President Lincoln narrowly avoids insanity.
July 17, 2001 7:55 AM   Subscribe

President Lincoln narrowly avoids insanity. Had he not changed his medication early in his presidency, Lincoln might have conducted the war very differently.
posted by ljromanoff (6 comments total)
 
Or might not have conducted the war at all. The level of mercury would have been fatal eventually. I wonder what it would have been like under Andrew Johnson.
posted by OneBallJay at 8:52 AM on July 17, 2001


Explains the hats, then.

The treatment of mental illness has always been coloured by ritual and speculation. There are practices from the 1720s that are still used today, which seem more in keeping with ideas of possession and purgation. The things that appear in prescriptions, though, would horrify you: iron filings, red lead, asfoetida, silver nitrate, all manner of nastiness.

"Blue mass" was a fast-acting laxative, which may also account for Lincoln's bad moods. And a toothpaste. Ugh.
posted by holgate at 9:05 AM on July 17, 2001


best Ralph Wiggum voice:

"Was President Lincoln okay?"

best Miss Hoover voice:

"He was fine Ralph. Have a good summer."
posted by o2b at 9:13 AM on July 17, 2001


Makes me feel a whole lot better about not taking my Lamictal, I'll tell you that.
posted by Ezrael at 10:39 AM on July 17, 2001


Burns "I knew Andy Johnson, he would have made a fine potentate"

Smithers: "um, Mr. Burns, Dr. Nick is here with the silver nitrate"
Burns: "Send that snake oil merchant out to canvass someone elses back forty, now wheel me into reactor 2, and get me my Hi-Fi, that diamond fellow is just getting started"

(sound of slow sweeky wheelchair with a shopping cart rut)

Burns: (bump) "eh" (bump) "eh" (bump) "eh".
posted by clavdivs at 11:33 AM on July 17, 2001


Pill popping president responsible for the deaths of... How many people died in the civil war? Weird.
posted by thirteen at 8:45 AM on July 18, 2001


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