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Original poster

Ways of Dying in 1665

840 replies

TheScarlettPimpernel · 04/02/2012 11:36

So I'm just copying out a weekly Bill of Mortality from London, 1665 (don't ask!)

Look at some of the ways of dying - anyone care to hazard a guess at what some of them might be?!

Plague - 7165 (IN A WEEK!!!)
Childbed - 42 Sad - just goes to show, it's all very well bemoaning medicalised childbirth/interventions/CSs but look at the alternative
Grief - 3 (Not bloody surprising - wonder what the actual medical cause was?)
Griping in the Guts - 51!
Rising of the Lights - 11 (WTF was that then? In offal, are the lights the lungs, right?)
Kingsevil - 2 (Don't ask me how I know this, but I believe this to be scrofula)
Wormes - 15 (OH EM GEE, you could die of worms )
Impostume - 11 (what?!)
Frighted - 3 (three people scared to death in a week Shock)
Winde - 3 (Oh yeah. FARTED TO DEATH)

I realise I am a bit morbid Hmm

OP posts:
Original poster
TheScarlettPimpernel · 04/02/2012 13:01

Oh that's right MrsB - it was Fanny Burney's account that I read. I damn nearly passed out Sad

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MrsBovary · 04/02/2012 13:00

Ooh interesting thread. I remember reading of Fanny Burney's treatment for breast cancer actually, Thumbwitch.

Original poster
TheScarlettPimpernel · 04/02/2012 13:00

Oh is it in the Last Supper too?! That Fibonacci getting everywhere Grin

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Original poster
TheScarlettPimpernel · 04/02/2012 12:59

PS - no, what is History Cold Case on? Have I missed telly goodness? Damn it!

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ArielNonBio · 04/02/2012 12:59

I too have read The da Vinci Code

Original poster
TheScarlettPimpernel · 04/02/2012 12:58

Isn't Fibonacci that numerical sequence 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 etc. etc.? I knew it recurred it nature - is it in the venous systems as well?

One of the next things I'm going to look at is the Quincunx by the way. I'll keep you posted

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dreamingbohemian · 04/02/2012 12:57

Sorry!!!

I'm guessing you don't want to hear about botulinum then...

Thumbwitch · 04/02/2012 12:57

I had a great time following the major nerves on a full plastinated body - when you see the size of the sciatic nerve, you can understand why it can cause so much bloody pain! (although obviously all nerves cause pain when triggered, so that's a bit of a facetious thing to say) Was very good for learning purposes. Dissection of brain tumour was interesting too. Oh God, the whole exhibition was just brilliant! Go and see it next time it's on. Grin

Mind you, there's no pus... I don't think, anyway...

JerichoStarQuilt · 04/02/2012 12:56

That would be Fibonacci, wouldn't it? The structures being the same. I think so anyway.

I guess all of you watch History Cold Case (what Kurri's woman with triplets was on)?

Thumbwitch · 04/02/2012 12:54

Mind you, Michelangelo was dissecting bodies as well but I'm not entirely sure that he was supposed to be allowed to do that; it's a long time since I read about that but have a vague recollection that it had to be done in secret

ArielNonBio · 04/02/2012 12:54

The rabbit and the hand remind me of the War of the Worlds (Tom Cruise version) when Tim Robbins is yelling "Not my blood! Not my blood!" and the landscape is covered with veins.

Original poster
TheScarlettPimpernel · 04/02/2012 12:53

Oh God Dreaming don't!!

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Original poster
TheScarlettPimpernel · 04/02/2012 12:52

That hand is amazing Thumb! At the Hunterian they have these two huge wooden plaques with the blood vessels and nervous system of a grown man dried and laid out on them. It really struck me how much they looked like the branches of a tree in winter, or even an autumn leaf when the flesh has crumbled away and left the veins behind.

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ArielNonBio · 04/02/2012 12:52
dreamingbohemian · 04/02/2012 12:51

Yes, I hate to tell you, but the Soviets did manage to weaponize plague, and there are probably still some stocks floating around out there. Probably resistant to antibiotics too.

(Does my module on biological warfare win me some kind of Morbid Medal? Grin)

Thumbwitch · 04/02/2012 12:50

TSP - I saw it in London in 2003, I see it was in London in 2008 as well, so maybe it'll be back in 2013? Doesn't appear to be scheduled for 2012, only Canada, Germany and USA from the website. DO go, it's absolutely fascinating! especially the whole rabbit, just in blood vessels. Well, among other things - I just remember that one and the hand the most.

Original poster
TheScarlettPimpernel · 04/02/2012 12:50

Dear God Scout let us hope it was after death!!! I think it must have been. There'd be a lot of wriggling otherwise, not conducive to accurate dissection.

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Original poster
TheScarlettPimpernel · 04/02/2012 12:49

I am a Sporn lurker (If you're referring to what I think you are).

Did you watch that video of a man having a back cyst drained? When she went in with her thumb and then a pair of scissors I think I might actually have blacked out for a bit ....

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ScoutJemAndBoo · 04/02/2012 12:49

Yep in thenold bailey thing one of the ways of being put to death was to be medically dissected! Not sure if they hangedyou first, and it means your body was donated to science.

SarahStratton · 04/02/2012 12:47

I am definitely going to the Huntarian. Perhaps a Sporners Meet could be arranged for there. It seems fitting somehow. Grin

Original poster
TheScarlettPimpernel · 04/02/2012 12:47

Thumb have you got the Faber Book of Reportage??

It's kind of my desert island read, I think, and there is an account of a mastectomy done without anaesthetic that is the single most disturbing thing I have ever read. Written by, I should add, the poor patient Sad

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JerichoStarQuilt · 04/02/2012 12:46

Oh, ariel that is horrible (the molten iron), but not surprising really.

Original poster
TheScarlettPimpernel · 04/02/2012 12:46

Thumb - they used to dissect criminals though, right? There is a Rembrandt of a dissection of a hanged thief. I think the dissection was all part of the punishment. I mean jeez as if taking your life wasn't enough...

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Thumbwitch · 04/02/2012 12:45

Also, post mortems weren't legal back then - you couldn't desecrate a dead body to find out what had happened to it.

Cancer was variable - breast cancer could be spotted have a read of this if you've the stomach for it and note the Rembrandt painting that shows the misshapen breast, showing probably cancerous signs

BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability · 04/02/2012 12:44

Wasnt it in the news in the last 10 years or so that a person had caught the plague in New York?