"I don't understand why in some countries people sell their belongings with their houses. In South Africa we take everything with us and clean up the entire house (hygene), except for the stove/oven!"
In the USA, in many "custom" houses, the furniture remains with the house because it was specially made for the house, or would be damaged by moving it. Sometimes the owners specify what they are taking, and what's included in the sale. The other stuff will be sold -- unless the buyer pays extra. Everything can be negotiated.
In Pepys' day very often the trouble of lowering beds out of the windows because the stairs were tiny meant that large pieces stayed where they were. It sounds like Pepys made assumptions and hadn't negotiated with the Commissioner for what he wanted.
✹ Australian Susan on 29 Aug 2007 • Link • Flag The AntiChrist Myth This was the doctoral thesis topic of a friend of ours. Here is some information he was published on the web about this. http://wiki.faithfutures.org/inde…...
Sadly this has "disappeared." When posting it could be helpful to later annotators if a brief synopsis of appropriate highlights is also included. On the other hand, do we have an Anti-Christ expert in our midst? (Never thought I'd ask such a question!)
From the earliest days of colonial history in America, lotteries were essential to the project’s survival.
In the summer of 1612, the Virginia Company held a lottery to raise additional funding for the struggling settlement at Jamestown. (A tailor named Thomas Sharplisse won the largest prize — 4,000 crowns, a small fortune.)
Three years later the company tried again, with a focus on the great good that would come from white people colonizing the New World. “As pitched by the Virginia Company, buying a lottery ticket was an act of charity that could save a savage’s soul,” Matthew Sweeney writes in The Lottery Wars. Unfortunately lotteries didn’t save the Virginia Company’s settlers from starvation.
The first lottery used to raise government revenue and offer a cash prize was held in Florence, Italy, in 1530. France next adopted this innovative means of raising money, and the British crown followed suit in 1569.
By the 1700s, lotteries were a popular way to raise money for all sorts of projects. They were not seen as a sinful pastime, but more of a civic duty.
In the early 18th century, The Independent reports the Archbishop of Canterbury lent his good name to lotteries, raising fund for the British Museum and Westminster Bridge.
Young Tom Edwards ... his voice has just broken, so his place in the choir has gone. As I recall this happens around 13 or 14, not 19. Young lords went up to Oxford and Cambridge at around 15, so this was a reasonable time for Tom to take on an apprenticeship. That usually lasts 7 years, so he is a free and self-sufficient man at 22.
The tradition of marking newborn swans goes back six centuries, to a time when most of the swans on England's public waters were owned by the monarch.
Later the members of two livery companies (trade guilds), the Company of Dyers and the Company of Vintners, were given the right to keep swans on the Thames River between London and Henley.
Every year since 1363, the monarch's swan master and the swan wardens of the two livery companies row up the Thames, starting at Blackfriars in the center of London and continuing upstream to Abingdon, and "up" all the swan families into the boats, where they are marked with identification numbers.
There are very specific rules governing how ownership is decided, and the six boats, each flying a large silk flag as they row up the river, form a procession that has changed little over the centuries.
CONTACTS: The British Monarchy Official Web Site Buckingham Palace London, SW1A 1AA United Kingdom 44-20-7930-4832 www.royal.gov.uk SOURCES: BkHolWrld-1986, Jul 21 GdWrldFest-1985, p. 95
'The Holbein gatehouse at Whitehall Palace, occupied by Maj.-Gen. Lambert during the Protectorate. (L&M footnote)'
and from Simon Thurley's Whitehall Palace: An Architectural History of the Royal Apartments, 1240 to 1699: "New galleries and chambers were built, extensive gardens, jousting and tennis yards, a bowling green, cock-fighting pit and, of course, the magnificent Holbein gatehouse, with its checkered pattern and fleur de lis. Historians believe that on the upper floor of this gatehouse, in January 1536, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn married in secret."
And now Barbara Villiers Palmer, Countess of Castlemaine has the apartment. Perhaps she moved there after the flood last autumn? http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Busy old fool, unruly sun, Why dost thou thus, Through windows, and through curtains call on us? Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run? Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide Late school boys and sour prentices, Go tell court huntsmen that the king will ride, Call country ants to harvest offices, Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime, Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.
Thy beams, so reverend and strong Why shouldst thou think? I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink, But that I would not lose her sight so long; If her eyes have not blinded thine, Look, and tomorrow late, tell me, Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with me. Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday, And thou shalt hear, All here in one bed lay.
She's all states, and all princes, I, Nothing else is. Princes do but play us; compared to this, All honor's mimic, all wealth alchemy. Thou, sun, art half as happy as we, In that the world's contracted thus. Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be To warm the world, that's done in warming us. Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere; This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere.
"Journal of the Earl of Sandwich" edited by R.C. Anderson "About 8 oclock the Paradox and ketch came to me with packets from Holland. ... This evening I sent Pymm off express with a packet to London in the Henrietta yacht to put him ashore."
As I recall, a "packet" can be a parcel or a bundle, and it can also be a type of ship. So I read this to mean that a collection of mail from Holland was delivered to Sandwich by the Paradox and the ketch. Later Sandwich sent Pymm to London with a packet of mail in the speedy yacht Henrietta. I wonder why Sandwich was involved in intercepting the mail ... unless it was official correspondence. It would still seem more efficient for the Paradox to deliver the mail to the port as usual.
Interestingly, the Tudor post office service used packet ships. I wonder if that's why parcels can be called packets today?
'And thence to Sir W. Batten’s, whither Sir Richard Ford came, the Sheriffe, who hath been at this fire all the while; and he tells me, upon my question, that he and the Mayor were there, as it is their dutys to be, not only to keep the peace, but they have power of commanding the pulling down of any house or houses, to defend the whole City.
'By and by comes in the Common Cryer of the City to speak with him; and when he was gone, says he, “You may see by this man the constitution of the Magistracy of this City; that this fellow’s place, I dare give him (if he will be true to me) 1000l. for his profits every year, and expect to get 500l. more to myself thereby. When,” says he, “I in myself am forced to spend many times as much.”'
"Thence I walked to Cheapside, there to see the effect of a fire there this morning, since four o’clock; which I find in the house of Mr. Bois, that married Dr. Fuller’s niece, who are both out of towne, leaving only a mayde and man in towne. It begun in their house, and hath burned much and many houses backward, though none forward; and that in the great uniform pile of buildings in the middle of Cheapside."
I've Googled "Captain Hugh Hyde" and nothing comes up. Anyone know anything about him? He must have been a trusted naval officer of some repute to draw this important assignment.
And four frigates to capture New Amsterdam seems a tiny fleet for such a mission.
According to Wikipedia, the first Gov. of New York was Richard Nicholls:
"The expedition set sail from Portsmouth on 25 May 1664, and arrived in New Amsterdam on 27 August 1664.[1] 1 "Articles about the Transfer of New Netherland on 27 August, Old Style, Anno 1664". World Digital Library. Retrieved 8 February 2013."
This ties in with a previous assignment:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… Wednesday 18 May 1664 "Up and within all the morning, ... receiving a very wakening letter from Mr. Coventry about fitting of ships, which speaks something like to be done, I went forth to the office, there to take order in things, ..." PRO, Adm. 106/8, f. 463: 18 May; warning Pepys of the imminent arrival of an order from the Duke, and urging speed because the Dutch fleet was already at sea. (L&M footnote) "... to White Hall to a Committee of Tangier, but did little. So home again and to Sir W. Pen, who, among other things of haste in this new order for ships, is ordered to be gone presently to Portsmouth to look after the work there."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… Thursday 19 May 1664 "Up, and ... by coach to Charing Cross with Sir W. Pen, who is going to Portsmouth this day, ..."
And then I would say Coventry took pains to mislead Pepys:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1… Sunday 29 May 1664 (Whit Sunday King’s Birth and Restauration day). "Up, and having received a letter last night desiring it from Mr. Coventry, I walked to St. James’s, and there he and I did long discourse together of the business of the office, and the war with the Dutch; and he seemed to argue mightily with the little reason that there is for all this. ... He seems to think that there may be some negotiation which may hinder a war this year, but that he speaks doubtfully as unwilling I perceive to be thought to discourse any such thing."
"WALKING into Ham House triggers a strange feeling of deja vu. The handsome 17th Century property - a Jacobean stately home in the hands of The National Trust - sits in lush parkland next to the River Thames at Richmond.
"There's plenty to see at Ham House including the dairy, featuring tables with supports shaped like cows' legs, a still house, and a fine ice house which was filled during the winter with ice cut from the Thames. "
Friday 19 August 1664 "... and after dinner my wife and I to Sir W. Pen’s, to see his Lady, the first time, who is a well-looked, fat, short, old Dutchwoman, but one that hath been heretofore pretty handsome, and is now very discreet, and, I believe, hath more wit than her husband. Here we staid talking a good while, and very well pleased I was with the old woman at first visit."
Therefore the 1663 reference to Mrs. Penn must be to their daughter.
Not a good idea to spread gossip like this on your "patients":
"Sir John Mennes was satirized by Sir John Denham, whose poem about Mennes going from Calais to Boulogne to 'eat a pig' is mentioned by Pepys in his diary."
"In 1667 Sir John Denham suffered a bout of madness, the cause has never been clearly determined, although some have suggested that it was brought on by his wife's infidelity."
"Daniel Turner (1667-1741) was the first English medical author to use the term syphilis, as well as recommend the use of the ‘condum’ to prevent transmission. However the name syphilis was not in general use until the 19th century. Until then the disease was usually called the French disease, French pox, Spanish pox, or just 'the pox'.
"The disease had distinct phases. The first began with genital sores, or 'pocks', later called chancres. After these had healed and several weeks later there appeared a general rash, often accompanied by fevers, aches and night bone pains. As well, a rash of verrucous papules often broke out in the genital area. When these healed, a long latent period occurred, initially lasting months and later, several years when there were few symptoms. Finally abscesses and ulcers appeared, and Girolamo Fracastoro's gumma, often ending with severe debility, madness or death. It was this phase of syphilis that was greatly feared, because of the disfigurement and social ostracism that ensued. It was viewed by ordinary people as a sign of sin, for which they were shunned and punished.
"Mercury had been used as a treatment for epidemic diseases since Guy de Chauliac (physician to the Pope in Avignon), advocated its use in his work La Grande Chirurgie in 1363, and this became the accepted treatment for syphilis.
"Paracelsus (1493-1541) ... promoted mercury ... After a time he did recognize its toxicity when administered as an elixir and resorted to using it either as an ointment made from metallic mercury and rubbed into the skin, or as a suffumigation, the inhalation of and bathing of the body in fumes, or both. Many physicians doubted the efficacy of mercury, especially as it had terrible side effects and many died of mercury poisoning. Beck (1997) describes a typical mercury treatment:
“A patient undergoing the treatment was secluded in a hot, stuffy room, and rubbed vigorously with the mercury ointment several times a day. The massaging was done near a hot fire, which the sufferer was then left next to in order to sweat. This process went on for a week to a month or more, and would later be repeated if the disease persisted. Other toxic substances, such as vitriol and arsenic, were also employed, but their curative effects were equally in doubt.”
Comments
Second Reading
About Thursday 26 July 1660
San Diego Sarah • Link
"I don't understand why in some countries people sell their belongings with their houses. In South Africa we take everything with us and clean up the entire house (hygene), except for the stove/oven!"
In the USA, in many "custom" houses, the furniture remains with the house because it was specially made for the house, or would be damaged by moving it. Sometimes the owners specify what they are taking, and what's included in the sale. The other stuff will be sold -- unless the buyer pays extra. Everything can be negotiated.
In Pepys' day very often the trouble of lowering beds out of the windows because the stairs were tiny meant that large pieces stayed where they were. It sounds like Pepys made assumptions and hadn't negotiated with the Commissioner for what he wanted.
About Sunday 28 August 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
Well done, Terry!
About Sunday 28 August 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
✹ Australian Susan on 29 Aug 2007 • Link • Flag
The AntiChrist Myth
This was the doctoral thesis topic of a friend of ours. Here is some information he was published on the web about this.
http://wiki.faithfutures.org/inde…...
Sadly this has "disappeared." When posting it could be helpful to later annotators if a brief synopsis of appropriate highlights is also included. On the other hand, do we have an Anti-Christ expert in our midst? (Never thought I'd ask such a question!)
About Wednesday 20 July 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
From the earliest days of colonial history in America, lotteries were essential to the project’s survival.
In the summer of 1612, the Virginia Company held a lottery to raise additional funding for the struggling settlement at Jamestown. (A tailor named Thomas Sharplisse won the largest prize — 4,000 crowns, a small fortune.)
Three years later the company tried again, with a focus on the great good that would come from white people colonizing the New World. “As pitched by the Virginia Company, buying a lottery ticket was an act of charity that could save a savage’s soul,” Matthew Sweeney writes in The Lottery Wars. Unfortunately lotteries didn’t save the Virginia Company’s settlers from starvation.
The first lottery used to raise government revenue and offer a cash prize was held in Florence, Italy, in 1530. France next adopted this innovative means of raising money, and the British crown followed suit in 1569.
By the 1700s, lotteries were a popular way to raise money for all sorts of projects. They were not seen as a sinful pastime, but more of a civic duty.
In the early 18th century, The Independent reports the Archbishop of Canterbury lent his good name to lotteries, raising fund for the British Museum and Westminster Bridge.
FROM http://www.atlasobscura.com/artic…
About Saturday 27 August 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
Young Tom Edwards ... his voice has just broken, so his place in the choir has gone. As I recall this happens around 13 or 14, not 19. Young lords went up to Oxford and Cambridge at around 15, so this was a reasonable time for Tom to take on an apprenticeship. That usually lasts 7 years, so he is a free and self-sufficient man at 22.
About Swan
San Diego Sarah • Link
Swan Upping -- every third week in July
The tradition of marking newborn swans goes back six centuries, to a time when most of the swans on England's public waters were owned by the monarch.
Later the members of two livery companies (trade guilds), the Company of Dyers and the Company of Vintners, were given the right to keep swans on the Thames River between London and Henley.
Every year since 1363, the monarch's swan master and the swan wardens of the two livery companies row up the Thames, starting at Blackfriars in the center of London and continuing upstream to Abingdon, and "up" all the swan families into the boats, where they are marked with identification numbers.
There are very specific rules governing how ownership is decided, and the six boats, each flying a large silk flag as they row up the river, form a procession that has changed little over the centuries.
CONTACTS:
The British Monarchy Official Web Site
Buckingham Palace
London, SW1A 1AA United Kingdom
44-20-7930-4832
www.royal.gov.uk
SOURCES:
BkHolWrld-1986, Jul 21
GdWrldFest-1985, p. 95
From http://encyclopedia2.thefreedicti…
About Friday 26 August 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
And this is why Charles II had shut the gate:
'The Holbein gatehouse at Whitehall Palace, occupied by Maj.-Gen. Lambert during the Protectorate. (L&M footnote)'
and from Simon Thurley's Whitehall Palace: An Architectural History of the Royal Apartments, 1240 to 1699: "New galleries and chambers were built, extensive gardens, jousting and tennis yards, a bowling green, cock-fighting pit and, of course, the magnificent Holbein gatehouse, with its checkered pattern and fleur de lis. Historians believe that on the upper floor of this gatehouse, in January 1536, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn married in secret."
And now Barbara Villiers Palmer, Countess of Castlemaine has the apartment. Perhaps she moved there after the flood last autumn? http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
About Saturday 9 July 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
John Donne's poem, 'The Sunne Rising':
Busy old fool, unruly sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?
Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
Late school boys and sour prentices,
Go tell court huntsmen that the king will ride,
Call country ants to harvest offices,
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time.
Thy beams, so reverend and strong
Why shouldst thou think?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
But that I would not lose her sight so long;
If her eyes have not blinded thine,
Look, and tomorrow late, tell me,
Whether both th' Indias of spice and mine
Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with me.
Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,
And thou shalt hear, All here in one bed lay.
She's all states, and all princes, I,
Nothing else is.
Princes do but play us; compared to this,
All honor's mimic, all wealth alchemy.
Thou, sun, art half as happy as we,
In that the world's contracted thus.
Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/…
About Saturday 20 August 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Journal of the Earl of Sandwich" edited by R.C. Anderson
"About 8 oclock the Paradox and ketch came to me with packets from Holland.
... This evening I sent Pymm off express with a packet to London in the Henrietta yacht to put him ashore."
As I recall, a "packet" can be a parcel or a bundle, and it can also be a type of ship. So I read this to mean that a collection of mail from Holland was delivered to Sandwich by the Paradox and the ketch. Later Sandwich sent Pymm to London with a packet of mail in the speedy yacht Henrietta. I wonder why Sandwich was involved in intercepting the mail ... unless it was official correspondence. It would still seem more efficient for the Paradox to deliver the mail to the port as usual.
Interestingly, the Tudor post office service used packet ships. I wonder if that's why parcels can be called packets today?
About Sheriffs of the City of London
San Diego Sarah • Link
'And thence to Sir W. Batten’s, whither Sir Richard Ford came, the Sheriffe, who hath been at this fire all the while; and he tells me, upon my question, that he and the Mayor were there, as it is their dutys to be, not only to keep the peace, but they have power of commanding the pulling down of any house or houses, to defend the whole City.
'By and by comes in the Common Cryer of the City to speak with him; and when he was gone, says he, “You may see by this man the constitution of the Magistracy of this City; that this fellow’s place, I dare give him (if he will be true to me) 1000l. for his profits every year, and expect to get 500l. more to myself thereby. When,” says he, “I in myself am forced to spend many times as much.”'
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Two years from now the Sheriffs were not as ruthless/effective as this man.
About John Boys
San Diego Sarah • Link
"Thence I walked to Cheapside, there to see the effect of a fire there this morning, since four o’clock; which I find in the house of Mr. Bois, that married Dr. Fuller’s niece, who are both out of towne, leaving only a mayde and man in towne. It begun in their house, and hath burned much and many houses backward, though none forward; and that in the great uniform pile of buildings in the middle of Cheapside."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
About Thursday 18 August 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
Thanks Terry -- all those records available on the internet, free. 'Tis a wonderful time for history junkies.
About Thursday 18 August 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
I've Googled "Captain Hugh Hyde" and nothing comes up. Anyone know anything about him? He must have been a trusted naval officer of some repute to draw this important assignment.
And four frigates to capture New Amsterdam seems a tiny fleet for such a mission.
About Thursday 18 August 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
Ooooops, forgot to give you the Wikipedia link to Gov. Richard Nicholls:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ric…
About Thursday 18 August 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
According to Wikipedia, the first Gov. of New York was Richard Nicholls:
"The expedition set sail from Portsmouth on 25 May 1664, and arrived in New Amsterdam on 27 August 1664.[1]
1 "Articles about the Transfer of New Netherland on 27 August, Old Style, Anno 1664". World Digital Library. Retrieved 8 February 2013."
This ties in with a previous assignment:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Wednesday 18 May 1664
"Up and within all the morning, ... receiving a very wakening letter from Mr. Coventry about fitting of ships, which speaks something like to be done, I went forth to the office, there to take order in things, ..."
PRO, Adm. 106/8, f. 463: 18 May; warning Pepys of the imminent arrival of an order from the Duke, and urging speed because the Dutch fleet was already at sea. (L&M footnote)
"... to White Hall to a Committee of Tangier, but did little. So home again and to Sir W. Pen, who, among other things of haste in this new order for ships, is ordered to be gone presently to Portsmouth to look after the work there."
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Thursday 19 May 1664
"Up, and ... by coach to Charing Cross with Sir W. Pen, who is going to Portsmouth this day, ..."
And then I would say Coventry took pains to mislead Pepys:
http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1…
Sunday 29 May 1664 (Whit Sunday King’s Birth and Restauration day).
"Up, and having received a letter last night desiring it from Mr. Coventry, I walked to St. James’s, and there he and I did long discourse together of the business of the office, and the war with the Dutch; and he seemed to argue mightily with the little reason that there is for all this. ... He seems to think that there may be some negotiation which may hinder a war this year, but that he speaks doubtfully as unwilling I perceive to be thought to discourse any such thing."
So now we know who kept Pepys in the dark.
About Friday 12 August 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
I agree, Mary K and Marquess ... please keep posting!
About Thursday 30 June 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
Ice houses:
https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-…
"WALKING into Ham House triggers a strange feeling of deja vu. The handsome 17th Century property - a Jacobean stately home in the hands of The National Trust - sits in lush parkland next to the River Thames at Richmond.
"There's plenty to see at Ham House including the dairy, featuring tables with supports shaped like cows' legs, a still house, and a fine ice house which was filled during the winter with ice cut from the Thames. "
About Lady Margaret Penn
San Diego Sarah • Link
Friday 19 August 1664
"... and after dinner my wife and I to Sir W. Pen’s, to see his Lady, the first time, who is a well-looked, fat, short, old Dutchwoman, but one that hath been heretofore pretty handsome, and is now very discreet, and, I believe, hath more wit than her husband. Here we staid talking a good while, and very well pleased I was with the old woman at first visit."
Therefore the 1663 reference to Mrs. Penn must be to their daughter.
About Sunday 24 May 1663
San Diego Sarah • Link
A year from now Pepys reports meeting Lady Penn for the first time. So this Mrs. Penn must be the daughter.
About Monday 15 August 1664
San Diego Sarah • Link
Not a good idea to spread gossip like this on your "patients":
"Sir John Mennes was satirized by Sir John Denham, whose poem about Mennes going from Calais to Boulogne to 'eat a pig' is mentioned by Pepys in his diary."
"In 1667 Sir John Denham suffered a bout of madness, the cause has never been clearly determined, although some have suggested that it was brought on by his wife's infidelity."
From: http://www.enotes.com/john-denham…
"Daniel Turner (1667-1741) was the first English medical author to use the term syphilis, as well as recommend the use of the ‘condum’ to prevent transmission. However the name syphilis was not in general use until the 19th century. Until then the disease was usually called the French disease, French pox, Spanish pox, or just 'the pox'.
"The disease had distinct phases. The first began with genital sores, or
'pocks', later called chancres. After these had healed and several weeks later there appeared a general rash, often accompanied by fevers, aches and night bone pains. As well, a rash of verrucous papules often broke out in the genital area. When these healed, a long latent period occurred, initially lasting months and later, several years when there were few symptoms. Finally abscesses and ulcers appeared, and Girolamo Fracastoro's gumma, often ending with severe debility, madness or death. It was this phase of syphilis that was greatly feared, because of the disfigurement and social ostracism that ensued. It was viewed by ordinary people as a sign of sin, for which they were shunned and punished.
"Mercury had been used as a treatment for epidemic diseases since Guy de Chauliac (physician to the Pope in Avignon), advocated its use in his work La Grande Chirurgie in 1363, and this became the accepted treatment for syphilis.
"Paracelsus (1493-1541) ... promoted mercury ... After a time he did recognize its toxicity when administered as an elixir and resorted to using it either as an ointment made from metallic mercury and rubbed into the skin, or as a suffumigation, the inhalation of and bathing of the body in fumes, or both. Many physicians doubted the efficacy of mercury, especially as it had terrible side effects and many died of mercury poisoning. Beck (1997) describes a typical mercury treatment:
“A patient undergoing the treatment was secluded in a hot, stuffy room, and rubbed vigorously with the mercury ointment several times a day. The massaging was done near a hot fire, which the sufferer was then left next to in order to sweat. This process went on for a week to a month or more, and would later be repeated if the disease persisted. Other toxic substances, such as vitriol and arsenic, were also employed, but their curative effects were equally in doubt.”
From, http://jmvh.org/article/syphilis-…
No wonder patients went "mad".