Symptoms of Cholera: thirst, sunken features, blueness in the extremities, and rice watered stools. What is generally considered the first cholera pandemic began in Bengal in about 1816, spreading through India, China and Indonesia through the next decade. In 1831, a second pandemic of cholera began in Russia and then spread throughout Europe. In 1832, it […]

In April of 1881, the Taylor family lived at 9 Slater Street in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire. John David Taylor was 24 years old, a boilermaker by trade, and was probably employed by the Barrow Ship Building Company or one of the companies who supplied it. His wife Eliza was a little older at 29 years and their […]

It was in early December 1664 when two men died at the upper end of Drury Lane in St. Giles parish in London. Although the family made an attempt to conceal the manner of death, it became rumoured in the neighbourhood that they had died of the plague. The Secretaries of State dispatched two physicians […]

Some believe that the Spanish Influenza of 1918 had its beginnings in the Far East, perhaps China, while others have suggested that it originated in Spain or Kansas or even in France but wherever it came from, it came quietly at first, touching here and there, then retreating once again until suddenly, it was everywhere, […]

Patent medicines are not, as the name would suggest, medicines that have been patented but rather they are commercial products containing ‘secret ingredients’ that are sold directly to the public to cure a variety of diseases, aches and pains. Such commercial preparations grew in popularity during the nineteenth century at a time when medical care had […]

Yellow fever, or yellow jack, or even yellow plague is a virus spread by infected mosquitoes. It’s first symptoms are a fever, headache, chills, back pain, loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting and those typically last for three or four days. For many, the illness is over, but for about one in fifteen of its […]

One of our ancestor’s greatest fears was the highly contagious smallpox, a disease that has thankfully been considered to be eradicated from the earth since 1977. There were two variants of smallpox: Variola major, the more severe variant,  with 30-50% fatalities  and Variola minor, the less severe variant, with 1-2% fatalities. Within seven to seventeen days […]