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Jan. 2nd, 2011 01:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwydion* Random historical musing: how did they treat people for tape worms before modern medicine?
* Apparently, I'm still thrashed from Thursday. I slept until my ribs ached.
* I'm nearly done Feed. So far, I've only anticipated two out of three major plot twists, which impresses the hell out of me, as generally, there are few surprises in books or movies. To manage to slip even one big thing past me, takes skills. This is also pointing an interesting way forward for zombie literature, as a genre. I'm all for that, just as I'm always in favour of literary innovation. It's got engaging main characters, a well designed world, and a sense of humor, all serious bonuses in my book. It also has a reasonable disease model, which is a rare and glorious thing. As written Zombie stories go, I'd say it's right up there enjoyment wise with "How the Day Runs Down," and "World War Z."
* My favorite scene from Soap:
http://www.ytlsf.com/2010/07/02/soap-chuck-bob-jodie-and-the-refrigerator/?replytocom=87540
* Apparently, I'm still thrashed from Thursday. I slept until my ribs ached.
* I'm nearly done Feed. So far, I've only anticipated two out of three major plot twists, which impresses the hell out of me, as generally, there are few surprises in books or movies. To manage to slip even one big thing past me, takes skills. This is also pointing an interesting way forward for zombie literature, as a genre. I'm all for that, just as I'm always in favour of literary innovation. It's got engaging main characters, a well designed world, and a sense of humor, all serious bonuses in my book. It also has a reasonable disease model, which is a rare and glorious thing. As written Zombie stories go, I'd say it's right up there enjoyment wise with "How the Day Runs Down," and "World War Z."
* My favorite scene from Soap:
http://www.ytlsf.com/2010/07/02/soap-chuck-bob-jodie-and-the-refrigerator/?replytocom=87540
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-02 04:13 pm (UTC)As an aside, there is a branch of medicine that employs parasitic worms to treat a number of chronic diseases, including severe allergies and inflammatory bowel disease. Apparently some of the critters are benevolent!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-02 06:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-01-03 12:49 am (UTC)Cycle goes: tapeworm in human gut, releases eggs in shit -- pig eats human shit -- tapeworm egg hatches in pig, travels to tissue, encysts -- human eats pig, cyst hatches, tapeworm in human gut
You don't get the real nasty until you eat some shit. Probably when that happened, people previous to the early 19th century did not know that it was worms at all, and treated it with the same brutal non-treatments used for any chronic pain or neurological problems.
If you saw worm segments in your stool, yeah, there's wormwood and any number of mild toxins you might eat to kill the adult worm. Evidently eating a lot of raw pumpkin seeds will do it.