{"id":479,"date":"2018-06-16T15:23:30","date_gmt":"2018-06-16T15:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.reading.ac.uk\/irhs\/?p=322"},"modified":"2019-04-02T14:16:54","modified_gmt":"2019-04-02T13:16:54","slug":"sickly-smells-putrid-potions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/health-humanities\/sickly-smells-putrid-potions\/","title":{"rendered":"Sickly Smells & Putrid Potions"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hannah Newton<\/a><\/p>\n

Ever wondered what it would be like to live at a time before antibiotics, anesthetics, and x-rays? Last month, a group of 7-10-year-olds were invited to find out! In a special history of medicine workshop, Sickly Smells & Putrid Potions<\/a><\/em>, Gerrards Cross Brownies used their five senses to investigate what happened if you fell sick in the 17th\u00a0<\/sup>century. The workshop is designed to spark children\u2019s curiosity about the past, while cultivating their empathy for people who are unwell today. It is part of a five-year Wellcome Trust project, Sensing Sickness<\/a><\/em>,<\/em>and will be repeated to other groups and schools across the country.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Brownies from 4th Gerrards Cross<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The workshop began with the story of a sick girl called Nally Thornton<\/strong>, who caught smallpox about 350 years ago, a dreaded disease that killed 1 in 3, and caused temporary blindness. Thankfully, Nally was one of the lucky ones, and her happy recovery is described in detail in her mother\u2019s diary. The idea behind this opening was to build an emotional connection between the Brownies and past patients. People living centuries ago often seem alien to us, but when we read their own words, uttered in moments of heightened emotion, we realise they are every bit as human as us. The Brownies then peeped into a miniature recreation of Nally\u2019s sickroom, complete with fourposter bed, fireplace, and tiny bottles of potion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The first\u00a0activity,\u00a0picturing the sickchamber,\u00a0<\/strong>involved analysing a painting of a 17th-<\/sup>century sickroom. In pairs, the children imagined they were in the room, and listed everything they would see, hear, and smell, from the soft ticking of the clock to the loud \u2018ouch\u2019 of the patient. The sharp-eyed Brownies spotted small details in the painting, such as a get-well letter, and described how the sick woman might be feeling. \u2018Her hand\u2019s on her head, so she must have a headache; she\u2019s looking at her dog, and can\u2019t wait till she\u2019s better and can take him for a walk!\u2019, said one of the youngest Brownies. Clearly the idea that the under 10s can\u2019t empathise is a myth! When discussing smells, I gestured to a box in the corner which contained four \u2018smell cubes\u2019 from the sickroom, supplied by the aroma makers, Aroma Prime<\/a>; hoping for maybe one or two brave volunteers, I was amazed when practically everyone charged towards the box, keen for a sniff!\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next, it was time to be wee detectives!\u00a0<\/b>In the 17th-<\/sup>century it was believed that the appearance, smell, and even taste, of urine provided clues into what disease the patient had contracted. Taking on the role of the doctor, the Brownies examined four flasks of fake urine, into which had been strewn various curious items, such as gummy worms and crumbled biscuits. Using a \u2018urine wheel\u2019, volunteers matched the urine samples with the disease. \u2018Wee detectives was my favourite activity\u2019, said one Brownie. Today it might seem odd that such a yucky technique was used by doctors, but the Brownies understood that in the absence of modern diagnostic technology, looking at what came out of the body was the best way to find out what was going on inside it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At\u00a0last, it was time to discover what kinds of medicines were used in the 17th\u00a0<\/sup>century. A quick true or false<\/strong> game ensued: I held up a series of pictures of possible ingredients \u2013 from earthworms to a chocolate \u2013 and the children guessed whether these really would have been used in premodern medicines. This activi\"\"ty showed that while some 17th-<\/sup>century remedies would have tasted disgusting, others were actually quite pleasant \u2013 sugar, honey, and cinnamon were common ingredients in children\u2019s medicines, for instance. Afterwards, the Brownies had a go at designing their own marvellous medicines<\/strong>, and included all sorts of weird and wonderful ingredients, along with instructions and caveats \u2013 one Brownie wrote, \u2018Warning! Don\u2019t drink the whole bottle otherwise, you\u2019ll die!<\/p>\n

In the 1600s, patients \u2018shopped around\u2019 for their doctors, and often consulted 2 or more at once. The final activity brought these doctor visits to life. In their Sixes, the Brownies devised a short doctor drama<\/strong>, in which several practitioners presented their imagined medicine – created in the previous activity – to the patient, and the patient tried each one, before deciding to which doctor to employ. The Brownies got fully into character, and once again displayed their precocious\u00a0\"\"<\/a>ability to empathise. Those playing the patients, for instance, swooned, groaned, and grimaced at the taste of the pretend potions, and the doctor actors used all their powers of persuasion to convince their clients that their medicine would\u00a0cure even the most dangerous disease.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to thank Gerrards Cross Brownies and the staff, for having me. I learned a great deal from the children, whose fresh outlook and keen imaginations have made me think about my research in a new way. As well as being fun, I hope the workshop will have opened a door to discussions among children and their families about illness and medicine, topics often out-of-bounds for the young. We\u2019re living in an ageing population, and this generation of children is especially likely to be involved in the care of sick or frail relatives. I hope that by giving the Brownies the opportunity to talk about these issues they will be better prepared for coping with these situations should they arise in the future.<\/p>\n

The story of Nally Thornton, mentioned above, was live-tweeted in the leadup to the publication of my new book, Misery to Mirth: Recovery from Illness in Early Modern England<\/a>, <\/em>which is available for free download from here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>You can catch up with the tweets at @17thcenturymum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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