Habitual Drunkards — images from the 19th and early 20th century

By Jack Brummet, Substance Abuse Ed.

At some point in American history (e.g., the 19th century), tough laws were enacted against habitual drunkards.  These laws were often far harsher than any measures enacted since against heroin, crack, or meth addicts.

According to the Free Dictionary/Legal Dictionary, a Habitual Drunkard was:

• A person given to ebriety or the excessive use of intoxicating drink, who has lost the power or the will, by frequent indulgence, to control his appetite for it.  

• By the laws of Pennsylvania an habitual drunkard is put nearly upon the same footing with a lunatic; he is deprived of his property, and a committee is appointed by the court to take care of his person and estate. Act of June 13, 1836, Pamph. p. 589. Vide 6 Watts' Rep. 139; 1 Ashm. R. 71.  

• Habitual drunkenness, by statutory provisions in some of the states, is a sufficient cause for divorce. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 296. 

        [from A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States. By John Bouvier. Published 1856]

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Wound Man, from middle ages surgery textbooks

By Jack Brummet, Anatomy Ed.

Wound Man is an illustration from European surgical texts in the Middle Ages. It shows the various wounds a person might suffer in battle or an accident.  The text details treatments for the various injuries. It first appeared in 1492 in Johannes de Ketham's Fasciculus Medicinae and used often in surgical texts up to the seventeenth century.

Public domain images from Wikipedia Commons:

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Reclaimed and redecorated birdhouse

By Jack Brummet

[pencil, pen and ink, and Sharpie on found birdhouse]

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Image: The Papal Blessing

By Jack Brummet

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The cave paintings of Cueva de las Manos (Cave of the Hands)

By Mona Goldwater, Anthropology Ed.

“Cueva de las Manos (Cave of the Hands) is a cave in Argentina.  The art on the walls of the cave dates from 13,000 to 9,000 years BC. The early artwork has been carbon-dated to ca. 9300 BC.  The age of the paintings was calculated from the remains of bone-made pipes used for spraying the paint on the wall of the cave to create hand silhouettes.  Because the hands are mostly left hands, scientists believe that the  painters held the spraying pipe with their right hand”

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Giuseppe Arcimboldo's Vertumnus (a 16th century Carmen Miranda)

By Jack Brummet, Painting Ed.

In this painting, The Holy Roman Emperor is painted as Vertumnus, Roman God of the seasons.

According to the Wikipedia, “Giuseppe Arcimboldo (c.1526–1593) was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of such objects as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books”

Carmen Miranda has nothing on the Emperor. . .

Giuseppe Arcimboldo's Vertumnus

Carmen Miranda

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The Tunnel Of Love

By Mona Goldwater, Romance Ed.

The Tunnel of Love. You've probably seen one in cartoons like the Flintstones or Scooby-Doo.  The Boss released an a song, and an album Tunnel Of Love, and Dire Straits released a song with that title. When I was young, the Puyallup Fair had a ride called "The Old Mill" that was popularly known as the tunnel of love.

tunnel of love, Chicago, 40's

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Digital art: Craters

By Jack Brummet

click to enlarge

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Remembering mainframe ASCII printouts (with images of Lincoln, Marilyn, Mickey Mouse, Mona Lisa, Jack B)

By Jack Brummet, Technology Ed.

I took a tour of some large company with a main frame computer sometime in the mid- to late-60's.  We saw the tapes and punchcards, cooling systems, reports, etc.  What really stuck in my mind--and they knew this was a hit with visitors--were the ASCII images they generated programmatically and then printed out on their chain/line printers.  I remember seeing a Marilyn and an Abe Lincoln, among other images.

You don't see these much anymore, now than we can print high definition images.  But, like all good retro technologies, there are people out there keeping it alive.  You can create your own ASCII images using one of several on line image generators.  I created the one of myself on the Ascii art Generator website at http://asciiart.ca/.

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Yoga-nursing

By Mona Goldwater, New Age Ed.

I don't know the provenance or photographer of this picture.  Thanks to reader Dean for passing it along.

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Mind your P's and Q's!

By Mona Goldwater, British Folklore Editor

Way back when, at local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from pint and quart-sized containers.  A barmaid's job (Jack reminded me of Shakespeare's 'Mistress Quickly') was to keep an eye on the customers and keep the beer flowing.  She had to pay close attention to remember who was drinking  pints and who was drinking in quarts, in order to charge them for their drinks.  From this, the phrase "minding your "P's and Q's " has been handed down to us.

On the other hand, many people believe the phrase actually stems from type foundries and printers, as illustrated in this comic:

I asked Jack what he thought and he said two things:  1)  "Why are you writing about this? I'm a folklorist and who cares?" and 2) He suggested that the reference was actually about the male and female genitals, respectively [penises and quims].  He could be right.  But I doubt it.

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Drawings: found birdhouse in progress

By Jack Brummet

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