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Childbed Fever: 18th-Century Cures

My previous post on childbed fever described the widespread belief that childbed fever — what today we call puerperal infections — was mainly caused by breathing foul, noxious air that arrived on the wind, permeated hospital furniture and people's clothing, or...

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Quinsy: A Classic Example of Regency Ignorance

My previous blog post addressed the practice of "medical moonshine" during the Regency era. In Jane Austen's day miasma — the foul, noxious, polluted air arising from swampy ground or cesspools — was believed to cause most diseases. For chemists and glass-makers and...

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A Regency Gown in the Making: Aargh

After sewing a Regency chemise and short stays — see proof of determination in the photo below — I moved on to greater things: sewing a Regency gown. With each type of clothing I had the pleasure (!?!) of learning something new: the chemise pattern required my sewing...

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