Monday, August 4, 2008

Modern Woman Monday: Consumption Information Gives Me The Vapors

From pages 96 & 97 in Pathfinder Physiology No. 3, Hygienic Physiology, by Joel Dorman Steele, PhD., 1888.


First an illustration of the "deformity" of tight lacing of corsets (which I've already disputed -- NWS), then this gem on "consumption":
Consumption is a disease which destroys the substance of the lungs. Like other lung difficulties, it is caused by a want of pure air, a liberal supply of which is the best treatment that can be prescribed for it.*

...* If I were seriously ill of consumption, I would live outdoors day and night, except in rainy weather or midwinter; then I would sleep in an unplastered log house. Physic has no nutriment, gaspings for air can not cure you, monkey capers in a gymnasium can not cure you, stimulants can not cure you. What consumptives want is pure air, not physic, plenty of meat and plenty of bread, -- Dr. Marshall Hall.
I've always heard consumption and the vapers were catch-alls for undiagnosed illnesses, like cancer, and/or diseases in the minds of fragile women. But in case I am wrong, anyone tried monkey capers for their consumption?

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3 Comments:

Blogger Miss Janey said...

Miss J likes to monkey caper but only in hte jungle. Not the gym. She rolls old school.

August 4, 2008 5:00 PM  
Blogger Andy said...

While I'm sure that "consumption" was most likely the name bestowed upon a number of similarly not-understood-at-the-time illnesses, it had been my understanding that it was most often used to describe what we now know as tuberculosis.

And are "monkey capers" something you do, or something you eat?

August 8, 2008 3:26 PM  
Blogger Pop Tart said...

We believe monkey capers are something you do; however, as monkey capers can (and often do) include the tossing of poo, some confusion ensues...

However, we do know less about the medical diagnosis of consumption, and defer to you there.

August 8, 2008 9:13 PM  

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