Camphor (more history than homeopathy)
Posted: Thu May 28, 2009 3:14 pm
I think Camphor was used during the era of The Black Death as a
protection against infection. Later used medicinally for other illnesses
including bad air, then as a fumigant
It was packed with other aromatics into a beak to be worn on the face
which was called a Plague Costume.
Perfumes (not sure if camphor was one of them) were used heavily during
the 1700s to mask body odors, as people bathed infrequently, maybe once
per year.
They wore a set of clothing worn tightly over the body all year long and
other clothing went on top of that. Wig were white because of the
powdered perfumes applied to them to mask odors from unwashed hair.
If you could manage to endure the stench of a person, his house would
finish you off. Chances are you would smell several chamber pots.
Separate toilet rooms draining to a cesspool weren’t common until the
19th century. Small rivers in the cities were used as open sewers and,
in the country, the manure pile was often found close to the wells.
Courtiers have written that Versailles had a particular stench; since it
was a long distance between chamber pots, one relieved oneself in a
corner, any corner. So maybe Camphor was used as a fumigant there.
additional notes from the time:
Methods of flaw concealment involved using make-up with a lead- or
mercury base that would penetrate the skin and leave dark, permanent
lines or blemishes. So this is the origins of rubrics having to do with
mercury abuse.
A switch was made from wooden bed frames to metal bed frames to prevent
bedbugs from setting up house in the wooden bed frames.
Must have been fum living n those times !
Lynn
-------------------------------------------------
--
Imagine Peace
protection against infection. Later used medicinally for other illnesses
including bad air, then as a fumigant
It was packed with other aromatics into a beak to be worn on the face
which was called a Plague Costume.
Perfumes (not sure if camphor was one of them) were used heavily during
the 1700s to mask body odors, as people bathed infrequently, maybe once
per year.
They wore a set of clothing worn tightly over the body all year long and
other clothing went on top of that. Wig were white because of the
powdered perfumes applied to them to mask odors from unwashed hair.
If you could manage to endure the stench of a person, his house would
finish you off. Chances are you would smell several chamber pots.
Separate toilet rooms draining to a cesspool weren’t common until the
19th century. Small rivers in the cities were used as open sewers and,
in the country, the manure pile was often found close to the wells.
Courtiers have written that Versailles had a particular stench; since it
was a long distance between chamber pots, one relieved oneself in a
corner, any corner. So maybe Camphor was used as a fumigant there.
additional notes from the time:
Methods of flaw concealment involved using make-up with a lead- or
mercury base that would penetrate the skin and leave dark, permanent
lines or blemishes. So this is the origins of rubrics having to do with
mercury abuse.
A switch was made from wooden bed frames to metal bed frames to prevent
bedbugs from setting up house in the wooden bed frames.
Must have been fum living n those times !
Lynn
-------------------------------------------------
--
Imagine Peace
