Sam mentions having an oral sore which he treated with "ahlum"-I believe he called the sore a "canchre".I think he meant what we now call an oral canker sore.I got those oral sores between cheek and gum in the mouth when I was a child and they are painful.Our parents kept a tin of alum which we knew to place on the sore and hold it there as long as we could stand the bitter taste of the alum.This anesthesized the sore and helped to heal it.Apparently,Sam thought initially at least, that the "ahlum" would do the job to heal his sore.I wonder if this is a folk remedy?
"Hemeroids" "being afflicted with Hemerhoids very much... so ill,that I was not far from death, &...when being let bloud in the foote, it pleas'd God to restore me after some time ; Blessed God " 21 April 1658. There are many occassions when J.Evelyn was let of bloud.
Ramsons (allium ursinum, fl. albo): tast like garlick: they grow much in Cranbourn Chace. A proverb: - "Eate leekes in Lide,* and ramsins in May, And all the yeare after physitians may play". * March. [I have seen this old proverb printed, "Eat leekes in Lent, and raisins in May, &c." - J. B.]
Short, squat Sam "Northern European men had lost an average 2.5 inches of height by the 1700s, a loss that was not fully recovered until the first half of the 20th century."http://www.sciencedaily.com/relea…
"Generalized edema (also called dropsy, or hydrops) may involve the cavities of the body as well as the tissues with the excessive accumulation of fluid.
"Edema is most frequently a symptom of disease rather than a disease in itself, and it may have a number of causes, most of which can be traced back to gross variations in the physiological mechanisms that normally maintain a constant water balance in the cells, tissues, and blood. Among the causes may be diseases of the kidneys, heart, veins, or lymphatic system; malnutrition; or allergic reactions. The treatment of edema generally consists of correcting the underlying cause, such as improving kidney or heart function. Edema may be a purely local condition (e.g., hives), or it may be a general one (e.g., nephrotic edema). A swelling of the limbs, face, or some other region of the body is sometimes referred to as anasarca.
"The term dropsy is somewhat archaic, and edema has come to be the preferred term."
The full text of John Evelyn's F U M I F U G I U M: or The Inconveniencie of the AER AND SMOAK of LONDON DISSIPATED. TOGETHER With some REMEDIES humbly PROPOSED By J.E. Esq; To His Sacred MAJESTIE, AND To the PARLIAMENT now Assembled. Published by His Majesties Command. LONDON, [... 1661]
waves of pain in the abdomen that increase in strength, disappear, and return; usually caused by a stone blocking a bile or urine passageway or an intestinal infection http://www.american-depot.com/ser…
Pepys' eye trouble --- From Vol X "Companion" to the "Diary" by Latham and Matthews (1983): "It is generally agreed that the nature of Pepys' eye trouble was a combination of long sight [farsightedness or hyperopia] and astigmatism." Both of these problems are easily corrected today by eye glasses. Such glasses were not really available in Pepys' day.
Tuberculosis - Consumption - TB - The King's evil - the White Plague. TB is one of the most ancient of diseases, evidence of it being found in neolithic graves dating back to 5000 BC Currently, one in three of the Earth's population carry the TB bacteria (WHO estimate 2004), and it was probably more in 17th century London. We, and the 17th century London population, only survive this because our immune system has evolved to hold the infection at bay, though it doesn't kill the bateria. It is only when the immune system is suppressed by, for instance, malnutrition or an immuno-deficiency (like HIV/AIDS in modern times) that the consumption can take hold. Hence its reputation as a disease of poverty. Having said that, one in 5 deaths in mid 17th Century London were caused by consumption - the white plague, as recorded in the Bills of Mortality. It is a very virulent disease because the bacteria can be spread through the air from coughs, sneezes and evaporating spittle, and through consuming infected food and drink. Milk from TB infected cows was a very common vector before pasteurisation. The bacteria is also resistant to being frozen, so can lay dormant in frozen spittle on the ground to flare up again once a thaw arrives. Once this was realised, it led to anti-spitting laws in 19th century Britain, still evidenced by "No Spitting" signs on the buses, though there is little sign that it is now upheld in the streets. Poor Tom Pepys died of consumption on 15th March 1663/4, and Samuel Pepys' description of his demise - "About 8 o'clock my brother began to fetch his spittle with more pain, and to speak as much but not so distinctly, till at last the phlegm getting the mastery of him, and he beginning as we thought to rattle ... and at last his breath broke out bringing a flood of phlegm and stuff out with it, and so he died." - is fairly typical of a TB death. Because the tubercules reduce the efficiency of the lungs to absorb oxygen, cause the lungs to produce phlegm, and also often cause bleeding, in effect the sufferer drowns in his own phlegm and blood. The symtom that gives it its common name consumption, is the wasting away of the body of the sufferer and the skin pallor. Pepys doesn't report these symptoms with Tom, so maybe his infection was particularly virulent and fast acting. See: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/fa… http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/jou…
1. (obsolete) An acute fever. * Brenning agues. —P. Plowman. 2. (pathology) An intermittent fever, attended by alternate cold and hot fits. 3. The cold fit or rigor of the intermittent fever; as, fever and ague. 4. A chill, or state of shaking, as with cold. 5. A former name for malaria.
What is scurvy? A condition caused by a lack of vitamin C. Most animals can manufacture their own vitamin C in their bodies - exceptions include humans, monkeys and guinea pigs A lack of vitamin C means that collagen, a protein found in body tissue such as skin, cannot be replaced, leading to tissue breakdown A diet with no vitamin C could lead to symptoms within four weeks Adult patients may suffer from fatigue, bleeding gums, joint pain, shortness of breath, slow-healing wounds and potentially-fatal heart problems Guava, chillies and red peppers contain much more vitamin C than citrus fruit (Source: British Dietetic Association)
In the 17th century, Bishops granted licenses to midwives and for the practice of physic. To show the extent to which astrology was recognized as a “hand-maid" or associate of medicine, it is interesting to note that in 1670 Archbishop of Canterbury Sheldon, at the request of Elias Ashmole (who was an acknowledged devotee of astrology), granted a license to practice physic to William Lilly (who for over 25 years had been famous as an astrologer and almanac-maker, and the subject of extensive gossip) as compiler of the "nativities" of celebrities in Church and State.
Hygiene isn't an illness, but I don't know where else to post this article on why the Tudors didn't smell as bad as we suppose, and it seems to me Pepys follows their habits, by and large, except when Elizabeth drags him off to the bathhouse. https://newrepublic.com/article/1…
The desire to eradicate ague, AKA malaria, and the methods used, are intimately connected with British history, medicine and the goal of developing trade and colonies in the tropics.
As we know, the first effective malaria prophylaxis was quinine. First encountered by Europeans through the treatment of fevers by indigenous healers in South America, powdered cinchona bark was initially used to help treat malaria.
But since those Europeans were Jesuits, quinine was shunned by many 17th century people in England, like Oliver Cromwell, as being untried and suspect. (Sound familiar?)
When quinine was finally isolated from cinchona tree bark by French researchers Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Caventou in 1820, it was found to also work as a preventative measure and so was adopted by the British army for use on their troops in 1848.
The British government spent a fortune importing the bark from South America, until the British introduced it to India in 1861.
The ability to grow their own supply of quinine was hugely significant for Britain. Quinine enabled colonialism, allowing agents of empire to successfully control malarial areas for the first time, leading to a series of expeditions inland to claim vast swaths of Africa.
Malaria prophylaxis enabled imperial expansion, and, as part of the burgeoning field of tropical medicine, and it also provided its own moral justification.
As usual in 17th century wars, disease caused more deaths than combat.
There are no accurate figures for the English Civil Wars periods, 1642-51, and it is not possible to give a precise overall figure for those killed in battle, as opposed to those who died from disease, or even for a natural decline in population.
Figures for casualties during this period are unreliable, but some attempt has been made to provide rough estimates.
In England, a conservative estimate is that roughly 100,000 people died from war-related disease during the 3 civil wars. Historical records count 84,830 dead from the wars themselves. Counting in accidents and the two Bishops' wars, an estimate of 190,000 dead is achieved, out of a total population of about 5,000,000.
Figures for Scotland are more unreliable and should be treated with greater caution. Casualties include the deaths of prisoners-of-war in conditions that accelerated their deaths, with estimates of 10,000 prisoners not surviving or not returning home (8,000 captured during and immediately after the Battle of Worcester were deported to New England, Bermuda and the West Indies to work for landowners as indentured laborers).
There are no figures to calculate how many died from war-related diseases, but if the same ratio of disease to battle deaths from English figures is applied to the Scottish figures, a not unreasonable estimate of 60,000 people is achieved, from a population of about 1,000,000.
Figures for Ireland are described as "miracles of conjecture". Certainly the devastation inflicted on Ireland was unbelievable, with the best estimate provided by Sir William Petty, the father of English demography. Petty estimates that 112,000 Protestants and 504,000 Catholics were killed through plague, war and famine, giving an estimated total of 616,000 dead, from a pre-war population of about 1,500,000.
Although Petty's figures are the best available, they are still acknowledged as being tentative; they do not include the estimate of 40,000 driven into exile, some of whom served as soldiers in European continental armies, while others were sold as indentured servants to New England and the West Indies. Many of those sold to landowners in New England eventually prospered, but many of those sold to landowners in the West Indies were worked to death.
These estimates indicate that England suffered a 3.7% loss of population, Scotland a loss of 6%, while Ireland suffered a loss of 41% of its population.
Putting these numbers into the context of other catastrophes helps to understand the devastation to Ireland in particular: The Great Hunger of 1845–1852 resulted in a loss of 16% of the population, while during the WWII the population of the Soviet Union fell by 16%.
19 Annotations
First Reading
Lynne • Link
Sam mentions having an oral sore which he treated with "ahlum"-I believe he called the sore a "canchre".I think he meant what we now call an oral canker sore.I got those oral sores between cheek and gum in the mouth when I was a child and they are painful.Our parents kept a tin of alum which we knew to place on the sore and hold it there as long as we could stand the bitter taste
of the alum.This anesthesized the sore and helped to heal it.Apparently,Sam thought initially at least, that the "ahlum" would do the job to heal his sore.I wonder if this is a folk remedy?
vincent • Link
"Hemeroids" "being afflicted with Hemerhoids very much... so ill,that I was not far from death, &...when being let bloud in the foote, it pleas'd God to restore me after some time ; Blessed God " 21 April 1658.
There are many occassions when J.Evelyn was let of bloud.
dirk • Link
Contagious diseases
See:
'The Emergence and Development of the Notion of Contagion', by F. Gonzalez-Crussi MD
http://www.childsdoc.org/spring20…
dirk • Link
17th c. air pollution
John Evelyn (1620-1706):
Extract from “Fumifugium or The Inconvenience of the Air and Smoke or London Dissipated” (1661)
http://www.cf.ac.uk/encap/skilton…
vicente • Link
Ramsons (allium ursinum, fl. albo): tast like garlick: they grow much in Cranbourn Chace. A proverb: - "Eate leekes in Lide,* and ramsins in May, And all the yeare after physitians may play". * March. [I have seen this old proverb printed, "Eat leekes in Lent, and raisins in May, &c." - J. B.]
ftp://ftp.mirror.ac.uk/sites/meta…
JWB • Link
Short, squat Sam
"Northern European men had lost an average 2.5 inches of height by the 1700s, a loss that was not fully recovered until the first half of the 20th century."http://www.sciencedaily.com/relea…
Nix • Link
Dropsy --
Better known today as edema.
"Generalized edema (also called dropsy, or hydrops) may involve the cavities of the body as well as the tissues with the excessive accumulation of fluid.
"Edema is most frequently a symptom of disease rather than a disease in itself, and it may have a number of causes, most of which can be traced back to gross variations in the physiological mechanisms that normally maintain a constant water balance in the cells, tissues, and blood. Among the causes may be diseases of the kidneys, heart, veins, or lymphatic system; malnutrition; or allergic reactions. The treatment of edema generally consists of correcting the underlying cause, such as improving kidney or heart function. Edema may be a purely local condition (e.g., hives), or it may be a general one (e.g., nephrotic edema). A swelling of the limbs, face, or some other region of the body is sometimes referred to as anasarca.
"The term dropsy is somewhat archaic, and edema has come to be the preferred term."
-- Encyclopaedia Britannica
Pedro • Link
Ague.
Auge is a disease about which various strange notions are prevalent..
Book Of Days, move cursor to expand
http://www.library.wisc.edu/etext…
Terry Foreman • Link
The full text of John Evelyn's F U M I F U G I U M:
or The Inconveniencie of the
AER AND SMOAK of LONDON DISSIPATED.
TOGETHER With some REMEDIES humbly PROPOSED
By J.E. Esq;
To His Sacred MAJESTIE,
AND To the PARLIAMENT now Assembled.
Published by His Majesties Command.
LONDON, [... 1661]
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Le…
JWB • Link
From Shakespeare to Defoe: Malaria in England in the Little Ice Age
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol…
Terry F • Link
Colic
waves of pain in the abdomen that increase in strength, disappear, and return; usually caused by a stone blocking a bile or urine passageway or an intestinal infection
http://www.american-depot.com/ser…
Allen • Link
Pepys' eye trouble ---
From Vol X "Companion" to the "Diary" by Latham and Matthews (1983): "It is generally agreed that the nature of Pepys' eye trouble was a combination of long sight [farsightedness or hyperopia] and astigmatism." Both of these problems are easily corrected today by eye glasses. Such glasses were not really available in Pepys' day.
GrahamT • Link
Tuberculosis - Consumption - TB - The King's evil - the White Plague.
TB is one of the most ancient of diseases, evidence of it being found in neolithic graves dating back to 5000 BC
Currently, one in three of the Earth's population carry the TB bacteria (WHO estimate 2004), and it was probably more in 17th century London. We, and the 17th century London population, only survive this because our immune system has evolved to hold the infection at bay, though it doesn't kill the bateria. It is only when the immune system is suppressed by, for instance, malnutrition or an immuno-deficiency (like HIV/AIDS in modern times) that the consumption can take hold. Hence its reputation as a disease of poverty. Having said that, one in 5 deaths in mid 17th Century London were caused by consumption - the white plague, as recorded in the Bills of Mortality.
It is a very virulent disease because the bacteria can be spread through the air from coughs, sneezes and evaporating spittle, and through consuming infected food and drink. Milk from TB infected cows was a very common vector before pasteurisation. The bacteria is also resistant to being frozen, so can lay dormant in frozen spittle on the ground to flare up again once a thaw arrives. Once this was realised, it led to anti-spitting laws in 19th century Britain, still evidenced by "No Spitting" signs on the buses, though there is little sign that it is now upheld in the streets.
Poor Tom Pepys died of consumption on 15th March 1663/4, and Samuel Pepys' description of his demise -
"About 8 o'clock my brother began to fetch his spittle with more pain, and to speak as much but not so distinctly, till at last the phlegm getting the mastery of him, and he beginning as we thought to rattle ... and at last his breath broke out bringing a flood of phlegm and stuff out with it, and so he died."
- is fairly typical of a TB death. Because the tubercules reduce the efficiency of the lungs to absorb oxygen, cause the lungs to produce phlegm, and also often cause bleeding, in effect the sufferer drowns in his own phlegm and blood. The symtom that gives it its common name consumption, is the wasting away of the body of the sufferer and the skin pallor. Pepys doesn't report these symptoms with Tom, so maybe his infection was particularly virulent and fast acting.
See:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/fa…
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/jou…
Terry Foreman • Link
ague
1. (obsolete) An acute fever.
* Brenning agues. —P. Plowman.
2. (pathology) An intermittent fever, attended by alternate cold and hot fits.
3. The cold fit or rigor of the intermittent fever; as, fever and ague.
4. A chill, or state of shaking, as with cold.
5. A former name for malaria.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ague
Second Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
What is scurvy?
A condition caused by a lack of vitamin C.
Most animals can manufacture their own vitamin C in their bodies - exceptions include humans, monkeys and guinea pigs
A lack of vitamin C means that collagen, a protein found in body tissue such as skin, cannot be replaced, leading to tissue breakdown
A diet with no vitamin C could lead to symptoms within four weeks
Adult patients may suffer from fatigue, bleeding gums, joint pain, shortness of breath, slow-healing wounds and potentially-fatal heart problems
Guava, chillies and red peppers contain much more vitamin C than citrus fruit
(Source: British Dietetic Association)
San Diego Sarah • Link
In the 17th century, Bishops granted licenses to midwives and for the practice of physic. To show the extent to which astrology was recognized as a “hand-maid" or associate of medicine, it is interesting to note that in 1670 Archbishop of Canterbury Sheldon, at the request of Elias Ashmole (who was an acknowledged devotee of astrology), granted a license to practice physic to William Lilly (who for over 25 years had been famous as an astrologer and almanac-maker, and the subject of extensive gossip) as compiler of the "nativities" of celebrities in Church and State.
For more info see https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pd…
San Diego Sarah • Link
Hygiene isn't an illness, but I don't know where else to post this article on why the Tudors didn't smell as bad as we suppose, and it seems to me Pepys follows their habits, by and large, except when Elizabeth drags him off to the bathhouse.
https://newrepublic.com/article/1…
San Diego Sarah • Link
The desire to eradicate ague, AKA malaria, and the methods used, are intimately connected with British history, medicine and the goal of developing trade and colonies in the tropics.
As we know, the first effective malaria prophylaxis was quinine. First encountered by Europeans through the treatment of fevers by indigenous healers in South America, powdered cinchona bark was initially used to help treat malaria.
But since those Europeans were Jesuits, quinine was shunned by many 17th century people in England, like Oliver Cromwell, as being untried and suspect. (Sound familiar?)
When quinine was finally isolated from cinchona tree bark by French researchers Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Caventou in 1820, it was found to also work as a preventative measure and so was adopted by the British army for use on their troops in 1848.
The British government spent a fortune importing the bark from South America, until the British introduced it to India in 1861.
The ability to grow their own supply of quinine was hugely significant for Britain. Quinine enabled colonialism, allowing agents of empire to successfully control malarial areas for the first time, leading to a series of expeditions inland to claim vast swaths of Africa.
Malaria prophylaxis enabled imperial expansion, and, as part of the burgeoning field of tropical medicine, and it also provided its own moral justification.
Highlights from
https://nursingclio.org/2022/01/1…
Third Reading
San Diego Sarah • Link
As usual in 17th century wars, disease caused more deaths than combat.
There are no accurate figures for the English Civil Wars periods, 1642-51, and it is not possible to give a precise overall figure for those killed in battle, as opposed to those who died from disease, or even for a natural decline in population.
Figures for casualties during this period are unreliable, but some attempt has been made to provide rough estimates.
In England, a conservative estimate is that roughly 100,000 people died from war-related disease during the 3 civil wars. Historical records count 84,830 dead from the wars themselves. Counting in accidents and the two Bishops' wars, an estimate of 190,000 dead is achieved, out of a total population of about 5,000,000.
Figures for Scotland are more unreliable and should be treated with greater caution. Casualties include the deaths of prisoners-of-war in conditions that accelerated their deaths, with estimates of 10,000 prisoners not surviving or not returning home (8,000 captured during and immediately after the Battle of Worcester were deported to New England, Bermuda and the West Indies to work for landowners as indentured laborers).
There are no figures to calculate how many died from war-related diseases, but if the same ratio of disease to battle deaths from English figures is applied to the Scottish figures, a not unreasonable estimate of 60,000 people is achieved, from a population of about 1,000,000.
Figures for Ireland are described as "miracles of conjecture". Certainly the devastation inflicted on Ireland was unbelievable, with the best estimate provided by Sir William Petty, the father of English demography. Petty estimates that 112,000 Protestants and 504,000 Catholics were killed through plague, war and famine, giving an estimated total of 616,000 dead, from a pre-war population of about 1,500,000.
Although Petty's figures are the best available, they are still acknowledged as being tentative; they do not include the estimate of 40,000 driven into exile, some of whom served as soldiers in European continental armies, while others were sold as indentured servants to New England and the West Indies. Many of those sold to landowners in New England eventually prospered, but many of those sold to landowners in the West Indies were worked to death.
These estimates indicate that England suffered a 3.7% loss of population, Scotland a loss of 6%, while Ireland suffered a loss of 41% of its population.
Putting these numbers into the context of other catastrophes helps to understand the devastation to Ireland in particular:
The Great Hunger of 1845–1852 resulted in a loss of 16% of the population, while during the WWII the population of the Soviet Union fell by 16%.
For citations on the above, plus a deep dive on many aspects of the English Civil Wars, see
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictio…