The Good Old Days

Tit-bits and excerpts from Collier's Cyclopedia of Commercial and Social Information and Treasury of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge On Art, Science, Pastimes, Belles-Lettres, and Many Other Subjects of Interest in the American Home Circle, compiled by Nugent Robinson, 1882, New York, Peter Fenelon Collier, Publisher, revised to 1891

Interest and Usury
"Interest is a moderate profit for the use of money. In the different States the rate of interest is established by statute. In New York State six per cent is the legal rate of interest. Any excess over this, whether received directly or indirectly, will render the contract void, and is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both. An excess of interest above the legal rate may be recovered by an action at law, if brought in one year from the time of payment.
Corporations cannot set up the defence of usury."

Marriage and Divorce
"Marriage may be entered into by any two persons, with the following exceptions: Idiots, lunatics, persons of unsound mind, persons related by blood or affinity within certain degrees prohibited by law, infants under the age of consent, which is in New York State 14 for males and 12 for females, and all persons already married and not legally divorced."

Naturalization Laws of the United States

Conditions for Citizenship: "If it shall appear to the satisfaction of the court to which the alien has applied that he has resided continuously within the United States for at least five years, and within the State or Territory where such court is at the time held one year at least; and that during that time "he has behaved as a man of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the United States, and well disposed to the good order and happiness of the same," he will be admitted to citizenship."

an exception..

Chinese: "The naturalization of Chinamen is expressly prohibited by Section 14, Chapter 126, Laws of 1882."

1882 Principal of the Public Debt: $1,926,688,678.03

1891 Population of the Earth: 1,487,900,000
1891 Population of North America: 89,250,000
(from the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society)

Phrenology: "Feelings. Genus I.-Propensities. the propensities are common to man and the lower animals; they neither perceive nor reason, but only feel.
No.I- Amativeness.-This organ is situated immediately over the nape of the neck, and fills up the space between the ears behind, or rather between the mastoid processes, or projecting bones behind the ears. It generally forms a projection in that part, and gives a thickness to the neck when it is large, and a spareness when small."

A few English Proverbs:

A good layer-up is a good layer-out.
A pin a day is a groat a year.
Children and chickens must always be picking.
Children suck the mother when they are young, and the father when they are old.
Every herring must hang by its own head.
He that runs in the night stumbles.
It's merry in the hall when beards wag all.
The blind man's wife needs no painting.

Some Scots Proverbs:
He has licked the butter off my bread.
Ne'er marry a widow unless her first man was hanged.
Little folk are soon angry.
Keep your breath to cool your own porridge.
They speak o' my drinking, but ne'er think o' my drouth.

from Etiquette For Ladies:
"Remember in conversation that a voice "gentle and low" is, above all other extraneous acquirements, "an excellent thing in woman." There is a certain distinct but subdued tone of voice which is peculiar to only well-bred persons. A loud voice is both disagreeable and vulgar. It is better to err by the use of too low rather than too loud a tone.
Remember that all "slang" is vulgar."

"Very young ladies are never so suitably attired as in white. Ladies who dance should wear dresses of light and diaphanous materials, such as tulle, gauze, crape, net, etc., over colored silk slips. Silk dresses are not suitable for dancing. A married lady who dances only a few quadrilles may wear a décolleté silk dress with propriety."

"Perfumes should be used only in the evening, and then in moderation. Let your perfumes be of the most delicate and recherché kind. Nothing is more vulgar than a coarse, ordinary scent; and of all coarse, ordinary scents, the most objectionable are musk and patchouli."

from Golden Rules of Etiquette:

"Do not use the tablecloth to wipe your mouth."

"Never watch the dishes as they are uncovered, or cry out when you perceive something dainty."

"Guests may use the servants as if they were their own, but always within reason."

Projection

Nazi Poster, loose translation: "The Jew, War's Instigator, War's Extender"

"If people observe their own unconscious tendencies in other people, this is called a "projection." Political agitation in all countries is full of such projections, just as much as the backyard gossip of little groups and individuals. Projections of all kinds obscure our view of our fellow men, spoiling its objectivity, and thus spoiling all possibility of genuine human relationships."
-Carl Jung, Man And His Symbols

“The richer–that is, the more varied and complete–the individual’s emotional life, the less is he driven to projection, and the more will he incline to identification. His outlet and satisfaction comes in identifying himself with the emotions of the other. On the other hand, the narrower and more restricted the individual’s emotional life, the more intense will be his fewer emotions, the less will he be inclined to, and capable of, identification–the lack of which he has to compensate for by projection. Projection thus proves to be a compensatory mechanism that adjusts for an inner lack. Identification, on the other hand, is an expression of abundance, of the desire for union, for alliance, for sharing. “
– Otto Rank, “Love, Guilt and the Denial of Feelings,” 1927, American Lectures, 160

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the log in your own eye?”-Jesus, Matthew 7:3

The Haunted Tree, South Hiram, Maine, October 28, 2004, photo by John Bonanno

"O Dreamy, Gloomy, Friendly Trees" - Herbert Trench, 1907

Listen to the third take (God help us) on Aldous Huxley with myself and Vyzygoth now posted at Think Or Be Eaten Radio here.
Aldous Huxley narrates a radio broadcast version of Brave New World Here.

Sumatriptan, C14H21N3O2S 295.40

I have experienced migraine headaches for forty years. In the last decade they have somewhat lessened in severity if not in frequency. I have had days when I considered (and obviously rejected) a trip behind the barn with my shotgun. For the first several years I experienced distortions in vision (aura) at the onset of the migraine which may or may not have been followed by pain. Luckily this effect is now rare; it can get dangerous on the road and frustrating at work. For the last six or seven years I have gratefully used three medications for treatment. Maxalt, zomig, and imitrex in that order. All were effective but all seem to eventually promote more frequent migraine experiences and use of the drug.
I am now using generic imitrex, sumatriptan; this is the only prescription drug I use. I usually feel very airy when I take the drug. I decided to do a little experiment a couple of days ago. My blood pressure is normally an excellent 125/68. I tested myself last week on my handy BP machine and that is what it was. I took a sumatriptan Friday night and decided to check my BP a couple of hours later after the drug took effect. My result: 158/95. I remembered that a couple of years ago I had an annual physical and my BP was slightly elevated. I had taken an imitrex the day before. My MD wanted to put me on a drug for high BP. I demurred. I was back at the doctor's a week later for a follow up and the BP was fine. Yes, somewhere in the small print on the flyer that comes with the drug you will find that sumatriptan can elevate blood pressure. If you are hypertensive you should avoid this drug. Now I despise the notion of going on drugs. My exception is the migraine drug which I take reluctantly, but mind destroying pain can melt resistance. I average using about eight 50mg tablets a month. (Yes, I have a good health insurance plan; I pay less than 50 cents for a pill that retails for about $5. Before it went generic, sumatriptan (imitrex 50mg) retailed for an astounding $20+ a pill; but you would pay the price for relief.) I will record my BP during migraine episodes before and after use of this drug. Questions: Is it worth several days of elevated BP a month to relieve the pain of migraine? And, is it really the sumatriptan causing the hypertension? And I wonder. What is the price to be paid for long term use of this drug?


Love is a universal migraine
A bright stain on the vision
Blotting out reason
-Robert Graves

D'où venons-nous? / Qui sommes-nous? / Où allons-nous?- P. Gauguin, 1897
Boston Museum of Fine Arts, where this large painting (54 3/4 x 147 1/2 in.) may be visited


Who am I? How Did I Get Here? Where Am I Going,
Or, The Why Ask Those Existential Questions Two Step

Click the above title for the hyperlink to my story in the Summer/Fall 2009 "Inside the Grassy Knoll" ezine. It gives a little of my biographical information and an existential outlook on the world in two pages. It finishes up with two personal ghost stories: one that was there and one that wasn't.

Positive existentialism:

"If success or failure of this planet and of human beings depended on how I am and what I do... ... HOW WOULD I BE? WHAT WOULD I DO?"- R. Buckminster Fuller


Negative existentialism:

"Hell is other people."- Jean Paul Sartre

You need both in the broth.