Nineteenth Century
The Navassars Ladies Band
Posted By: Paul - Sat Dec 12, 2020 -
Comments (5)
Category: Music, Gender, Women, Nineteenth Century
The Language of Deseret
I was unaware that Brigham Young created a new alphabet for his followers. "However, the alphabet failed to gain wide acceptance and was not actively promoted after 1869."Here is a page at the official Mormon site that tells of it.
Here is an encyclopedia entry with the full alphabet.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Nov 29, 2020 -
Comments (5)
Category: Eccentrics, Inventions, Languages, Religion, Nineteenth Century
Follies of the Madmen #494
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 28, 2020 -
Comments (1)
Category: Business, Advertising, Slavery, Bondage and Indenture, Nineteenth Century
Admiral Cigarettes Film
The cigarette genie appears!
Posted By: Paul - Mon Nov 23, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Magic and Illusions and Sleight of Hand, Advertising, Smoking and Tobacco, Nineteenth Century
The Poet Laureate of Dentistry
Note: after preparing this post, I realized that Paul had posted about the same thing two years ago. So consider this a repost.Soylman Brown (1790-1876) was a Connecticut dentist who achieved prominence in his profession for a number of reasons. According to Wikipedia, he founded the first dental school, the first national dental society, and the first US dental journal. Plus, he became known as the Poet Laureate of Dentistry on account of his fifty-four page poem titled Dentologia - A Poem on Diseases of the Teeth, and Their Proper Remedies. It was published in 1840.
If you've got some time to kill, you can read the entire poem at the Internet Archive. Otherwise, I've sampled a brief part of it below, which should be enough to give you its general tone.
For oft, obstructed nature, laboring there,
Demands assistance of experienced art,
And seeks from science her appointed part.
Perhaps ere yet the infant tongue can tell
The seat of anguish that it knows too well,
Some struggling tooth, just bursting into day,
Obtuse and vigorous, urges on its way,
While inflammation, pain, and bitter cries,
And flooding tears, in sad succession rise.
The lancet, then, alone can give relief,
And mitigate the helpless sufferer's grief;
But no unpractised hand should guide the steel
Whose polished point must carry wo or weal:—
With nicest skill the dentist's hand can touch,
And neither wound too little nor too much.
Posted By: Alex - Sun Nov 22, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Poetry, Nineteenth Century, Teeth
The Trance
Everything you need to know about religious trances.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Nov 13, 2020 -
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Category: Religion, Science, Supernatural, Occult, Paranormal, Books, Nineteenth Century
Health Jolting Chair
Oliver Halsted was granted a patent for an "exercising machine" in 1844. It was later marketed as the Health Jolting Chair. AKA the "wake-up chair." By pulling the levers on the side, it would bounce up and down. It was said to be a panacea for "dyspepsia, liver complaint, low spirits, general debility, constipation, 'so-called malaria,' jaundice, melancholia, and anemia."
Image source: Natl Lib of Medicine
Posted By: Alex - Sun Sep 27, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Exercise and Fitness, Health, Inventions, Patents, Nineteenth Century
US Fractional Currency, or, Paper Coins
Fractional or postage currency has a rich history. At the beginning of the Civil War people starting hoarding coins for their precious metal content. Coins became difficult to find because of the hoarding. People started to try to use stamps instead of coins as a means of commerce. The government decided to help ease the hoarding issue by issuing “paper coins” also known as postage currency or fractional currency. Fractional currency was first issued on August 21, 1862 and they were last issued on February 15, 1876. Three cents, five cents, ten cents, twenty-five cents, and fifty cents notes were all issued. Fractional currency is physically smaller than other United States money. It also does not have a serial number.
More info here. And lots more pictorial examples.
Posted By: Paul - Fri Sep 25, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Money, Nineteenth Century
The Techno-Chemical Receipt Book
This is one of those volumes you pack away for when civilization collapses, as it give the formulas for making from scratch glass, nitroglycerin, glue, and a thousand other handy things.
Read it here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 13, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Science, Technology, Books, Nineteenth Century
Merchant’s Gargling Oil
A small article here.
And another one here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 09, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Nineteenth Century
| Who We Are |
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |