I realize that the regency is important and all but let me just say here that I was horrified by the thing where the measles just wiped out that whole family. (Especially since I had previously thought of measles as a disease that had bad side effects like blindness, not killing whole swathes of families!) Thank goodness for living in an age with modern medicine or even just a time where they don't BLEED THE PATIENTS, omg. Yes, go governess!
This is yet another reason why anti-vaxxers make me so mad. Measles were nearly gone after having plagued humanity like this for eons, and then they brought the illness back on all continents!
I know! And last week I discovered my least favorite coworker is one and is trying to discourage covid vaccination, GRRRR.
Also, this is why Fredersdorf need not have been having chronic health problems already in ~1736 in order to have been dangerously ill and causing Fritz to worry. Infectious disease FTL!
Tangentially, it sounds like La Mettrie died of sepsis from an unclean fleam (bloodletting device), which was a thing back then, since of course they didn't sterilize their instruments between uses. Ugh.
Tangentially, it sounds like La Mettrie died of sepsis from an unclean fleam (bloodletting device), which was a thing back then, since of course they didn't sterilize their instruments between uses. Ugh.
Oh huh, I didn't see this before I replied to your last comment about La Mettrie, but that makes perfect sense -- I was actually wondering if it was something like that, some kind of infection from the unsanitary conditions of bleeding *shudder* since the actual indigestion didn't sound like it was that bad, and the way the fever was described didn't super sound like the indigestion was a symptom of some worse illness (although, I mean, it could very well have been).
Yeah, it's just my guess, but it fits the little evidence we have.
since the actual indigestion didn't sound like it was that bad, and the way the fever was described didn't super sound like the indigestion was a symptom of some worse illness (although, I mean, it could very well have been).
Yes, the measles (and more generally the spate of deaths within 5 years) were the reason I started writing this up! (Hence the title.) Then I started digressing into the regency.
Also note that Louis XV, like his grandfather, will later die of smallpox, but fortunately at an advanced age (64) instead of 2 years old. Thanks to Madame de Ventadour! (ETA: Apparently I had already said that in the original write-up. Haha, repetition is good, right? :P)
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timeasmymeasure
Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-17 05:21 am (UTC)Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-17 06:56 am (UTC)Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-17 05:20 pm (UTC)Also, this is why Fredersdorf need not have been having chronic health problems already in ~1736 in order to have been dangerously ill and causing Fritz to worry. Infectious disease FTL!
Tangentially, it sounds like La Mettrie died of sepsis from an unclean fleam (bloodletting device), which was a thing back then, since of course they didn't sterilize their instruments between uses. Ugh.
Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-20 06:34 pm (UTC)Oh huh, I didn't see this before I replied to your last comment about La Mettrie, but that makes perfect sense -- I was actually wondering if it was something like that, some kind of infection from the unsanitary conditions of bleeding *shudder* since the actual indigestion didn't sound like it was that bad, and the way the fever was described didn't super sound like the indigestion was a symptom of some worse illness (although, I mean, it could very well have been).
Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-20 06:37 pm (UTC)since the actual indigestion didn't sound like it was that bad, and the way the fever was described didn't super sound like the indigestion was a symptom of some worse illness (although, I mean, it could very well have been).
Agreed.
Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-20 06:30 pm (UTC)Re: In which the royal family falls like dominoes
Date: 2021-02-17 01:35 pm (UTC)Also note that Louis XV, like his grandfather, will later die of smallpox, but fortunately at an advanced age (64) instead of 2 years old. Thanks to Madame de Ventadour! (ETA: Apparently I had already said that in the original write-up. Haha, repetition is good, right? :P)