Stoma questions

It's in his book A Secular Age (Harvard Uni Press, 2007), 138 - in a discussion of how since the 16th century social taboos have changed re. nose blowing and defecating in public.

Interesting idea that people then might have generally perceived smell differently. I once went to view a house for sale in a nice street, but it wasn't that far from a sewage plant. On the first visit everything seemed great, but friends who knew the area warned me that sometimes, if the combination of wind and warmth was just right, a stench would make its way from the sewage works to the neighbourhood. So we went back for a second viewing, and sure enough, the whole street smelled of sewage. It was horrible. I asked a few of the neighbours, "Does it smell like this often? Does it bother you?" and the common response was, "What smell? I can't smell anything, and I've lived here for twenty years." So maybe it's not just people in the 17th and 18th centuries!!

By the way, as you probably know, the sociologist Norbert Elias makes a similar point to Taylor about the transformation of manners, speech, bodily functions etc since medieval times.

I was looking around for info on Wilberforce's UC and found that he was using the standard treatment for UC in the 18th century - opium. Same as Coleridge. Presumably it was the antidiarrheal and analgesic effect of opium that was of some use. But it could have adverse effects on the digestive system and make things worse .... sounds familiar = steroids and other modern drugs to treat UC!

I'd say this is a rare occurrence when a Healingwell thread becomes an academic discussion! It's a cracking transformation!!

Elias says something similar, suggesting better manners and self-restraint extended from emerging complex networks of social interaction and networks during the early modern period.

I guess the only people with an excuse for crapting in their friends hallway would be those with IBD ... I don't miss those days that lacked self-restraint!

Are you also in the humanities?

Cool ... there was no way you were a scientist! And never say never about writing on the topic of poo!!