HARDY FORUM ARCHIVE H02012 2/10/02 "CAUSES OF FEVER IN 19TH CENT. LITERATURE." ============================================================================= Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 21:28:40 -0600 From: Glen & Sara van Alkemade Subject: "Fever" in 19th century lit : The general malaise of "fever" (often accompanied by "delerium") seems to occur frequently in much of the literature of the 19th century which I have read, which is mostly English and Russian. Is this just what life was life in the pre-antibiotic era? Was the term used to refer to ailments that we now know by other names? It is sometimes seemingly used to carry off superfluous characters as a cheap literary device; or was that a common experience? Glen & Sara van Alkemade Jesus People USA 920 W. Wilson Ave #422 Chicago Il 60640 (773)561-2450 ext 1142 ========== Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 09:47:52 -0500 From: Rosemarie Morgan Subject: Re: "Fever" in 19th century lit Dear "Fever" Enquirer, It's not so much a lack of antibiotics as health and hygiene. The mortality rate of women in childbirth is indicative: according to one school of thought it is hygiene, primarily, which has contributed to our extended life span in the post Victorian era. Disorders of the digestive/intestinal tract can cause fever and any severe inflammation of the tract, as in diarrhoea or dysentery, can lead to delirium. Lax hygiene in the preparation of foods was a factor (salmonella poisoning, for example, causes a high fever and/or death). Although hysteria (seizure followed by exhaustion) is a "woman's disease" attributed to repressed nervous and sexual energy (thwarted drives) called "nerve storms" by Olive Schreiner, men were also (in rare cases) susceptible. The public imagination preferred not to call it hysteria but studies of "shell-shocked" soldiers returning from the war reveal behaviours in men similar to those detected in female hysterics -- paralysis, dizziness etc. The difference lay in treatment. Men were rarely incarcerated in asylums-- Sassoon is a prime example. A decisive factor in "fever" conditions was the treatment of minor ailments with heavy-duty opiates. Laudanum (narcotic) was freely available and freely used: excessive usage and withdrawal symptoms alike would frequently find the patient in bed and hallucinating. I'm afraid this is but a cursory account and risks oversimplification. But it may give some leads. Elaine Showalter has a useful bibliography in *The Female Malady* (Penguin, 1985), should you wish to explore further. Cheers, Rosemarie ==========