The Brontes All Died Young From Drinking Graveyard Water & Human Waste

[Ghost In The Machine]

I have seen one of the sisters' dresses on display in the Parsonage, and iirc, it's absolutely tiny.

The bloke who made Emily's coffin said it was the narrowest one he ever made for an adult... She'd have probably been ill with TB for several years or more, although wouldn't have realised it til only months before she died. Onset of the obvious symptoms really only a very short time before it carried her off.

I've seen and handled some of the clothing. Small-ish but not beyond the bounds of what was probably normal-ish. Although I don't subscribe to that idea that "people in the past were generally smaller", I also don't think the Brontes were exceptionally tiny. (Before ravaged by TB). Charlotte described herself as "dumpy" but her clothes aren't the clothes of a dumpy person.

Added complication. - Emily may, just may, have been anorexic. There are a few telltale signs. This will have weakened her, as well as the TB.

 

[Floyd]

I do love all this sort of thing. Water tables and hygiene and epidemics. Wonderful stuff.

Water provision and sewage removal have always been problematic. You need your clean water and your sewage to be kept well apart.
These days we don't realise what a tall order all this is when we're grumbling about the water bill.

I've always wondered about the system they have in Paris where the potable water (along with other utilities) are run along the roof and walls of the sewers. A great idea - they must have far less roadworks than we do- but the potential for cross contamination is there I would think.
However, it seems to have worked well for a couple of hundred years, so maybe it's not an issue.

 

[catseye]

The bloke who made Emily's coffin said it was the narrowest one he ever made for an adult... She'd have probably been ill with TB for several years or more, although wouldn't have realised it til only months before she died. Onset of the obvious symptoms really only a very short time before it carried her off.

I've seen and handled some of the clothing. Small-ish but not beyond the bounds of what was probably normal-ish. Although I don't subscribe to that idea that "people in the past were generally smaller", I also don't think the Brontes were exceptionally tiny. (Before ravaged by TB). Charlotte described herself as "dumpy" but her clothes aren't the clothes of a dumpy person.

Added complication. - Emily may, just may, have been anorexic. There are a few telltale signs. This will have weakened her, as well as the TB.

I suspect that people in the past may have been 'smaller' just because of the lack of availability of highly nourishing food and the seasonality. So, for 'smaller' read 'not as likely to be overweight or obese'.

 

[maximus otter]

I suspect that people in the past may have been 'smaller' just because of the lack of availability of highly nourishing food and the seasonality. So, for 'smaller' read 'not as likely to be overweight or obese'.

l watched several minutes of this film of London streets within living memory.

Obesity? Zero.

maximus otter

 

[Mythopoeika]

l watched several minutes of this film of London streets within living memory.

Obesity? Zero.

maximus otter

Link doesn't work.

 

[Floyd]

Link doesn't work.

Does for me.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

l watched several minutes of this film of London streets within living memory.

Obesity? Zero.

maximus otter

I read somewhere the Victorian artist Etty - who was infamous for painting nudes at any excuse - preferred farm labourers for models as they had the perfect musculature and presumably not an ounce of body fat. Read somewhere else, the average calorie expenditure of a 19thC farm labourer was probably something like 5,000 cals or more per day... They were probably using most of that, though, hence the perfect bodies.

I guess we're now the perfect storm of living sedentary lives plus eating unlimited amounts of crap food.

 

[catseye]

I read somewhere the Victorian artist Etty - who was infamous for painting nudes at any excuse - preferred farm labourers for models as they had the perfect musculature and presumably not an ounce of body fat. Read somewhere else, the average calorie expenditure of a 19thC farm labourer was probably something like 5,000 cals or more per day... They were probably using most of that, though, hence the perfect bodies.

I guess we're now the perfect storm of living sedentary lives plus eating unlimited amounts of crap food.

We don't all live sedentary lives though. But I think the availability of 'easy' food might have something to do with it. And you'd be astonished at how few people understand how many calories are in what foods.