Is the lumbago flaring up?
June 9, 2006 2:24 PM Subscribe
The Archaic Medical Terms Dictionary. This was intended as a tool for genealogists and historians, but it is fun to browse. If you're suffering from Rag-Picker's Disease you are in trouble and Haematemesis looks pretty serious too. If you know what "Black Tongue" or "Painter's colic" are, you can contribute to the author's unsolved page.
In a similar vein, I'm really hoping I never ever get any of these. Clearly "shrieking neck," whatever it could possibly be, is not to be trifled with.
posted by SteelyDuran at 2:31 PM on June 9, 2006
posted by SteelyDuran at 2:31 PM on June 9, 2006
Very cool. Thanks! Today seems to be old-school metafilter type links day - you know, just good stuff on the web.
posted by vacapinta at 2:32 PM on June 9, 2006
posted by vacapinta at 2:32 PM on June 9, 2006
Wow, these are fascinating! Thanks Marxarchivist!
Reading books about life of yore, there were always weird illnesses mentioned I wondered about: Ague, Scarlatina, Vaginal Catarrh, Sprue.
It's the same with all those references to fabrics with sumptuous names: charmeuse, taffeta, piqué, nainsook, georgette, organza, bunting...always a mystery pre-Google.
Now I'll know where I can look when I'm thinking "What the hell is scrofula?"
posted by nickyskye at 3:06 PM on June 9, 2006
Reading books about life of yore, there were always weird illnesses mentioned I wondered about: Ague, Scarlatina, Vaginal Catarrh, Sprue.
It's the same with all those references to fabrics with sumptuous names: charmeuse, taffeta, piqué, nainsook, georgette, organza, bunting...always a mystery pre-Google.
Now I'll know where I can look when I'm thinking "What the hell is scrofula?"
posted by nickyskye at 3:06 PM on June 9, 2006
I've been correcting proofs by hand all day, so I'm working on a nasty case of scrivener's palsy.
posted by scody at 3:34 PM on June 9, 2006
posted by scody at 3:34 PM on June 9, 2006
So that's what "dropsy" is! Thanks!
posted by Asparagirl at 5:06 PM on June 9, 2006
posted by Asparagirl at 5:06 PM on June 9, 2006
It's very good, but has lapses. For instance, the description of railway spine, "Back injury with injury to the spinal cord (common in railway workers)" is seriously wrong. It was far more interesting, akin to a Victorian equivalent of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: see my old blog entry on railway spine.
posted by raygirvan at 6:34 PM on June 9, 2006
posted by raygirvan at 6:34 PM on June 9, 2006
While reading this, I feel forced to say all the names aloud as Grandpa Simpson.
posted by thanotopsis at 7:00 PM on June 9, 2006
posted by thanotopsis at 7:00 PM on June 9, 2006
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Quinsy: Pus-filled swelling (i.e. an abscess) in the soft palate around the tonsils, usually as a complication of tonsillitis.
posted by cdcello at 2:28 PM on June 9, 2006