a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by bhrgunatha
bhrgunatha  ·  1159 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: What did you die from in the 17th centruy?

Kingsevill (scrofula) - had to look up the condition.

    Until the 18th century, doctors thought the only way to cure the disease was to be touched by a member of a royal family.

We had a weird history choice at school - one choice included "Modern history" (which obviously means recent European history) and the other included "The history of medicine" but the weird part was the history of the Mormons - no seriously. The English school system decided in their infinite wisdom that it was important to educate the next generation of the workforce on Joseph Smith and his antics.

The medicine part was as awesome as it was gruesome though. Imagine being a teenage lad and studying about early operations and doctors getting high on ether. Fantastic.