using lead-based paints), a blue line on the gums and transitory joint pain. (Historical Perspective to a Current Controversy on the Clinical Spectrum of Plumbism, by Jacqueline K. Corn The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly. Health and Society © 1975 Milbank Memorial Fund) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. Bo of the WTF co. Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Some other symptoms of chronic lead poisoning were; Loss of head or limbs due to exposure to cannon fire, or permanent shut down of the bowels or heart or lungs from standing in front of a bluderbuss blast... Sorry but I just couldn't let that one go by. Bo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ransom Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Hmmm...Bo, I think those two symtoms are conditions of lead impact, or lead smashing. Neither (injury or victim) lasting long enough to actually poison. ...schooners, islands, and maroons and buccaneers and buried gold... You can do everything right, strictly according to procedure, on the ocean, and it'll still kill you. But if you're a good navigator, a least you'll know where you were when you died.......From The Ship Killer by Justin Scott. "Well, that's just maddeningly unhelpful."....Captain Jack Sparrow Found in the Ruins — Unique Jewelry Found in the Ruins — Personal Blog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BriarRose Kildare Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Here is an interesting website I found...not sure if it will help or not. http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/perspect/lead.htm Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. The Dimension of Time is only a doorway to open. A Time Traveler I am and a Lover of Delights whatever they may be. There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graydog Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Here is an article that talks breifly to the subject in the American Colonies: (It points out lead comes from the rums contact with lead pipes in the distilling aparatus - (therefore laws were passed making making lead pipes in distilling against the law.) and if kept in an earthware container, lead bleed from that container. It also notes that lead, in the form of an acetate, was a delibrate addition to fortified wines of the time.) Put some lead in your tank As fer me its not so much lead posioning I fear as it is a hemp contact high! -Greydog Why am I sharing my opinion? Because I am a special snowflake who has an opinion of such import that it must be shared and because people really care what I think! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. Bo of the WTF co. Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Ransom... yeah I know but it is a long standing "joke" amongst us hillbillies that that this is the "fast acting kind of lead poisoning". Graydog... I guess you don't like "Hanging" out with the hemp-heads? Bo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graydog Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 Tis a meal of gibbet and hemp that I would find to be most posioning to me health. Why am I sharing my opinion? Because I am a special snowflake who has an opinion of such import that it must be shared and because people really care what I think! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Bottles Posted August 23, 2007 Share Posted August 23, 2007 As fer me its not so much lead posioning I fear as it is a hemp contact high!-Greydog How high? I guess it depends on how tall the gallows is. I don't often applaud puns, but I rather enjoyed that one. "The time was when ships passing one another at sea backed their topsails and had a 'gam,' and on parting fired guns; but those good old days have gone. People have hardly time nowadays to speak even on the broad ocean, where news is news, and as for a salute of guns, they cannot afford the powder. There are no poetry-enshrined freighters on the sea now; it is a prosy life when we have no time to bid one another good morning." - Capt. Joshua Slocum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matusalem Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 Ben franklin wrote a letter to someone regarding lead poisoning...good to hear the words of somebody close to that era (well 1786)....and he mentions Rum!!! Ben Franklin to Ben Vaughan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick Hand Posted September 15, 2007 Share Posted September 15, 2007 I ain't read allla the links..... But lead poisoning wa a very real thing...... and kinda fasinating when you wonder about it..... So all jokes asside....... can we discuss it.... <now I gotta go back and read all of the post about it....... sorry> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salty Posted September 25, 2007 Share Posted September 25, 2007 For my humble part there were still leads used in ceramic glazes of the time, will post documatnation att a bit later time Mud Slinging Pyromanic , Errrrrr Ship's Potter at ye service Vagabond's Rogue Potter Wench First Mate of the Fairge Iolaire Me weapons o choice be lots o mud, sharp pointy sticks, an string Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abrams Posted September 25, 2007 Share Posted September 25, 2007 If I recall correctly, lead poisoning was an all-too-common thing...I recall hearing about how there were remnants of lead in drinking glasses and other household items! I've got the heart of a pirate, just not the garb... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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