Tag Archives: pain

Down and Out in Upstate New York

27 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by in Events, History, Living History, Reenacting

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Other folks have covered aspects of this past weekend at Fort Ticonderoga, leaving me with little that needs adding but much to look into. Portraying a British servant is more intuitive for me than portraying an American: the hierarchy of the British is more explicit than the American, especially in a military context. We mimic the British structure, and while I considered that running a fort’s servant set might/should/would mimic that of a Big House, I wonder if that’s true.

 

Miss S, Mr. B., Your Author, and Drunk Tailor

How did a set of servants from different places, answering to different masters, interact? What  kind of rivalries developed? And who had ultimate below-stairs authority? It’s been a long time since I experienced workplace politics, so the past weekend gave me much to ponder about how the lower sorts managed– and managed up.

For me, the name of the serving game is managing the people you serve to make your own life easier. Servants had so much to do– as many of us do in real life– that the only way to manage the workload was to– well, manage the workload, or at least the person who set it.

As John Brown’s housekeeper, I ran a household of several (three+) servants and six residents. Even a household that small required extensive stair climbing and coordination, even without a working kitchen! The Browns never had more than three or four household servants we could document, which again makes me wonder about the actual number of servants a complement of New England officers would have.

Ow. That’s what my face means. Pierre was a trooper.

Thus far, I’ve found good quantification of servants in Philadelphia households in 1775, but have yet to crack the code on New England or Continental Army servants, so more hours on JSTOR await.

Paul Sandby. At Sandpit Gate circa 1752
Pencil, pen and ink and watercolor. RCIN 914329

No matter what one ultimately decides the research shows about the number of servants and their roles in an American occupied fort, I know I spent the day more immersed than I have been in a long time. Fort Ticonderoga provided a picturesque backdrop, and my body provided a four-dimensional pain experience reminding me of the tribulations of women in the <cough> period </cough>. I spent the majority the day (the part I was awake, anyway) experiencing the full joys of being  female and still fertile. The more I read about archaeology of the 18th century, particularly in the privies and trash pits, the more I think nearly everyone in the past felt pretty awful most of the time. If that hunch is correct, I nailed Saturday despite appearing in undress (which I can at least document to Sandby at Sandpit Gate).

Ballet Arthritique

28 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by in Research

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Three men wearing orthopedic apparatus. Etching and engraving by Paul Sandby, 1783. Wellcome Library image L0019751

How was arthritis pain treated in the 18th century? One option was the mustard plaster, which operates on the principle that heat generated by the plaster increases blood flow, which will reduce inflammation. Frankincense supposedly inhibits the production of molecules that cause inflammation and break down cartilage tissue, which leads to joint pain, at least in knees. This level of scientific knowledge wasn’t available to the 18th century physick, but frankincense is an edible aromatic resin with a long history of use in treating ailments including arthritis. At least you (or your breath) would smell good.

The primary ailment treated of was gout, and the remedies above are mostly directed at inflammatory arthritis, the kind where joints grow red and swollen. Think of wealthy, overweight men drinking port with swollen feet propped up on footstools: that’s gout.

Models showing progressive arthritis in a knee, followed by joint replacement.

Then there’s osteoarthritis, or degenerative joint disease, once included in the catchall and obsolete term, rheumatism. This is a different matter, where changing your diet and icing the joint generally won’t bring much relief. When your cartilage is gone, your bones rub together. Osteophystes or bone spurs form is response to damage or inflammation, and cause both pain and noise.
In the pre-joint replacement era, treating this kind of arthritis was treating chronic pain. (In this era, that’s still the case: absent a TJR or resurfacing, all that’s treated is pain. Once the joint is replaced, there’s nothing left to hurt. It’s a neat little trick.)

Providence Gazette and Country Journal, June 16, 1764. V II, Issue 87, page 3

Providence Gazette and Country Journal, June 16, 1764. V II, Issue 87, page 3

In pre-Revolution Boston and Rhode Island, there were various cures advertised promising far more benefit than they were likely to deliver. Phillip Bourne, from Greenwich Hospital in England, promises to “undertake curing any Persons who are afflicted with the Gout and Rheumatic Pains, with the greatest Facility and Safety imaginable.” The caveat about “especially such as have not been visited with those Disorders for more than Seven Years” is particularly nice, since the longer pain persists, the harder it is to treat. He knew his limits, I suppose, if only of his patience, or the amount of time he could safely ‘practice’ in any location.

Boston Gazette, February 14, 1774.

Boston Gazette, February 14, 1774.

Edes and Gill sold Keyser’s Famous Pills, “So well known all over Europe,” and promising much, like Cures for Scorbutic Eruptions, Leprosies, White Swellings, Stiff Joints, Gout and Rheumatic Disorders, etc.” I don’t know about you, but I think I’d prefer to have my scurvy treatments separate from my arthritis treatments.

Ultimately, the best option was probably a crutch or cane, though braces were devised and are still used, along with crutches and canes. All that prevents their use or efficacy is the vanity of the user.