A squib?

[Mission]

This is from Sydenham's book The Whole Works of that Excellent Practical Physician Dr. Thomas Sydenham (10th Edition):

"...by which the Design of the Physician is as much frustrated, as he would be, that should endeavour to call out a great Number of Men, contained in a large House, orderly one after another, by flinging a Squib amongst them; which on the contrary would so disturb them, that all endeavouring to come out at once, the Passage would be so wedg'd up, that they would be all shut in." (Sydenham, p. 277)

A squib, meaning a firework? Or what? Could you purchase such a thing at this time or did you make them? It seems like something a pirate might have had use for to me if I understand it right.

[Silver]

checked my "boarders away II" no listing. today squibs are used in the movies, they are a small expolsives that can be fired by remote to open holes in a blood vest that makes it appear as if someone was shot or give you that machine gun fire up the beach. in the navy we used them as the initating charge (like a primmer) to fire the large ejection seat rocket. i haven't run across that word in 17th century text yet. question for you is viniger a 17th century treatment for sunburn?

[Mission]

Treatment for sunburn is not really mentioned in anything I've read. If you were a sailor, you'd be outside all the time and I suspect you would only get a sunburn at the beginning of a voyage and that would only be if you hadn't spent much time outside before that.

If it was really bad, I suppose they'd treat it like a normal burn. Salad dressing (probably oil and vinegar), butter and the white of eggs come up repeatedly as burn treatments. However, there seem to be all sorts of folk-remedies for burns.

Richard Wiseman says, "But the common remedy is, to apply Salt and an Onion beaten together."

John Woodall lists all manner of things for burns, including wine vinegar:

"And beginning

__

thy worke with Lotions, (as namely either a fomentation made with oyle and water, or with a decoction of the seedes of Quinces, or of Mallowes, March-mallowes, Violets, and a little Pursaline seede) these and the like take away all the powder that sticketh in the flesh, for it hindereth the cure. And to asswage bothe the dolor thereof, and the vitious humors, Mel Saponis is an approved remedy, for it taketh the fire out. And to make it more easie for suppuration, use Anodine Medicaments (as Ceratum refrigerans Galeni, populeon mixt with a third part of Unguentum album, or a third part of Triapharmacon and Oyle of Roses, or Oyle of Eggs, or of Roses mixt with the white of an egge, Axungia procina washed in the juyce of Plantane, or the juyce of Solanum, or in water: also the fat of rustie bacon washed in Rose-water, or the like. Also a decoction of wine vineger {pound}j..." (Woodall, p. 145-6)

Stephen Bradwell recommended "salad oil mixed with white of egg to form a coagulum, or an ointment of butter, camphor, sulphur and seeds of cucumber applied on old linen."

[Mission]

To point, though, Sydenham published that in response to a letter in 1681. According to the dictionary, 'squib' means firework. His description certainly seems to be that of the effects caused by something like a firework.

[Dutchman]

in the context you have it, i would lean towards a fancy noise maker as well- a modern day flash bang. as with its modern day cousin, you still don't want to be near it when it goes off. smoke, lots of noise, i imagine extra sulfur added while being made would make a heck of a smell, the shock wave of it going off, and the sheer terror of seeing something you know will go bang heading in your direction.

On the small arms range (modern weapon), we refer to a squib as a round that does not fire properly. The ammunition has a projectile and a primer, but the powder got left out at the factory. The primer goes off and creates enough force to expel the projectile from the case and enter the barrel, where it promptly looses strength and stops- a dangerous predicament to be in. Compared to L. silvers description, its a similar ignition, just a much different sized purpose.

[Duchess]

So, basically put mayonnaise on your sunburn?

[Fox]

In Essays of the strange subtilty … of effluviums. To which are annext New experiments to make fire and flame ponderable (1673), Robert Boyle wrote of

"the irregular and wrigling motion of those fired Squibs that Boys are wont to make by ramming Gunpowder into Quills."

[Dutchman]

raw unpasteurized honey on burns- no kidding. worked for us. 3rd degree burns with amazingly less than expected scarring.

[Duchess]

Interesting thing about honey is that it creates an osmotic pressure that is enough to burst bacteria. Thats why it works to treat things like burns and wounds.

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

Yellow mustard on burns too. Keeps the burn from scarring and blistering as badly as it can untreated. I always keep a bottle in the shop when forging, cutting and welding. One of the welding shops I worked in kept a gallon jug of it in the lunchroom fridge for that very purpose. Works to relieve the pain instantly also. I've had to make use of it a time or two. Reduces the damage considerably, the quicker you apply it, the better the results.

Bo

[Daniel]

One of the first cases they teach you in Torts class: Scott v. Shepherd, aka the Squib Case, decided by the Court of King's Bench in 1773.

On the evening of the fair-day at Milborne Port, 28th October, 1770, the defendant threw a lighted squib, made of gunpowder, &c. from the street into the market-house . . . which lighted squib, so thrown by the defendant, fell upon the standing of one Yates, who sold gingerbread, & c. That one Willis instantly, and to prevent injury to himself and the said wares of the said Yates, took up the said lighted squib from off the said standing, and then threw it across the said market-house, when it fell upon another standing there of one Ryal, who sold the same sort of wares, who instantly, and to save his own goods from being injured, took up the said lighted squib from off the said standing,and then threw it to another part of the said market-house, and in so throwing it, struck the plaintiff then in the said market-house in the face therewith, and the combustible matter then bursting, put out one of the plaintiff's eyes.

Squibs. Not to be trifled with.

The question was whether the guy who first threw the squib could be held to have directly caused the plaintiff's injury or not, in which case he could be sued in trespass rather than "trespass on the case" (a distinction long ago vanished from our law). The majority held that the first thrower did directly cause the injury and could be sued in trespass, but no less a figure than William Blackstone dissented.

Edited July 16, 2011 by Daniel

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

So we're talking about m-80's and cherry bombs then? Cool! I love those things still. Make my own occaisionally just to hear the big bang! Love to send paint cans airborne for the kids to watch... but kids; don't try this at home!!! So they're called "squibs are they? Now I'll know what to say when someone asks "what the hell was that!!!???"

It's OK, it was only a squib fart!

Bo

[Mission]

They seem like they could be a potentially great pirate weapon to me - they create fear and confusion, same as the flag.

Mustard was used in plasters to raise a blister (to help release bad humors.) That seems like it would have been a curious period salve for burns.

[Mission]

Speaking of vinegar, I just came across this in John Atkins The Navy Surgeon,

"This Observation should teach us Lessons of Cleanliness, to wash the Ship often with Vinegar, to keep the Men clean and shifted, no great Difficulty, where there is Warmth and Water enough, restrained from Drunkenness where Temptations present, and to let them have as free and frequent Communication with the fresh Air, (by opening the Ports, as may be consistent with Safety, and their other Affairs, Points too much overlooked and disregarded, though of the greatest Consequence to preserve a Ship’s Company on a Voyage." (Atkins, p. 354)

[Fox]

They seem like they could be a potentially great pirate weapon to me - they create fear and confusion, same as the flag.

It just so happens that I have some powder and a couple of uncut quills in the office here. Now to convince Mrs F. that it's ok... it's 'research'.

I wonder what they used for a fuse.

[Mission]

It just so happens that I have some powder and a couple of uncut quills in the office here. Now to convince Mrs F. that it's ok... it's 'research'.

Well?

[Silver]

thanks everyone for the info on burn treatment and bringing me up to date on 17th century squibs.

[Grymm]

Squib is also the term they used for a 'blank' cartridge used when training troops loading drill, when they want a flash and a bang but no ball.

The quill could be the fuse, we used 'straws' with powder for the rockets when we did 1812 at the ToL.

Edited July 20, 2011 by Grymm

[MarkG]

The term "squib" meaning a firecracker, goes back 400 years or so. Theaters in Shakespeare's day used squibs for sound effects. William Bradford's Of Plimoth Plantation describes the Billington boys finding an open barrel of gunpowder on the Mayflower and making some squibs. They started setting them off without covering the barrel!

[PoD]

"An universal etymological English dictionary" from 1675 has this to say:

CRACKER: a Squib, or Kind of Firework

It seems from the book linked below that squib usage became a bit of a nusciense (mentioning that losing eyes to them was a common event). So much so that the powers that be at the time deamed fit to ban them and any items used for making them:

http://books.google....epage&q&f=false

At least one period reference to a Squib being used on a ship can be found on page 209 of The Travels Of Monsieur De Thevenot Into The Levant: Volume 1 (1687)

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6q9EAAAAcAAJ&dq=making%20a%20squib&pg=PA209#v=onepage&q&f=false

Edited August 6, 2011 by PoD

[Mission]

At least one period reference to a Squib being used on a ship can be found on page 209 of The Travels Of Monsieur De Thevenot Into The Levant: Volume 1 (1687)

http://books.google....epage&q&f=false

Cool. That looks like a good book to add to my read list. Thanks for posting the link!