--- In [email protected], "Edie Bain" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://www.gtj.org.uk/en/item1/7809 > > Is this the pic you were looking at, Randwulf? <G>
That is the photograph in the book, The Lost History of the Canine Race, by Mary Elizabeth Thurston (1996, Page143) The webpage has a better copy of the photograph than the Thurston book. Thanks for sharing it! I was under the impression, that Turnspit dogs were any small dog with the right stature for fiting in the "hamster" wheel. The Thurston book has some interesting, but post period, in formation on pages 122 to 125. Quote Carl Linnaeus, the famous Swedish naturalist, recognized Turnspits in 1756, reporting that there were long and short haired varieties, both characteristically sporting grizzled or spotted coats, as well as distinctively crooked legs. End Quote. Lost History of the Canine Race. A SCAdian cook who is a friend of mine, spotted an article in Gastronomica that mentioned 18th century Turnspit dogs and had a copy of the Thomas Rowlandson picture of an 18th century kitchen at Newcastle. The picture shows a terrior sized dog in a "hamster" wheel turning the cooking spit. Jeanne Schinto, "The Clockwork Roasting Jack or How Technology Entered the Kitchen" Gastronomica, Winter 2004. Pages 33 -39. Pages 34 and 37 have the information on Turnspits. Quote: When knighthood was in flower,... turning the spit by hand became a specialized task. Assigned to it were male scullions discriptively named "Turnspits." Tirmspits weren't known as refined characters; the ... tedious job inspired them to drink.... A drunken turnspit couldn't be a reliable one, and in Tudor tiems, the human power of these menials was replaced by dog power. A canine turnspit ran a treadmill similar to a hamster's exercise wheel. A pulley system linked the dog's wheel to a smaller wheel attached to the end of the spit by a belt. As the dog ran, both wheels turned along with the spitted meat.... Thomas Rowlandson... drew a turnspit working such a wheel after a visit to Wales in the late eighteenth century.. The dog in the Rowlandson scene looks the way the breed has been described by many writers of the period: small, long bodied, short legged. End Quote. Rachel ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/pkgkPB/SOnJAA/Zx0JAA/PJ_qlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SCA_Coursing/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
