18th-Century Characters, Including Frederick the Great, Discussion Post 36

[cahn]

Starting a couple of comments earlier than usual to mention there are a couple of new salon fics! These probably both need canon knowledge.

felis ficlets on siblings!

Siblings (541 words) by felisnocturna
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great, Michael Gabriel Fredersdorf, August Wilhelm von Preußen | Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758), Wilhelmine von Preußen | Wilhelmine of Prussia (1709-1758)
Summary:

Three Fills for the 2022 Three Sentence Ficathon.

Chapter One: Protective Action / Babysitting at Rheinsberg (Frederick/Fredersdorf, William+Henry+Ferdinand)
Chapter Two: Here Be Lions (Wilhelmine)

Unsent Letters fic by me:

Letters for a Dead King (1981 words) by raspberryhunter
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 18th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Friedrich II von Preußen | Frederick the Great & Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen (1726-1802)
Characters: Friedrich Heinrich Ludwig von Preußen | Henry of Prussia (1726-1802)
Additional Tags: Epistolary, Love/Hate, Talking To Dead People, Canonical Character Death, Dysfunctional Family
Summary:

Just because one's king and brother is dead doesn't mean one has to stop writing to him.

Comments

Re: Hervey medical woes

[mildred_of_midgard]

Mercury poisoning: I can't remember, when did people finally figure out this was a thing and that you really should not use mercury for anything other than a thermometer?

Surprisingly late! Doctors were still prescribing it in the 1920s, and even after they stopped advising ingesting it, my mother, a schoolchild in the 1960s, was being given mercury to handle with her bare hands in science class. I can't blame Hervey for not picking up on the fact that he was poisoned--the erroneous belief in mercury well outlasted the practice of bleeding, which tapered off in the 19th century.

Re: Hervey medical woes

[cahn]

oh hey it's Christmas

My high school chemistry teacher also talked about being given mercury to handle with her bare hands in college! I believe that would also have been in the 1960's.

But at least Hervey realized it wasn't good for him, even though he didn't realize the "this is a poison for everybody" part!

Re: Hervey medical woes

[mildred_of_midgard]

But at least Hervey realized it wasn't good for him, even though he didn't realize the "this is a poison for everybody" part!

Yes, that's good! But since he was writing advice to his children, advising them that mercury is an A+ drug was...argh, you were so close, Hervey! At least maybe he predisposed them to think of mercury as something that *might* disagree with them, and thus perhaps they would be inclined to stop ingesting it sooner, once they noticed the symptoms.

Unlike poor Fredersdorf