Thursday, November 7, 2019

Back to Bookly Beauty, Again

Yesterday was my last cashiering shift. 
Cashiering was good, but physically and emotionally tiring, and in the past three months I haven't done anything much special with the Book's. 
Now I'm energized to pay them more attention.

We got a box of old books that smell of mildew. Normally I throw out odoriferous books, but there are some unusually cool books in this batch.
I'm going to seal them up with baking soda [How To] and see if that'll suck up the odor.

Here's one of the batch, below,
Obstetrics and Womanly Beauty, For Every Lady:
A complete guide to health and beauty, with hints on courtship, marriage, hereditary descent, mental conditions, etc., etc.,
 
by Horace O. Conger , M.D., and Caroline P. Crane, M.D.
American Publishing House, Chicago, IL.

No date, but it's inscribed 1901.

The scientific illustrations are in a pamphlet in the book's back pocket, "in order that it not attract the interest of children... and used as a private study by rightful parties...."

I wonder if something is missing in my copy, as the illustrations don't show conception, but rather the growth of the embryo.

I especially love this baby balloonist:

And the delivery, but confusingly... How bout those plumey curls of hair?

For all the pussyfooting, the book comes right out and says this information "may be the means of saving the lives of dear ones".

Do modern books on childbirth mention it's such a risky business?
A doctor I used to know told me that a woman giving birth had hemorrhaged and died in front of him, and there was nothing he or anyone could do.

Oh! I just looked it up, and the Harvard Business Review reports that the US maternal death rate is on the rise:
"In the United States, [the] maternal-mortality rate has been steadily rising — the only developed country whose is.
The U.S. maternal mortality rate has more than doubled from 10.3 per 100,000 live births in 1991 to 23.8 in 2014.
Over 700 women a year die of complications related to pregnancy each year in the United States, and two-thirds of those deaths are preventable.

...
Experts in maternal health blame the high U.S. rate on poverty, untreated chronic conditions and a lack of access to health care, especially in rural areas where hospitals and maternity units have closed in the past few years. "
Anyway. 
Aren't these pretty twins?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I use tidy cat extra absorbing cat litter straight from the plastic container and in a ziplock bag.

If you had strong sun, you could also put it outside. I've done that also but in the shade when it is really hot outside.

It can be done but not quickly.

Interesting book!

Kirsten

bink said...

Those kind of books never mentioned how pregnancy happened even when I was a kind. I could tell you at a very young age that sperm and egg made a baby, but I had no idea how sperm got near egg in the first place because our school books never said! For years I thought if a man and a woman slept in the same bed, sperm would magically float through space and impregnate the woman.

Anonymous said...

bink reminded me of when in junior high school, we had "the film" during gym class. I think we had to ask our parents whether or not we could attend but I don't remember if I did ask my parents. My mom was probably happy she didn't have to do it. Don't remember the film really helping the whole education.

Reading older medical books is actually quite fascinating to me especially as a former microbiologist.

Kirsten