Maree’s musings
CHANGING TIMES …
Having been laid up recently with (self-inflicted) injuries, I’ve been indulging in some daytime TV watching, including a programme called ‘Mysteries at the Museum’. (This is not a free advert, by the way). Of course we have a lovely museum here in town, so I paid it a visit.
High up on a shelf containing some ancient books, three large tomes looked interesting.Two were textbooks on a medical theme; both nearly 1500 pages; so weighty on both counts. The third was titled ‘Dr Chase’s Combination Receipt Book’, which is not as boring as it sounds; it actually contains a myriad of recipes from the 1800’s.
Hiding amongst these I discovered a very stern section entitled ‘LIQUOR – a cure for the love of it’. I’m not at all enthusiastic about this advice right now (see above re health issues). Apparently Dr Chase had been talking to a gentleman who had attended ‘a reformatory institution’ and offered the following: ‘Simply take an orange every morning half an hour before breakfast, and you will want neither liquor nor medicine.’ Interesting, I thought. I’ve been eating half a grapefruit every day for years with no success on the abstinence front. And right now I need all the pain-killing medications I can lay my hand on.
Dr Chase’s comments might bring more success. ‘I will add to this: keep away from where it is sold, take the orange as directed, and you will be safe.’ There was further advice about avoiding saloons, learning to say NO! in a loud voice and such like. Of course life was different then; times have changed and responsible drinking is in fashion.
‘Health & Longevity’ (1914 Edition) with 1382pages, was collated by an American Professor of Hygiene, so he probably knew a thing or two. Among the Sections including ‘Housing Health’ (which might still be relevant today); Medicines; Anatomy; etc, there was a section headed ‘Adults’ Department’.
Many of you will remember surreptitiously sneaking a look at the ‘naughty bits’ of such manuals when young; and even on this occasion I couldn’t resist. As well as coloured plates of ‘female and male anatomy’, I discovered this: ‘In the cultivated social life of today, (a) woman concerning herself in the interests of society can only be thought of as a wife. (Her) aim and idea, even when she is sunken in the mire of vice, is, and remains, marriage.’ And further: ‘If a woman is normally developed mentally, and well-bred, her desire is small. If this were not so, the whole world would become a brothel and marriage and a family impossible.’ And lastly: ‘She remains passive.’
Oh dear!! Of course, there’s no need to go completely overboard about such things, but I for one, am very glad that the fair sex are well on the way to having equal rights both in the sex department and society in general. There’s still some way to go, but times have changed for the better since Dr Richardson’s day. And we’re all the better for that.
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