By Carla Cevasco How to follow the Word of the Bible and still tuck into a nice blood pudding? This question inspired the Massachusetts Puritan minister Increase Mather to publish a brief pamphlet in 1697 entitled “A Case of Conscience Concerning Eating of Blood, Considered and Answered.” The conundrum, Mather wrote, lay in the injunction from … Continue reading Blood, Controversy, and Puddings in the Early English Atlantic→
By Marieke Hendrikksen In my research on the use of metals in eighteenth-century medical chemistry, iron has a special place. Unlike other metals, which were increasingly regarded as dangerous, iron remained a safe bet in blood-related diseases. However, up until the early nineteenth century, this understanding was not so much based on a chemical understanding … Continue reading From bloodstone to fish soup: iron recipes→
By Jennifer Sherman Roberts Close your eyes and imagine a chicken. Now a duck. Now a turkey. Now a pigeon. If this little experiment has worked the way I envisioned, when you thought of a pigeon you didn’t just think of a different bird but of a different environment. You likely pictured chickens and ducks … Continue reading Pigeon Blood Visine?: An Early Modern Eye Wash→
By Jess Clark I know, I know – 2023 is not the Summer of Dragons. Most of you have moved on from the battle for the Iron Throne, although maybe not the negroni…sbagliotos…with Prosecco in it. But some of us (ahem) are still catching up on last year’s slate of TV shows, and I’m sure … Continue reading House of the Dragon and The RP→