Comments for Ptak Science Books

Comment on Crowd Series: Fascist/Anti-Fascist Demonstrations, London, 1934 by Joy Holland

Joy Holland — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 15:22:38 +0000

Great post!

Comment on Standard Corpse, Inc. & Deadpunk: Shaving, Cooling, Lifting, Electroplating, and Diapering the Dead by John F. Ptak

John F. Ptak — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 05:52:10 +0000

Thanks Max W–I’ve made appropriate changes. Thanks for your help. JP

Comment on Standard Corpse, Inc. & Deadpunk: Shaving, Cooling, Lifting, Electroplating, and Diapering the Dead by MaxW

MaxW — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 03:12:31 +0000

Dig up a copy of Jessica Mitford’s “The American Way of Death.” She makes much use of information she obtained from an industry publication called Casket & Sunnyside, I believe.

Comment on Strychnine for Weak Women, 1920 by Ray Girvan

Ray Girvan — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:23:25 +0000

I'd never heard of Nuxated Iron, but it's little known how mainstream the use of strychnine was in this era. A while back we had in the bookshop a 1934 Faber & Faber guide for nurses called Principal Drugs and Their Uses, which described strychnine as "General tonic. Prescribed in various nervous disorders. It is among the most valuable and widely prescribed drugs". Undoubtedly the deal with Nuxated Iron was the stimulant effect of the strychine, which was highly misusable. See Strychnine - a lesser-known past: http://jsbookreader.blogspot.co.uk/2008/03/strychnine-lesser-known-past.html

Comment on The Non-Anatomy of Tears, the “Excrementrious Humiditie of the Brayne” by John F. Ptak

John F. Ptak — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:10:54 +0000

Jeff– thanks. I have to admit that I’ve nevermade it through the Burton book. I mean over the years I’ve gotten through mos to fit piece-by-piece but it honestly has never been to me a book to actually “read” so much as one to “graze”. And I was there for his references more so than the content I’m sorry to say. I’d like to do it though one of these days because it should be done…but there are a lot of books on that list. (What are a few of your’s?) I’m moved now to go read “love”. Back to you later.

Comment on The Non-Anatomy of Tears, the “Excrementrious Humiditie of the Brayne” by Jeff Donlan

Jeff Donlan — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 21:40:03 +0000

If I were the engraver, I would have been tempted to include tears for the poor creature being so laid open upon the page. I’m interested now about Burton’s “Anatomy” including only ten references to tears. At first glance, it makes sense, since my modern sense of melancholy is of a less impassioned sadness, but his book is reaches much more widely. I most recently went to it about religious melancholy, which is classified under “Love.” I loved seeing that.

Comment on On Inferred Narratives of the Last Word in Novels by Jeffrey Shallit

Jeffrey Shallit — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:05:06 +0000

Ruth Rendell’s novel, Simisola, does not have that as the last word, but it is in the last line of the novel, which is also the first time the word appears in the novel.

Comment on Pale Horse and the Lake of Fire: a Map of End Times by Charles

Charles — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 04:21:21 +0000

I recall seeing apocalyptic diagrams like this before. So I did a little web searching and there are several diagrams predating this one, that are so similar, they had to be the source. Here's one dated 1919. http://www.blueletterbible.org/study/larkin/lark07.cfm

Comment on Architecture of Insanity by James McLaren

James McLaren — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 10:00:54 +0000

Hi,
I looked long and hard at the plan captioned Cane Hill, the Third Surrey County Pauper Lunatic Asylum, built 1882. I don’t think the caption is right, for two reasons:
1. The dating is wrong (note the handwritten annotation top right, which says designed 1884-5.
2. There is a railway line in, captioned Branch from Midland Railway. The Midland Railway never operated lines in or near to Surrey.
Looking at Googlemaps satellite imagery, what I think you have is a plan of High Royds hospital, south of Leeds, which closed in 2003 and is progressively being remodelled into an urban village. High Royds’ site was purchased in 1885 and it opened in 1888.

Comment on The History of Blank, Empty & Missing Things–When Everything was Missing by Jeff Donlan

Jeff Donlan — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 18:43:02 +0000

This inversion between the 4th and 5th day was when God flipped the magnetic poles, after realizing the original orientation was a mistake. This was also when He realized it would be easier simply to invent Evolution and let It make the decisions.