19th Archives - MadGhosts

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TIL: The 19th historian who published a noted history of the French Revolution as Daniel Stern was a French aristocrat and novelist, Marie d’Agoult. She left her husband for composer Franz Liszt, and her daughter left her own husband for composer Richard Wagner.

by whatilearned January 21, 2022, 3:43 am

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Til of Rôti Sans Pareil or “Roast without equal” a 19th century recipe by Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimond de la Reyniere, which involved roasting a large bird known as a Bustard which is stuffed with 17 other birds like Russian nesting dolls.

by whatilearned January 18, 2022, 2:38 pm

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TIL there was a trend of headless photography in 19th century Britain (“Victorian Headless Portraits”). The models usually had their heads in a platter, or were holding them in their hands. This was made by taking multiple photos and combining the negatives – kinda like the early days’ Photoshop.

by whatilearned January 17, 2022, 12:25 pm

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How did 19th Century pioneers moving out to the American west decide on their destinations?

by HistoryBuff January 17, 2022, 11:02 am

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TIL the song the British soldier sang at the end of the film 1917, is an American folk song that originated in the early 19th century

by whatilearned January 14, 2022, 1:15 pm

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TIL the phrase “in the limelight” which refers to being the focus of attention comes from a 19th century device. Calcium oxide known as quicklime is heated in an intensely hot flame until it glows brightly. First as a surveying tool, it allowed for more accurate measurements.

by whatilearned January 13, 2022, 12:32 am

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TIL there is no evidence of iron maidens — hinged iron cabinets with spikes that enveloped the victim — before 1802. Reports of spiked devices used by Spartan tyrant Nabis or Abbasid vizier Ibn al-Zayyat may have inspired the 19th century invention, which museums displayed to attract visitors.

by whatilearned January 10, 2022, 1:26 pm

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TIL: Ketchup was sold in the 1830s as medicine. In 1834, it was sold as a cure for an upset stomach by an Ohio physician named John Cook. It wasn’t popularized as a condiment until the late 19th century.

by whatilearned December 13, 2021, 5:58 pm

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TIL about Dr. Robert Liston, the fastest surgeon in the 19th century. Start to finish it took him 2 and a half minutes to amputate a leg. In his most famous mishap he took off an assistant’s fingers as he cut through a leg. That surgery is the only known surgery with a 300% mortality rate.

by whatilearned December 9, 2021, 2:19 am

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TIL that in the 19th century, French doctor Louis Auzoux created papier-mâché models of the human body. Bodies of hanged murderers served as models for dr Auzoux, which is why his models have a head tilting forward (from the noose) and an erect penis (pressure on the cerebellum caused by the noose)

by whatilearned December 8, 2021, 2:55 pm

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TIL of Charlotte Woodward Pierce. She was the the last surviving attendee of the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention for women’s rights, and the only one who lived to see the passage of the 19th amendment, allowing women to vote. But by the time of the 1920 election, she was too old and frail to vote.

by whatilearned December 2, 2021, 11:15 pm

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TIL that Japanese playing cards (Hanafuda) have historically highly abstract designs due to a cat-and-mouse style gambling arms race in the 17th to 19th centuries. The government would ban popular sets of cards to prevent gambling, leading to new, more abstract sets being developed.

by whatilearned December 1, 2021, 3:20 am

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