Ways of Dying in 1665

Fascinating thread.

Someone mentioned having stones surgically removed without anaesthetic. This happened to Pepys - he had a bladder stone removed, but survived, of course.

Has anyone else read The Emperor of All Maladies? It's a history of cancer, and the different treatments of it. Bits of thought are quite horrible, though also very interesting, particularly finding out how clueless doctors were about the disease until very recently.

DD2 had scarletina when she was little. She was ver ill :(

I've been reading a book called 'The disappearing spoon' which is about the elements in the periodic table (recommend it) and it's amazing what people have thought of ingesting over the years as 'cures'.
No doubt I'd be dead if I'd been born back then but scarily speaking to my consultant at the hospital, if I'd been diagnosed with RA 10yrs before I was, I'd probably be completely disabled by now. As they've only recognised in the past 15yrs that aggressive early treatment generally prevents full disability also the fab drugs I'm on have only been around 10yrs or so - thanks my lucky stars

I'm back from communing with yews.

Scarletina sounds rotten :(.

Has anyone heard the claim that apricot stones (inside the hard bit) prevent and even cure cancer? But apparently it is being hushed up by the Evil Pharmaceuticals because of money. That old chestnut . The amount of baloney peddled on the Internet is awful.

This is the most fascinating thread EVER on MN. Fact.

I learnt of it from Norah Lofts . The libraries used to be full of her stuff. Philippa Gregory's quite similar in a lot of ways.

I had scarlet fever six months ago, my legs and arms are still scarred from the rash and I was ill for ages. It was the milder modern version called scarlatina and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

My doctor told me the antibiotics were not just to clear the infection but to prevent me from getting rheumatic fever afterwrds. It weakens the heart and was a significant cause of death in pregnant/postnatal women in the past.

Pueperal fever/childbed fever mentioned above was caused by doctors going from operating/autopsy tables to deliver women in the same clothes and without washing their hands. Ignaz Semmelweis worked this out and sent himself mad (literally, he died in an asylum) trying to persuade people to wash their hands.

I learnt of The Sweat from Phillipa Gregory too. Apparently Henry's bro Arthur, and Mary Boleyn's husband (can't remember his name) were two people who died of it.

I had scarlet fever, not once but twice as a child. During the eighties when it was a very rare occurence indeed.

Going to bed now, honestly - night!

Scarlet fever is back, Scatter. There have been rising numbers of cases in the last few years, but it's not as dangerous (or as vicious) as it used to be because of antibiotics. I know a little girl who had it last year; but it was controlled with antibiotics fairly easily, thank goodness.

This is quite interesting, about scarlet fever.

And not really that long ago either!

Reshape, they'll be fine, I doubt they chewed the seeds up and it would take a large number of seeds to have hurt them, I'm sure. Still, probably best if you continue to take the pips off them when you can :)

I looked at the same article CaveMum. It was ver interesting, and even Wiki didn't have a conclusion.

Oh I read your link, cavemum - that's what gave me the low down on Sweating sickness!

Ah right, sorry, half-remembered bits there! I always loved Tudor history, but it's been swallowed up by my science degree over the last couple of years.

I'm reading the Phillipa Gregory books at the moment, they're not bad.

Brilliant thread!

The apple pips thing always worries me a bit. Both DS1 and 2 went through a stage (well, DS2 is still in it) where, if you gave them an apple, they'd just eat it. All of it, apart from the stalk. Woe betide you if you took the core off them, and I always used to forget and miss it. Before you knew it, the entire apple had vanished. Surely most toddlers go through an apple core phase though, and survive?

A "fact" that I can't verify is that it has been said that 50% of all people who ever lived died of malaria. I find that hard to believe, I have to say - but I was taught it in parasitology!

[cough]

[points at post of 14:49:49]

[needy]

Vair interesting thread. I'm very jealous of the folks that study this. I wanted to study the history of science with the OU, but they stopped it :(

OK I have a question re the Sweat and early understanding of disease.

I recently read this YA historical novel in which the intrepid heroine chances upon a bunch of Jesuits in a crypt who are plotting to kill the Queen (for 'tis the sixteenth century) by capturing people and giving them Sweating Sickness by scraping them with manky stuff from other Sweat victims and extracting a liquor from their bodies that they intend to somehow give to the Queen when she comes to visit.
Apart from the slur on the character of the poor Jesuits, does that sound like an authentic way for people of that age to think about disease (IYSWIM)?
(and why are Young Adult historical novels always so over-the-top and bloody implausible? Why are there always witches and magic? Isn't history good enough already without all that ridiculousness? mutter mutter)

TheScarlettPimpernel - I think I read it is Porton Down that has a sample of bubonic plague for research purposes.

Indeed, Google finds a news report on BBC website about weapons testying in 1952 accidentally contaminating a fishing boat of Scotland.

Says in Wiki, that they found the growth during the embalming of her body, not a PM.

I think I'd plump for a form of flu, if pushed. But it seems to have been pretty specific to the UK, and not spread like flu.

Malaria was well known, and wouldn't have been confused with anything else.

Whilst not totally relevant to this thread, this article on estimating how many people have ever lived is interesting.

I was to read the bit about the life expectancy in some places during the Middle Ages was 12!