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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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This particular pandemic took with it three of my four grandparents.
TEd
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>It principally struck otherwise-healthy young people of ages 18-30 [about 10% mortality].
so the odds were still better than fighting in the trenches....
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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For more insight on this, WW, you might want to read Albert Camus' great novel, The Plague, about an outbreak that devastates the port city of Oran, Algeria and its psychological affects on the inhabitants there. Regarded by many as one of the top ten novels of the 20th century.
death total on the Great Flu Pandemic
I've seen this listed in various accounts at many different estimates, ranging from 18 to 80 million! After perusing material on it over the years I feel comfortable with the 50 mil figure. But, much like the death toll suffered by the Russians in WWII, now pushed upwards by many from 10-20 million to 40-50 million, I guess we'll never know for sure.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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A very insightful and well-written read, Bingley! Thanks for the link. I'd be interested to get Dr. Bill's reaction to this. And I also encountered an unfamiliar word in the passage: batlling. It doesn't seem to be a typo for battling because the rest of the work is flawless, perhaps a variation in the spelling?...or could it be an obsolete medical term of some kind? Here's the usage:
So it was that in this disease there was no cause which came within the province of human reasoning; for in all cases the issue tended to be something unaccountable. For example, while some were helped by batlling, others were harmed in no less degree.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Bingley: thanks for the link. I read it with great interest, because the writer had so much good sense, and was a good observer. There was no mention of rats or their fleas.The spread apparently did not run the course I read about years ago, with earliest cases having buboes with slow progression of the disease, and later cases being pneumonic with rapid spread and quick death. Hard to explain the erratic spread, with some escaping infection for a couple months.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Well, I had hoped to just skim that article--things like that make me feel ill--but the Wizard WO'N posed a puzzle, which I purported to pursue.
It could make sense, if it were a typo for battling: in the paragraph above, it is told how delirious people would throw themselves around and attempt to flee, and their caregivers would have to fight to restrain them. Just a thought.
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>batlling
I read it as bathing. I have written to Prof. Halsall for clarification.
Bingley
Bingley
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
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One of the very best books about epidemics is Hans Zinnser, Rats, Lice, and History. 1935
Well, finally - someone's mentioned a book that I have! I'm also reminded of Camus' book La Peste (The Plague)
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
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Should be interesting to read the verdict on battling, bathing, batlling and gang.
I read the Procopius account with great interest, the most sobering fact there having been the necessity of throwing bodies into towers from which tops had been removed. Also, interesting was his description of people who had been immoral, and becoming, instead, uncharacteristically righteous in sight of the plague. Once the threat had disappeared, he observed, they returned to their immoral habits. Thanks for the link, Bingley.
I wonder what the etymology of Procopius' name might be?
Best regards,
WW
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