- Email: [email protected]
London bodies through the ages
DISSECTING ROOM
on scanning each recipe for the two most important words in the culinary lexicon (quick and easy). They led me to chilled avocado soup, pasta with salmon and fettucine carbonara, which all proved good even in my hands. Although different, The Sensitive Gourmet was also a slight disappointment. The presentation is lovely, the photography appetising, and the dishes represent a good selection suitable for those who cannot tolerate dairy products, wheat, or gluten. There are many menu suggestions for various occasions, using combinations of the more than 100 mouth-watering recipes (that word again: I dread to think how many rivers of saliva have been produced by cookbooks). Each recipe is marked GF (gluten-free), WF (wheatfree), or DF (dairy-free) as appropriate.
No real problem with the contents apart from, again, a lack of even approximate preparation times. My main quibble is with the promise that “Antoinette Savill has made sure you will feel well and happy—and never again feel deprived.” Everyone, it is asserted, will also feel better and more energetic. If most dustjacket blurbs are a guide, these sentences were written not by Savill but by some junior editor. However, anything expressing that kind of naïve belief does nothing for the credibility of the author. All in all, I think these two volumes will probably sell like hot cakes. Too bad for both authors that it’s the kind of hot cakes I make. Carol Cooper Chorleywood Health Centre, Lower Road, Chorleywood, Herts WD3 5EA, UK
London bodies through the ages London Bodies—Changing Shapes from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day. At the Museum of London, LondonWall, London EC2Y 5HN, UK, until Feb 21. London Bodies—A Skeletal History of London. AlexWerner. London: Museum of London. 1998. Pp 112. £6·95. ISBN 0-904818-90-X. The exhibition
t The London Museum’s London Bodies exhibition, among holograms, models, and the remains of human bodies up to 400 000 years old, I noticed some rather extraordinary things. For example, at the age of 18, Francis Joseph Flynn was only 0·53 m tall.
The Museum of London
A
having no sweets or fizzy drinks! The Roman Britons also had a much longer life expectancy than those before them because their medical facilities were much more advanced. When the plague came in the 14th century, some said that it was God’s punishment for the sin of wearing tight, sexy clothes. My personal view is that someone should tell Pamela Anderson and Madonna. After the plague had gone, on average monks and richer people were 2 inches taller than poor, homeless people. This reflects the effects of the disease known as poverty. Because they were so, so hungry and harvest had failed 3 years in a row, poor people actually stole children and ate them. A skull from the 17th century had a small bump on the back down at the bottom of the skull. This is known as bathycrany (see figure). If you have this bump nowadays, it is calculated that you are one in a million. Also found in the museum is the skull of Richard Brandon, the man who executed Charles I. Because of legal tortures such as chimney sweeping, there was the spine and a photograph of a boy suffering from scoliosis, whose spine was at the angle of about 30° from vertical. Also pictured was a boy with rickets with his legs pointing inwards.
Xeroradiograph of bathrocranic skull
Throughout the years, human bodies have developed amazingly. The remains of a female body from about 3400 BC had very circular ribs, Roman Britons had much more pronounced jaws than modern people, and Homo heidelbergensis from 400 000 years ago also had more pronounced jaws and smaller skulls. It is known that Romans were stronger, healthier, and had healthier teeth than people today, courtesy of
THE LANCET • Vol 352 • December 19/26, 1998
Website in brief National Geographic: the world online It’s hard to imagine a more comprehensive compendium of multimedia “events” than the website of the US National Geographic Society. Frequently updated features, forums, maps, an online library, links to expeditions, and a mini-encyclopaedia are among the offerings that make this site a perpetual learning experience. The pages load surprisingly quickly, given the preponderance of highquality images and multimedia clips. (National Geographic http: //www.nationalgeographic.com) Marilynn Larkin [email protected]
The museum is good value because the tickets last for 1 year. Martyn Osmond, aged 10 The book
nlike my brother, who has concentrated on the gore, destruction, and disgusting side of Londoners’ bodies throughout history, I am more interested in the facts about how much people in the past used to torture their bodies for fashion—how the corsets were laced so tightly that the heart could become compressed and almost cease to act; how feet were damaged, bunions caused, and foot conditions worsened by the pointed shoes of the 15th and 16th centuries; and how the women of Roman London dyed their hair and used cosmetics made of lead and antimony. London Bodies is a very good book, especially to go with an exhibition. It takes you through the ages of Londoners, including epidemics, “popular” diseases, conditions of the skeleton, torture inflicted by fashion, and changes in the general body shape. There is a good mix of things, from the effects of smallpox to Tudor sex appeal! I find it amazing how scientists can tell us so much about people in the past from just their remains, and the book explains how they do this, which I think is good. At the end of the book is a photo display of Londoners today. I think this is a funny and original way to end the book. The book is arranged well, with the photos placed so it is not pages of writing nor all pictures. If you do go to see the exhibition, take the book with you; they are closely linked.
U
Penny Osmond, aged 13 c/o The Lancet, London, UK
2033
on scanning each recipe for the two most important words in the culinary lexicon (quick and easy). They led me to chilled avocado soup, pasta with salmon and fettucine carbonara, which all proved good even in my hands. Although different, The Sensitive Gourmet was also a slight disappointment. The presentation is lovely, the photography appetising, and the dishes represent a good selection suitable for those who cannot tolerate dairy products, wheat, or gluten. There are many menu suggestions for various occasions, using combinations of the more than 100 mouth-watering recipes (that word again: I dread to think how many rivers of saliva have been produced by cookbooks). Each recipe is marked GF (gluten-free), WF (wheatfree), or DF (dairy-free) as appropriate.
No real problem with the contents apart from, again, a lack of even approximate preparation times. My main quibble is with the promise that “Antoinette Savill has made sure you will feel well and happy—and never again feel deprived.” Everyone, it is asserted, will also feel better and more energetic. If most dustjacket blurbs are a guide, these sentences were written not by Savill but by some junior editor. However, anything expressing that kind of naïve belief does nothing for the credibility of the author. All in all, I think these two volumes will probably sell like hot cakes. Too bad for both authors that it’s the kind of hot cakes I make. Carol Cooper Chorleywood Health Centre, Lower Road, Chorleywood, Herts WD3 5EA, UK
London bodies through the ages London Bodies—Changing Shapes from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day. At the Museum of London, LondonWall, London EC2Y 5HN, UK, until Feb 21. London Bodies—A Skeletal History of London. AlexWerner. London: Museum of London. 1998. Pp 112. £6·95. ISBN 0-904818-90-X. The exhibition
t The London Museum’s London Bodies exhibition, among holograms, models, and the remains of human bodies up to 400 000 years old, I noticed some rather extraordinary things. For example, at the age of 18, Francis Joseph Flynn was only 0·53 m tall.
The Museum of London
A
having no sweets or fizzy drinks! The Roman Britons also had a much longer life expectancy than those before them because their medical facilities were much more advanced. When the plague came in the 14th century, some said that it was God’s punishment for the sin of wearing tight, sexy clothes. My personal view is that someone should tell Pamela Anderson and Madonna. After the plague had gone, on average monks and richer people were 2 inches taller than poor, homeless people. This reflects the effects of the disease known as poverty. Because they were so, so hungry and harvest had failed 3 years in a row, poor people actually stole children and ate them. A skull from the 17th century had a small bump on the back down at the bottom of the skull. This is known as bathycrany (see figure). If you have this bump nowadays, it is calculated that you are one in a million. Also found in the museum is the skull of Richard Brandon, the man who executed Charles I. Because of legal tortures such as chimney sweeping, there was the spine and a photograph of a boy suffering from scoliosis, whose spine was at the angle of about 30° from vertical. Also pictured was a boy with rickets with his legs pointing inwards.
Xeroradiograph of bathrocranic skull
Throughout the years, human bodies have developed amazingly. The remains of a female body from about 3400 BC had very circular ribs, Roman Britons had much more pronounced jaws than modern people, and Homo heidelbergensis from 400 000 years ago also had more pronounced jaws and smaller skulls. It is known that Romans were stronger, healthier, and had healthier teeth than people today, courtesy of
THE LANCET • Vol 352 • December 19/26, 1998
Website in brief National Geographic: the world online It’s hard to imagine a more comprehensive compendium of multimedia “events” than the website of the US National Geographic Society. Frequently updated features, forums, maps, an online library, links to expeditions, and a mini-encyclopaedia are among the offerings that make this site a perpetual learning experience. The pages load surprisingly quickly, given the preponderance of highquality images and multimedia clips. (National Geographic http: //www.nationalgeographic.com) Marilynn Larkin [email protected]
The museum is good value because the tickets last for 1 year. Martyn Osmond, aged 10 The book
nlike my brother, who has concentrated on the gore, destruction, and disgusting side of Londoners’ bodies throughout history, I am more interested in the facts about how much people in the past used to torture their bodies for fashion—how the corsets were laced so tightly that the heart could become compressed and almost cease to act; how feet were damaged, bunions caused, and foot conditions worsened by the pointed shoes of the 15th and 16th centuries; and how the women of Roman London dyed their hair and used cosmetics made of lead and antimony. London Bodies is a very good book, especially to go with an exhibition. It takes you through the ages of Londoners, including epidemics, “popular” diseases, conditions of the skeleton, torture inflicted by fashion, and changes in the general body shape. There is a good mix of things, from the effects of smallpox to Tudor sex appeal! I find it amazing how scientists can tell us so much about people in the past from just their remains, and the book explains how they do this, which I think is good. At the end of the book is a photo display of Londoners today. I think this is a funny and original way to end the book. The book is arranged well, with the photos placed so it is not pages of writing nor all pictures. If you do go to see the exhibition, take the book with you; they are closely linked.
U
Penny Osmond, aged 13 c/o The Lancet, London, UK
2033