lolylikestosing - Tumblr blog

[lolylikestosing]

Tuberculous spondylitis - Historically known as “Pott’s Disease”

Pott (or Pott’s) disease was named after Percivall Pott, who wrote several lectures on the nature and treatment of this condition.

The name “tuberculous spondylitis” comes from the disease tuberculosis, and the Greek “spondylos”, meaning spine, and “-itis”, meaning swelling. This is actually a form of chronic osteomyelitis, generally found in the lower thoracic or upper lumbar spine of adults. It’s also one of the oldest chronic conditions for which we have archaeological evidence.

Before tuberculosis had effective treatment modalities, this was one of the most common bone afflictions in adults. There were often internal abscesses that the infection drained into, which, while generally not the primary concern, could rupture and cause peritonitis or generalized infection of the thoracic cavity.

As the condition advanced, the degeneration of the bone often caused spinal cord compression and so-called “Pott’s paralysis” - a form of paraplegia that was actually reversible if the pressure was taken off the spinal cord soon after it started. This was usually done by stiff metal or (later) plastic braces or medical corsets. Once the infection advanced to the point that paralysis was caused, it often caused a complete collapse of the affected vertebrae, and could result in thoracic kyphosis, or “hunchback”.

The images above show a mummified priest of Ammon, from the XXIst dynasty (1000 BCE) of Egypt, with the characteristic lateral protrusion of the spine (left image) that hasn’t yet advanced to a collapse of the spinal discs. There is also a large sac in the abdomen (right image) that was soft when mummification occurred, and which would have been the abscess where the infection drained. There was evidence that the priest lived for over a decade with this condition, and it was probably not what killed him in the end.

Studies in the Paleopathology of Egypt. Sir Marc Armand Ruffer, 1921.

[lolylikestosing]

Gerda Lerner (1920-2013) , former Robinson Edwards Professor Emerita of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Gerda Lerner (1920-2013) Women and History (excerpt) -- A Thinking Allowed DVD w/ Jeffrey Mishlove

[lolylikestosing]

[lolylikestosing]

You are never sure of a good impression being durable.

Jane Austen, ‘Persuasion’ (1818). (via aisforausten)

[lolylikestosing]

[lolylikestosing]

-fist bump is not in my fighting database -no thi- this isnt a fighting thing; its what people do sometimes when they’re excited or pumped up

[lolylikestosing]

Want.

Holiday Gift Alert!

Monarch Flip Calendar from Rifle Paper Co.

[lolylikestosing]

I'm mature because I find this Laplace transform hilarious. #almostdonewithmathforever #yayyyyy http://ift.tt/1wfc3KZ

[lolylikestosing]

1900’s Street Fashion.

[lolylikestosing]

I thought of you and where you'd gone and let the world spin madly on (X)

[lolylikestosing]

Most days, really. 

[lolylikestosing]

the world: oh its raining

californians: its raining?????????¿¿? iTS RAINING!!!!! ITS RAINING!!! ITS RAINING ITS RAINING ITS RAINING ITS RAINING ITS RAINING ITS RAINING

[lolylikestosing]

(▰˘◡˘▰) 

[lolylikestosing]

[lolylikestosing]

There are several people in Jane Austen’s novels who I would very much like to whack with a stick.

[lolylikestosing]

Evening dress ca. 1810

From the V&A

[lolylikestosing]

Aside from purely technical analysis, nothing can be said about music, except when it is bad; when it is good, one can only listen and be grateful.

W. H. Auden, Anglo-American poet (via historical-nonfiction)