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Dumpshock Forums _ General Gaming _ 1920s doctor = fail

Posted by: Wounded Ronin Oct 30 2011, 03:18 PM

So, I'm planning to write a story set in the 20s that includes Lovecraftian type monsters. In order to prepare, I'm reading up on the 20s. I just found the most hilarious fail from a 1920s physician, who stated that mustard and pepper cause liver failure.

Source: http://www.1920-30.com/food/condiments.html

QUOTE

Use of this sort of condiments must, therefore, be very moderate. Those who get the habit of using them quickly become its slaves, and find all foods tasteless that have not been drenched with pepper and mustard. They are laying the ground, for dyspepsia, which will compel them to give up such injurious practises—perhaps even for some ulcer of the stomach or duodenum, whose consequences can not be foreseen. In any case, they bring on premature fatigue of the liver, leading to the hepatic complaints now so common and so difficult to cure.

Goddamn, apparently ANYONE could be a doctor back in the 20s, and just say whatever the hell they wanted to!

I'll bet that viral hepatitis hadn't been discovered yet at that point in time.

Posted by: CanRay Oct 30 2011, 03:21 PM

http://www.paper-dragon.com/1939/

And we're talking about a time when leeches were still part of an apothecaries shop's stock, IIRC. (Then again, they just rediscovered that maggots are a great emergency tool for dealing with necrotic flesh before gangrene sets in. So, hey, maybe they did know something back then.).

Posted by: Wounded Ronin Nov 12 2011, 05:45 PM

I'm pretty excited about my story. It's derivative, and I've decided to deliberately make it very derivative, but I think it will be a lot of fun to read. At this point in time, I feel like by making it derivative, I can set the scene and describe the essentials of what is happening faster, which is normally where I get bogged down trying to describe every little detail until I get burnt out. In the past I never got to write about the interesting stuff because I had to fill in all the underlying pedestrian details. Since I get the basics out of the way faster, I can spend my mental energy on the stuff that is exciting, fun, and violent, and hopefully that mental energy I have will really translate to an engaging story.

My goal is to write a story that will have a Tarantino-type Kill Bill nostalgia factor for fans of both H. P. Lovecraft, and the Rambo movie franchise.

Posted by: hobgoblin Nov 20 2011, 08:22 PM

QUOTE (CanRay @ Oct 30 2011, 04:21 PM)

http://www.paper-dragon.com/1939/

And we're talking about a time when leeches were still part of an apothecaries shop's stock, IIRC.

(Then again, they just rediscovered that maggots are a great emergency tool for dealing with necrotic flesh before gangrene sets in. So, hey, maybe they did know something back then.).

I suspect a few old cures worked, but they where mixed up with a whole lot of placebos and superstitions. And i wonder how many nature cures where lost in witch hunts, only to be rediscovered as science replaced religion as the mental basis for gathering knowledge...

Posted by: CanRay Nov 20 2011, 09:57 PM

Or going to places where witch hunts weren't as effective and finding those cures again and going, "Why the hell is this working? This should be KILLING people, not curing them! These aren't DRUGS! ... Oh. They are drugs in their natural form."

*Headdesk*

Pharmacists have forgotten that their roots were as Apothecaries. Aspirin, that ancient standby for EVERYTHING almost, is made from WILLOW BARK!

Sorry. Really grates at me at times. I had family in the medical field, and some of the improvised things they had to do were better than standard practice, but they couldn't get recognition for them as "That's not real medicine." Of course, I didn't have any "Real Doctors" in my family, just people who "worked for a living" to borrow that old Military Saying.