Things I learned while looking up other things, 2020.5.11
Dear friends,
A chance mention of Hermippus Redivivus in Boswell's Life of Johnson (we're getting to the Johnsoniana early in this edition) led me to this marvelous article. Hermippus Redivivus is a satirical medical text which claimed that life could be prolonged by inhaling the breath of young women (nobody tell Peter Thiel). Evidently, the author (Johann Heinrich Cohausen) based his satire on the belief that "a vital spirit made of arterial blood [was] transformed in the heart by fermentation into a salt air [and] was expelled by breathing". The article has lots of great stuff about related theories, and this marvelous quotation: "Cohausen related Pliny's account of Pollio, a soldier of the Emperor Augustus, who when asked how he had managed to live over a hundred years replied: Melle intus, foris Oleo, or 'honey within, oil without' ... Cohausen felt it was possible to 'oil' the pores of the body from the inside by inhaling specifically young female breath, as he claimed women were more oily or fatty than males."
More Johnsoniana—I've wanted for years a mystery series in which Johnson and Boswell solve crimes, and guess what? It exists! I've ordered the first volume (Dr Sam Johnson, Detector, by Lillian de la Torre) and will report back!
Did you know there's a glossary of Bletchley Park jargon? I liked wahlwort ("Any non-textual word or phrase used at the beginning or end of German cipher text to avoid stereotyped beginnings and endings; a "padding" word or phrase.")
This story about an American buying hundreds of rings at Cameo Corner in London is bonkers. (I looked up Cameo Corner after many mentions in the Cazalet Chronicles.)
Has anyone ever seen the 1964 industrial film "Berfunkle"? ("This animated film considers the problems of verbal communication as it follows the humorous misadventures of a poor soul trying to find the exact meaning of the word 'Berfunkle'.") Supposedly it was put on VHS in the mid-80s but I haven't found a copy yet. (It's not even on YouTube OR in the Prelinger Archive which I thought was an impossibility.) I think there's a list to be made of works about madeupical words (e.g. the children's book Frindle) and I want more examples!
The last stagecoach robbery in the US was in 1916. (It would have been theoretically possible to drive past the stagecoach robbery in your automobile.) One of the suspects (Ben Kuhl) was the first American murderer to be sent to prison on palm print evidence, and "at the time of his release, Kuhl had served more prison time in Nevada than anyone else in the state's history". (The stolen $4,000 was never recovered and is said to be still buried somewhere in Jarbidge Canyon, Nevada.)
"Whether through this dispute or general reputation, presumably "Oystericus" became a short-lived generic [term] for an oyster supplier." (There is also a proverb that says that 'Whoever eats oysters on St. James' Day [July 25], will never want money.')
"A Russian Doll word is a word that, when you remove the first and last letters, is either the empty string, or a Russian Doll word."
I love hearing about things you've found while looking up other things—just reply to send them to me!
Hope you and yours are—and stay—well.
Your friend,
Erin
A chance mention of Hermippus Redivivus in Boswell's Life of Johnson (we're getting to the Johnsoniana early in this edition) led me to this marvelous article. Hermippus Redivivus is a satirical medical text which claimed that life could be prolonged by inhaling the breath of young women (nobody tell Peter Thiel). Evidently, the author (Johann Heinrich Cohausen) based his satire on the belief that "a vital spirit made of arterial blood [was] transformed in the heart by fermentation into a salt air [and] was expelled by breathing". The article has lots of great stuff about related theories, and this marvelous quotation: "Cohausen related Pliny's account of Pollio, a soldier of the Emperor Augustus, who when asked how he had managed to live over a hundred years replied: Melle intus, foris Oleo, or 'honey within, oil without' ... Cohausen felt it was possible to 'oil' the pores of the body from the inside by inhaling specifically young female breath, as he claimed women were more oily or fatty than males."
More Johnsoniana—I've wanted for years a mystery series in which Johnson and Boswell solve crimes, and guess what? It exists! I've ordered the first volume (Dr Sam Johnson, Detector, by Lillian de la Torre) and will report back!
Did you know there's a glossary of Bletchley Park jargon? I liked wahlwort ("Any non-textual word or phrase used at the beginning or end of German cipher text to avoid stereotyped beginnings and endings; a "padding" word or phrase.")
This story about an American buying hundreds of rings at Cameo Corner in London is bonkers. (I looked up Cameo Corner after many mentions in the Cazalet Chronicles.)
Has anyone ever seen the 1964 industrial film "Berfunkle"? ("This animated film considers the problems of verbal communication as it follows the humorous misadventures of a poor soul trying to find the exact meaning of the word 'Berfunkle'.") Supposedly it was put on VHS in the mid-80s but I haven't found a copy yet. (It's not even on YouTube OR in the Prelinger Archive which I thought was an impossibility.) I think there's a list to be made of works about madeupical words (e.g. the children's book Frindle) and I want more examples!
The last stagecoach robbery in the US was in 1916. (It would have been theoretically possible to drive past the stagecoach robbery in your automobile.) One of the suspects (Ben Kuhl) was the first American murderer to be sent to prison on palm print evidence, and "at the time of his release, Kuhl had served more prison time in Nevada than anyone else in the state's history". (The stolen $4,000 was never recovered and is said to be still buried somewhere in Jarbidge Canyon, Nevada.)
"Whether through this dispute or general reputation, presumably "Oystericus" became a short-lived generic [term] for an oyster supplier." (There is also a proverb that says that 'Whoever eats oysters on St. James' Day [July 25], will never want money.')
"A Russian Doll word is a word that, when you remove the first and last letters, is either the empty string, or a Russian Doll word."
I love hearing about things you've found while looking up other things—just reply to send them to me!
Hope you and yours are—and stay—well.
Your friend,
Erin
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