victorian disease names

These reformers embodied Dickens’ opinion that it was not the numbers that mattered, but what one did with them in aid of those who needed help the most. The plague which destroyed the morale of the people was understood in the Victorian era. He is reasonably young and a professional surgeon. Page One In the early Victorian period disease transmission was largely understood as a matter of inherited susceptibility (today's 'genetic' component) and individual intemperance ('lifestyle'), abetted by climate and location, which were deemed productive of noxious exhalations (a version of … Those with good insurance or money can afford treatments that will prolong their lives. It is these parts of his character which thrust him into Bleak House in the first place, and they determine how and why he interacts with the other characters. In some cases this problem manifests itself over the ownership of wealth in a family and its affect on members of a family and those close to them. Throughout the novel we are presented with three characters of different social classes who are all affected by disease in some way, both literally and metaphorically: Esther (the poor), Richard (the poor-turned-middle class), and Lady Dedlock (the upper crust of society). This attention to unequal circumstances surrounding the smallpox disease makes Bleak House an argument for the pro-modernization movement. Half of all sufferers died from cholera, and it could take as little as twelve hours between the first appearance of symptoms and death. While Esther is effectively middle-class because of her social connections, she is actually lower-class by her parentage. Your email address will not be published. It was reflected in the arts as well. Later on, it became especially common in English prisons where prisoners were forced into tight living quarters with each other, often in disease-ridden conditions. Dickens constructs disease as a metaphor for poverty; by never explicitly giving names to disease, Dickens leaves the reader open to interpret his language through the lens of poverty. Your email address will not be published. Now, for the very first time, religion was relegated to the second place as far as diagnosis and treatments were concerned. Victorian writing anticipates our thoughts about what drugs can do to us. It is not an equalizer. Their mindsets resemble Dickens’ interpretation of Thomas Malthus’ opinion that any loss of life was put down to God’s will, and merely helped decrease the surplus population. Using personification in this way, Dickens creates a metaphor which extinguishes the common sense notion that poverty is a state one enters, but much like disease it is a condition that encroaches upon people. Jo, unfortunately, does not. A person does not need to be English to be British, and their contributions may serve more than anticipated. Group 4: Erin Duffy, Jake Trost, Cassandra Ballini, Heather McFarlane, Angie Carson. By the end of the era, a simpler silhouette was making waves, leading the next Edwardian generation to new freedoms in life and fashion. Required fields are marked *. Group 6: Nikkel Gohel, Rachel Campbell, John Panus, Kelsey Telgash, Peter Cala. “The air of the room is almost bad enough to have extinguished it if he had not. Things were looked at with objectivity and keen observance instead of judgment and mistrust. It was highly contagious, killing one in every four people that were infected (6, Laycock). Esther is cared for and receives medical attention. The case that this novel is centered on, Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce, ended because the money being fought over was ultimately depleted to pay for legal fees over the decades– both parties, members of the upper class shot themselves in the foot and allowed the flawed legal system to prolong a case that would end poorly for both parties. A man by the name of Edwin Chadwick was directly involved with this task due to his interest in sanitation and hygiene in England. And for animals like horses for travel on roads. Working conditions, workforce (Labor/hours) Reform acts (1800s) Daily life for Victorians . Poor living conditions, lack of education and rife prostitution led to a host of Victorian slang words dedicated entirely to the catching and treatment of venereal diseases. Members of the upper classes are also less likely to contract diseases such as smallpox in the first place, as they generally live in cleaner environments and work less strenuously. Clothing as Distinctions of Social Class: Victorian Secrets. In the case of contagious diseases, problems often result from proximity to the poor. Themes Across Victorian Literature – Group 3, Connecting the Experiences of Women in Victorian Literature, What I Hope to Learn About Victorian Literature, What I Want to Learn About Victorian Literature, Modern Critics’ Assessment of Pip in the Dual Role of the Narrator & Protagonist. Cholera spread through poor nineteenth century sanitation, and produced uncontrollable vomiting and diarrhea, symptoms that Evans describes as “violent affronts to Victorian prudery” (127). Luckily, this disease has been lost to history. Quite possibly, the only difference between them during their periods of illness is that their quality of care would have differed greatly. Between 1850 and 1860 the mortality rate from typhoid was 116 per 100,000 people. Those who do get AIDs are also unequal in their access to treatment. Allan Woodcourt, on the other hand, is only brought closer to her as a result of it. Dickens clearly saw diseases as equalizers of society. However, due to the factories and pollution, the impact on the atmosphere was negatively affected. In the 1800s, workers in the match industry were exposed to massive amounts of white phosphorous—a toxic substance that would end up giving them a terrible pain in their jaws. The thought processes of people with respect to diseases were medieval. This led to an easy transmission rate of typhus, and supposedly led to the death of 25% of English prisoners. The simple things like open drains gave way to efficient sewage system which made a world of difference. Had Esther not barred her house after getting sick, her familiarity with the upper-class could have created an epidemic among the rich. Anesthesia, a hypodermic syringe, antiseptics, pasteurization, the discovery of the causes of tuberculosis and cholera, rabies vaccine, etc were all discovered … New medicines were discovered and invented and various countries and cultures were explored. With ships sailing all over the world, new medicines and practices were introduced in England. It is curious that Dickens would make such a crucial and versatile character of Welsh rather than English descent. John Snow’s mapping of London’s sewage discharge points into the Thames worked to improve the understanding of the etiology of cholera, and his solution of revamping the sewage system was a simple, and highly effective, one. By capitalizing the initial letter, Dickens posits poverty as a pronoun, presumably a living thing that is capable of exacting a firm grip, something physically manifested, like an organism. Esther, who has wealthy caretakers, survives while Jo, the poor sweeper with no one to care for him, does not. The advent of infectious diseases in populous areas led to a reexamination of the diagnostic methods of diseases, which led to medical professionals being able to pinpoint more accurately the causes and origins of every disease. In Bleak House, Esther contracts an unnamed smallpox-like disease from Jo. The people from that age thought than an individual caught a sickness because that individual caused offence to a spirit due to that person’s actions or behavior. This was exceedingly time consuming and unsafe. This promotes the need for modernization, which would bring along advancements in science and medicine, including cures for diseases such as smallpox. Esther comes down with smallpox and is ostracised by many of the characters, including her betrothed, Mr. Guppy. These changes grew out of the massive restructuring of British society that followed the industrial revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Dickens utilizes disease to share his views on the problematic nature of wealth being associated with certain family ties. The children especially, who were employed in the factories were worst affected. Instead, possible cures to diseases such as smallpox would truly provide equality. Allan is only one of many characters who can be explored beyond their surface, but his facade is still worth examining. In addition, cholera emerged as an epidemic threat and spread worldwide in six pandemics in the nineteenth century. TYPHUS was known by many names, including brain fever, bilious fever, camp fever, jail fever, malignant fever, petechial fever, putrid fever, ship fever, and spotted fever. It is an acute, infectious disease and one of the diseases caused by Rickettsia bacteria, … While her experience is not pleasant, she survives. Compiled by Daniel H. Burrows Free Genealogy Forms and other helpful handouts are available FREE from Ancestry Corner!. Ironically, Dickens and Chadwick seemed to have had a fairly friendly relationship that was based on mutual interests like their concerns for the public health of England. Dr_Microbe/iStock via Getty Images. Rotavirus—from the Latin rota, for "wheel"—is named for the wheel-like appearance of its particles. Women with consumption were constantly vomiting blood, and Powers claimed that this was actually purging … Regarding the Romantic poets’ influence on the tubercular aesthetic, several scholars, such as Clark Lawlor and Katherine Byrne, credit the poets with carrying the chicness and admiration of the disease into the nineteenth century. While it is true that anyone was capable of contracting smallpox, this does not make it an equalizer in Bleak House. The reign of Queen Victoria brought about a change in the treatment of diseases. The cholera epidemic was significant in that while the wealthy could escape relatively unscathed, the poor seemed doomed to perish, and therefore “it’s power to exacerbate existing social tensions would be very considerable” (Evans 131). While some people may argue that Dickens presents disease as an equalizer in Bleak House, we believe that he is actually using the presence of disease to have the opposite effect. Our group chose to focus on the characters that come into contact with disease and how their role is demonstrative of Dickens’ nationalist agenda, particularly Allan Woodcourt. While Dickens knows that the poor are the most prone to diseases (and argues that they are wrongfully susceptible and gone untreated), Dickens may in fact be using disease as a metaphor to illustrate a point. An important plot point is that the unnamed disease, like-smallpox, was known to be contagious, spreading from person to person. Throughout the nineteenth century, British people moved from town to country, while the British economy and labor force moved from agriculture to industry and commerce. Victorian Era Research Project - English Is Amazing Diseases/Health Issues in 1800s. Anesthesia, a hypodermic syringe, antiseptics, pasteurization, the discovery of the causes of tuberculosis and cholera, rabies vaccine, etc were all discovered during the Victorian era. This comparison places poverty and disease on equal footing, where each is similarly stigmatized. Certain people are more likely to catch the disease than others. Characters can succumb to the disease and therefore lose their internal battle and die, or, like Esther, they can survive it. It cannot be considered a tool to make characters equal when the treatment of people who contract the disease varies so differently. When Queen Victoria ascended to the throne in 1837, medicine was a world away from what it is today. Freak shows began during the Renaissance, but were at their peak of popularity during the mid-Victorian era. For him, the smallpox is fatal, and he dies impoverished, dirty, and covered in sores. Dickens uses smallpox in Bleak House not as an equalizer, but to draw attention to how unequal treatment of smallpox actually was. The more these diseases infected the general population, the more number of people were attempting to combat them. This idea is especially apparent in Bleak House through Esther and Jo the sweeper. As we have discussed in class at some length, Dickens uses disease primarily as an equalizer, shattering the concept of social class by demonstrating the pervasive nature of illness. Through the presence of smallpox, Dickens uses Bleak House to provide a pro-modernization argument. While group 3 argues for disease being used as a metaphor for the corruption present in the legal system, Dickens also uses disease as a metaphor for the preoccupation with and overemphasis on bloodlines in Victorian society. It is thanks to the thinkers and innovators of the Victorian age that medicine progressed and fresh perspectives started to change. Those who were affected by the disease were left with disfiguring pockmarks, which act as battle scars to show that they were stronger than whatever tried to defeat them, whether it was smallpox or their own inner demons. Smallpox was a dreaded disease across London: there were epidemics in 1816–19, 1825–26, 1837–40, 1871 and 1881. Header Photo: Mill Children in Macon, Georgia by Lewis Hine, 1909. During that time, the atmosphere in the medical fraternity was very positive and everyone started believing that all ailments and illnesses would vanish forever with the discovery of new medicines. Despite Esther lamenting her “illegitimate birth” and poverty, she nonetheless has “no desire to take on the complications of being a Dedlock” (Woodward). They are able to rest and receive care in the comfort and cleanliness of their homes, leading to a better chance of recovery. Huntington's disease is an example; Swine flu: H1N1 virus   Change of life: puberty or menopause; The shakes: Parkinson's disease; Winter fever: pneumonia; Went under: had anesthesia However, arguably the disease with the most impact during this time period was cholera. Rag-Picker's Disease: Anthrax. For him, it was never about pride in England, but pride in Britain. A similar situation is seen with the modern AIDs epidemic. As a surgeon, Allan is required to be in proximity to disease, but also to defend himself against it. Scientists started conducted myriad experiments in the spirit of scientific discovery. Haemophilia figured prominently in the history of European royalty in the 19th and 20th centuries. Discoveries in science, overseas explorations, etc began in great earnest. However, the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as hysteria and John Graunt (2) suggests that it may be an inflammation of the liver, similar to livergrown (q.v. Medical professionals came to the forefront of the battle against infectious diseases; people such as Florence Nightingale, who acted as a leading figure in medicine during the Crimean War (1853-56), were tasked with finding preventive and curative measures for each disease. When Esther falls ill with smallpox, she manages to survive, but recovers with severe physical scarring that effectively robs her of her beauty–the one thing she had going for her in terms of marriageability in Victorian England. A notable connection between the two seemingly unrelated topics is seen throughout Esther’s illness and delirium, when Esther comes very close to admitting her anxiety over her own lineage as an illegitimate orphan. This enabled the exchange of knowledge and information between the nations. Esther’s acquisition of smallpox can be seen as the “inheritance” that she never received from her father (Heady 324). And this is a disease that used to kill 400,000 Europeans a year, and was responsible for a third of all human blindness. In illustrating that Esther made the correct choice by avoiding her rich friends. Dickens uses disease to illustrate how debilitating it can be being closely tied to people and their wealth. Rickets: Disease of skeletal system mainly due to Vitamin D deficiency. Earlier it depended upon the state of the winds in the case of travel by the sea. The wetter conditions during summer will increase the risk posed by rust … In addition, both Esther and Allan work to aid the sick and prevent the spread of disease, despite their separate heritages and obligations to society. 2021 cereal disease management. This moved certain members of the upper class, like the baroness Angela Burdett-Coutts, to invest their considerable resources into the creation and implementation of hospitals and care homes, as well as scientific research into cures and preventive measures that would help curb the spread and contraction of disease. Though people were aware that diseases existed in regions where the air was putrid, they did not make the connection that depicted the matter of improper sanitation as being a problematic issue that gave rise to higher numbers of people falling ill. During this time period, smallpox was in its prime, and was one of the most frightening diseases in terms of infection rate. In Bleak House, such like in contracting pathogens, its greatly affected by who you know. ] Much like with smallpox during Dickens’ time, AIDs has no known cure. Group 2: Kevin O’Connor, Hannah Glaser, Colin Peartree, Michael Adams, Mike Stoianoff. Studies in chemistry advanced rapidly which helped in the making of medicines. Interestingly enough, those who outlined the Poor Laws were also involved with finding the causes and methods for treating diseases such as typhus. Equality would have been if both characters had received the same treatment, and both had the same fate. Though he did not intend to die, Richard’s death was inadvertently self-inflicted; his overworked mental state indirectly killed him. Library of Congress Collection on Flickr. The attitude of the upper classes to the lower classes contracting diseases such as smallpox and cholera was lukewarm, to say the least. Other people are not so lucky. Disease as a metaphor for bloodlines: how whats in your blood may detrimentally affect your well-being. As … Meanwhile, Esther, a poorly orphan, managed to survive the illness but emerged horrifically scarred and with fewer prospects than ever. While we agree with Group Three’s analysis of Dickens using smallpox as a metaphor for internal struggle, we would like to add that disease in general, whether it is smallpox, cholera, or typhus, can be used as a means of discussing the corruption of the legal system in Victorian England. Although the sheer numbers of people affected by cholera was lower than that of other epidemics, the social implications of the disease impacted the nineteenth century in ways that could not be debated. Laboratories sprang up at places, equipment became more than rudimentary. Dickens, through the knowledgeable Mr. Woodcourt, is showing us how not only disease, but banal political situations can damage a person, as well as a nation. The disease was especially notorious in Victorian Britain, including for the horrific treatments prescribed for the afflicted such as mercury! It was extremely contagious and had a death rate of about thirty percent, which would devastate cities such as London. The Victorian era saw an increased spread of infectious diseases, especially in large cities where the rate of infection increased exponentially. rash, sores, delirium etc.). Bright's disease - Chronic inflammatory disease of kidneys Bronze John - Yellow fever Bule - Boil, tumor or swelling Cachexy - Malnutrition Cacogastric - Upset stomach Cacospysy - Irregular pulse Caduceus - Subject to falling sickness or epilepsy Camp fever - Typhus; aka Camp diarrhea The reason why they also deemed the term consumption is because that is what they thought of when body tissue was wasting away (1, 19th Century diseases). Juxtaposing Allan and Esther’s Welsh and English heritage respectively can help us to see more clearly the message that Dickens is trying to send. Jo, who belonged to the lower class, and Esther who belonged to the upper class, both contracted what is implied to be smallpox; despite their different social classes, contracting the same disease brings them down to the same level – that of a person who needs care should they wish to survive their illness. Evans also asserts that the disease clearly affected the poor more than the rich, and therefore acted as a device to reveal areas of great poverty and poor sanitation in the large cities. Smallpox does not make Esther and Joe equal. Rising Of The Lights: Generally considered to be croup. Jo claims to have gotten the disease from the very graveyard where Esther’s father is buried. Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce is eating away at poor Richard, and Allan’s grave disposition helps to clue us in to just how serious a matter this is. At one point in her description of her illness, Esther says that, “It may be that if we knew more of such strange afflictions we might be the better able to alleviate their intensity” (Norton 432). Though it seems odd that the two would have gotten along, Dickens probably saw the friendship as an opportunity to further his efforts for the poor in a bigger way. Dickens disapproved of reducing the sick to just statistics. During the Victorian era, mental anguish, melancholia, and exhaustion were terms sometimes used to describe what we now might call mental illness. Each one of these figures falls victim to a disease, whether by chance or by their own indirect doing. The more intimate, hidden parts of Allan’s personality are most often portrayed through the people around him. We believe that Dickens did this purposefully–it serves as a message to his readers that there is hope for unification. “It is the most democratic of the plants which lead men to an artificial paradise,” wrote Henry Havelock Ellis of … An article by Richard J. Evans asserts that “cholera has a good claim to be regarded as the classic epidemic disease of the nineteenth century”. Web, Blog post written by: Max Garnaat, Alyssa Knott, McKenna Miller, Hannah Sugarman, and Nivedita Rajan. The MTBC comprises several human-adapted lineages known as M. tuberculosis sensu stricto , as well as two lineages (L5 and L6) traditionally referred to as Mycobacterium africanum . Although the sheer numbers of people affected by cholera was lower than that of other epidemics, the social implications of the disease impacted the nineteenth century in ways that could not be debated. Michael Neve’s exploration of personal drug narratives on mescal, peyote and nitrous oxide produce some wonderful quotes. Victorian Fashions (clothes) The life of Charles Dickens and other works of literature he wrote. Cereal diseases will need proactive management during 2021 as there will be disease carry over on both volunteer cereals growing over summer and stubble. Far from being just a historic disease however, the World Health Organisation reports cases have been on a steady rise since 2000 … It is clear that they prized scientific research into the etiology of diseases, and later the cures and preventive measures to eradicate them, and Esther’s words are a definite justification of this sentiment. The third plague pandemic emerged in China in the mid-nineteenth century and spread worldwide in the 1890s. NAMES OF OLD TIME ILLNESSES. Such is the case for Richard and Lady Dedlock, who were at least semi-well-off and fell victim to diseases of their own infliction. middle-class Esther serves as a link between the poor Jo and Charley and the rich such as Ada and Jarndyce. Disease is not an equalizer. Esther would have been cared for better owing to the fact that she had access to more resources and contacts than Jo, who would not have been able to garner the same level of medical care that Esther did. His dedication to his work is clear, and this is observable primarily through Esther’s narrative: “Allan stood behind [Richard], watching him gravely. The practice and understanding of medicine profoundly changed during the years of Livingstone's life (1813-1873). Another disease that was prevalent during this era was typhus, the origins of which extend all the way back to the Spanish siege in 1489. In the rusty skeleton of a grate, pinched at the middle as if Poverty had gripped it, a red coke fire burns low” (Dickens 124). In illustrating Esther’s choice of quarantining herself in order to stop the disease from spreading to her upper class friends, we see that her actions are comparable to her desire to not become implicated in the Dedlock family’s wealth and affairs. Group Three focuses primarily on Dickens’ representation of disease, as linked to sanitation. This is a human achievement that’s actually better than the moon landings, so the next time you see a doctor, wash your hand, and then shake theirs. March 27, 2020. Victorian era medicines for various diseases and discoveries. In Bleak House, the contraction of an unnamed disease, which shares similarities with smallpox, helps to illustrate the burden of bloodlines and lineage and the effects of being close to a wealthy family while not being a part of it. Britain's worst ever serial killer: The Victorian 'Angel Maker' who murdered 400 babies Amelia Dyer is believed to be Britain's worst ever serial killer … In addition, she worries about Mrs. Woodcourt’s obsession “with her own family and how she constantly goes on about her son’s lineage and legitimacy and how her family would suffer a loss of “genetic endowment” were her to marry Esther” (Burgan 842). Similarly, Lady Dedlock committed a passive form of suicide by allowing herself to succumb to the elements while lying at her ex-fiance’s grave- perhaps succumbing to hypothermia or one of those ambiguous ghastly chills that killed so many people in Victorian literature. One of the most prominent Romantic poets, Tuberculosis is an ­infectious lung disease that killed one in four people during its peak in Victorian times. As such, smallpox can be used to represent the internal battles of the characters in a simple yet incredibly effective way. The Woodcourts trace their claim back to the old heroes of Wales. However, he did approve of the manner in which reformers like Florence Nightingale and John Snow used statistics and data representations; they used them in order to enlighten the general public to the spread of diseases and bring people’s attention to the fact that it was predominantly the poverty-stricken areas that were being affected the most. Although in Africa for much of his adult life, Livingstone's let… Modernization would lead to better medical knowledge and cures for diseases such as small pox, and these cures would truly provide equality. The people, who were earlier narrow-minded and refused to accept new theories, broadened their thinking. And then wash yours again. Like an organism, poverty has the ability and need to inflict itself upon any convenient individual; poverty is not a passive, actionless result of ineptitude. The Victorian period: when menstruation was a dangerous disease that could lead to madness I had the great pleasure of spending my Valentine’s Day at … Thanks to industrialization and modernization a lot of instruments were invented. Allan’s treatment of Esther may be the most significant display of this nationalism. In the following excerpt from Bleak House Dickens describes the unclean manner of Mr. Krook’s shop by personifying poverty in order to show how it has agency over the afflicted. Unlike a pythogenic disease, which originates from a specific location, the disease in the story is spread by people to people, regardless of their location.

Gears Army Live Site, Oregon Eitc Notice 2020, Farnborough Airport Security Jobs, Outside City Limits Meaning, Jenn Im Snapchat, Worcester Public Schools Employment,