A Critical Edition of John Beadle's A Journall or Diary of a Thankfull Christian [1656] (Renaissance Imagination) by John Beadle, Germaine Fry Murray (Editor)
"Synopsis: Beadle's book is essentially a how-to manual about how to write a spiritual diary; moreover, it is the only one of its kind written in seventeenth-century England. Modern scholars often mention its influence and importance in understanding the "journaling" impulse among the Puritans of the 16th and 17th centuries. This is the first modern systematic examination or critical edition of the work. ..."
Pauline, "patio" is a Spanish word from "patio de recreo" = "playground." The OED sez "patio" was used by Kipling in 1891, but then entered general use in English in the 1940's and 1950's: it was part of the vernacular then in Southern California where I was reared. So the "Pizza Patio" is, ah, bi-lingual (tho I hope one will suffice for its fare).
The origins of the 24-hour day and the units into which we divide time and space:
"The ancient Egyptians made several contributions to horology, the science of measuring time. Around 1500 B.C., they developed a sundial, onto which they divided the daylight hours into 10 equal parts. They also defined two hours as "twilight hours," one in the morning and one in the evening. Historians believe that the Egyptians used an early astronomical tool called a merkhet at night to mark the passage of "clock stars," specific stars that were equally spread across the sky. During the summer night, 12 clock stars passed the merkhet.
"With a 10 hour day, 2 twilight hours and 12 hours of night, the Egyptians arrived at a 24-hour day. Since an hour was always 1/12 of the period of light or darkness, it was not a fixed quantity. In the summer, for example, a daylight hour was longer than a nighttime hour.
"The next major step forward came from the Babylonians, between approximately 300 and 100 BC They used the sexagesimal--or base-60--system for their astronomical calculations. Although no one knows why they chose 60, one reason may be because base-60 makes divisional operations easy since 60 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, etc. Just as base-10 can be divided into decimal places, base-60 can be divided into fractional places. The first fractional place is called a minute, the second place is called a second. These fractional place names were applied to hours, as well as to degrees for measuring angles.”
Like Samuel Pepys, 15, James K. Polk, 17, who would be the 11th US President, was operated for a bladder stone and rendered sterile, dying childless.
January 18, 2004 James K. Polk by John Seigenthaler http://www.booknotes.org/Transcri… [...] And...documents...left by...McDowell, the Danville, Kentucky, specialist, one of the great surgeons in the history of this country [ were ] relied on to demonstrate that this was really a urinary stone operation. And it was...a brutal operation. Here's a 17-year-old young man, constantly, almost chronically ill with lower-abdomen pains..., and they rush him to Danville, where...Ephraim McDowell, operates.
Now, the operation...was brutal. No antiseptic. And they only could give him brandy. They didn't have any antisepsis to stop the poison. They held him down. His uncle was with him. They put him up on his shoulders. They used what was called a gorget. And if you look at the gorget, I mean, it looks like it sounds, a vicious knife. And they went between the scrotum and the anus, right through the prostate. How he ever survived is remarkable. But he did. [...] There's no doubt in my mind...that he and Sarah were childless as a result of this operation... I created a panel of about nine doctors, ...some specialists, some general practitioners. All... concluded after they looked at it that [ there was ] not much doubt that he was either left sterile or impotent or both. And so it was a childless marriage. [...]
Comments
First Reading
About Contemporary diaries
Terry Foreman • Link
A Critical Edition of John Beadle's A Journall or Diary of a Thankfull Christian [1656]
(Renaissance Imagination)
by John Beadle, Germaine Fry Murray (Editor)
"Synopsis: Beadle's book is essentially a how-to manual about how to write a spiritual diary; moreover, it is the only one of its kind written in seventeenth-century England. Modern scholars often mention its influence and importance in understanding the "journaling" impulse among the Puritans of the 16th and 17th centuries. This is the first modern systematic examination or critical edition of the work. ..."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos…
Garland Publishing (March 1, 1996)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obid…
Garland Science, December 1996
About Versions of the diary
Terry Foreman • Link
The Index to the L&M Diary publ. by the Univ. of California Press searchable online per the Google Print program.
http://print.google.com/print?id=…
[This link may only work for users in the US.]
About Leads
Terry Foreman • Link
Pauline, "patio" is a Spanish word from "patio de recreo" = "playground." The OED sez "patio" was used by Kipling in 1891, but then entered general use in English in the 1940's and 1950's: it was part of the vernacular then in Southern California where I was reared. So the "Pizza Patio" is, ah, bi-lingual (tho I hope one will suffice for its fare).
About Sunday 13 April 1662
Terry Foreman • Link
The origins of the 24-hour day and the units into which we divide time and space:
"The ancient Egyptians made several contributions to horology, the science of measuring time. Around 1500 B.C., they developed a sundial, onto which they divided the daylight hours into 10 equal parts. They also defined two hours as "twilight hours," one in the morning and one in the evening. Historians believe that the Egyptians used an early astronomical tool called a merkhet at night to mark the passage of "clock stars," specific stars that were equally spread across the sky. During the summer night, 12 clock stars passed the merkhet.
"With a 10 hour day, 2 twilight hours and 12 hours of night, the Egyptians arrived at a 24-hour day. Since an hour was always 1/12 of the period of light or darkness, it was not a fixed quantity. In the summer, for example, a daylight hour was longer than a nighttime hour.
"The next major step forward came from the Babylonians, between approximately 300 and 100 BC They used the sexagesimal--or base-60--system for their astronomical calculations. Although no one knows why they chose 60, one reason may be because base-60 makes divisional operations easy since 60 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, etc. Just as base-10 can be divided into decimal places, base-60 can be divided into fractional places. The first fractional place is called a minute, the second place is called a second. These fractional place names were applied to hours, as well as to degrees for measuring angles.”
http://www.riverdeep.net/current/…
About Bladder and kidney stones
Terry Foreman • Link
Like Samuel Pepys, 15, James K. Polk, 17, who would be the 11th US President, was operated for a bladder stone and rendered sterile, dying childless.
January 18, 2004
James K. Polk
by John Seigenthaler
http://www.booknotes.org/Transcri…
[...]
And...documents...left by...McDowell, the Danville, Kentucky, specialist, one of the great surgeons in the history of this country [ were ] relied on to demonstrate that this was really a urinary stone operation. And it was...a brutal operation. Here's a 17-year-old young man, constantly, almost chronically ill with lower-abdomen pains..., and they rush him to Danville, where...Ephraim McDowell, operates.
Now, the operation...was brutal. No antiseptic. And they only could give him brandy. They didn't have any antisepsis to stop the poison. They held him down. His uncle was with him. They put him up on his shoulders. They used what was called a gorget. And if you look at the gorget, I mean, it looks like it sounds, a vicious knife. And they went between the scrotum and the anus, right through the prostate. How he ever survived is remarkable. But he did.
[...]
There's no doubt in my mind...that he and Sarah were childless as a result of this operation...
I created a panel of about nine doctors, ...some specialists, some general practitioners. All... concluded after they looked at it that [ there was ] not much doubt that he was either left sterile or impotent or both. And so it was a childless marriage.
[...]
About Versions of the diary
Terry Foreman • Link
Three years of the L&M diary publ. by the Univ. of California Press are searchable online per the Google Print program:
1660
http://print.google.com/print?id=…
1665
http://print.google.com/print?id=…
1666
http://print.google.com/print?id=…
[These links may only work for users in the US.]
About Versions of the diary
Terry Foreman • Link
The L&M Companion is searchable online as a Google Print book.
http://print.google.com/print?id=…
[This link may only work for those in the US.]