Hi, Ode,
What you say seems reasonable. Isaac Newton took a
year off from his studies when his university shut down on
account of plague. That's the year he did his best work!
(no distractions.)
I recall in Mel Gibson's movie Braveheart that the father
of Robert the Bruce was depicted as a leper. Other instances of royalty &
leprosy would surely have made it
into historic chronicles of the rich and powerful, but I
can't think of any others.
There is a story in the Bible (2nd Kings, I think) about a
brilliant Aramean general who contracted leprosy. An
Israelite prophet prescribed a cure - and the general
almost refused it because it was just too simple!
By a strange coincidence, silver and gold were involved
in the story.
Best regards,
Matthew
----- Original Message -----
From: Ode Coyote
To: Matthew McCann
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2004 9:04 AM
Subject: Re: CS>Antiquarian Epidemiology
The association of the term blue bloods with silverware use is by no means an
established fact.
Another plausable explanation for the term could be that Fair skinned people
who don't exposed themselves to the sun often have visibly blue looking veins.
Some VERY fair skinned people I know do look a bit blue overall. Royalty
doesn't often work out in the fields in the sun.
I have yet to see any forensic documentation that any royal person had a
argyria or even that having the condition is any sort of protection from
disease. By definition, isn't the silver "locked up" in skin cells and
immobilized silver essentially does nothing?
With the advent of silver plating, hence drastically enhanced affordability
and distribution of silver-ware, did the incidence of argryia go up? I think
not.
They may have had a lower incidence of plague simply because they could
afford to stay far away from other people and their 'pet' rats. Historical
record shows that many did just that. [They had the silver to pay for the
vacation?]
Many 'deities' are depicted as being blueish in color and the royal
bloodlines are traditionally spoken of as being that of having some sort of
relationship to a deity or "the gods".
In that respect, being 'called' a blueblood may well have nothing at all to
do with actual hue...especially after a few generations.
Ode
At 07:18 PM 10/17/2004 -0400, you wrote:
>>>>
Hello, Members of the List,
I work with people who serve periodically as missionaries in
the Amazon basin where leprosy still occurs. They are not
medical missionaries and have little or no contact with
victims of Hansen's disease. Some have put a question to
me about EIS, though.
The term 'bluebloods' comes from the european nobles
who escaped plagues such as the Black Death by using
silver tableware. Did the bluebloods also escape leprosy?
Some medieval people were keen enough observers to
notice some relation between bubonic plague, rodents and
a dearth of cats. Does anyone know if they noticed
if silver drove away leprosy?
Thanks in advance for your input.
Matthew
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