I was reflecting on the comments at SHQ SPY DIVISION concerning
tuberculosis:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHQ_Spy_Division/message/678
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHQ_Spy_Division/message/679
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHQ_Spy_Division/message/683
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHQ_Spy_Division/message/684
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SHQ_Spy_Division/message/686
someone mentioned that people knew way before the 20th century that TB
was contagious
this really was not the case in most of the population---simply
because there was a great deal of *conflict and CONFUSION in the
medical community over whether or not TB was part of a spectrum of
infections, or hereditary (women with TB were divorced immediately for
fear that their children would get TB not through the
sputum/phlegm/coughing---but by blood too)
only people with the money could afford isolated care in an ideal
environment
this book will also mention doctors, trying to study TB actually dying
of it because they were not sure how it was transmitted. I mentioned
in my post at the SHQ SPY DIVISION of scientists, husband and wife who
had TB, still caring for their own children (not out of necessity as
they had friends and relatives)
in 1882 Dr. Robert Koch discovered tubercle bacillus the aerobic
bacterium (Mycobacterium tuberculosis)---doctors around the world did
not believe him and there was a "delay" in adjusting their
methodologies and treatments---because it still made sense to many
that it was inherited (as of 1901 medical journals still printed
articles proving how it ran in the family). Koch's failed attempt of
developing a cure, tuberculin, also didn't help his cause.
So I skimmed
The Modern Epidemic: A history of tuberculosis in Japan
By William Johnston. 432 pp. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University
Press, 1995. $45. ISBN 0-674-57912-7
[New England Journal of Medicine Review
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/334/11/739%5d
yeah you can't really buy this book at that price---so see if your
library has it (^_^)
Ok, let's get the Okita issues out of the way.
The superstitions and stigma associated with the symptoms/pollution
(blood) of tuberculosis have been mentioned on this list before---this
book will not only go into incredible detail it will also mention real
life examples (from the 20th century) illustrating how these people
were banished from society.
The book approaches the topic from a medical point of view and how
this illness is not confined to just the respiratory system --- but
can affect your spine, stomach, intestines etc. Members here who
study science and want to combine study w/ Shinsengumi interests will
really enjoy this book. It was a disfiguring disease associated with
bad karma--hence the secrecy of OKita's health was not simply for
reasons concerning group morale.
I cannot recall the exact Japanese website but there is talk that
Okita was a "clean child" or celibate or even a virgin (all of this is
JUST a rumor). During his lifetime it was believed that excessive
sexual activity will lead to TB---thus if he was rumored to be a clean
child it makes sense that it was part of the medical advice to abstain
from sex.
Okita's constant smiling. During his lifetime melancholia was
associated with TB---hence keep your spirits up and you will not catch it!
Okita as "feminine" --- the book does a stellar job of examining TB in
Meiji era literature (there was an entire GENRE devoted to it).
Usually the illness is associated with young frail, beautiful women.
Interestingly, many girls after their first menses WERE likely to get
TB, especially if they had a lower intake of protein (note many
Japanese had a vegetarian and fish diet that time). We know that
the Shinsengumi were the subject of folktales and even the novel
Nakazato Kaizan's DAIBOSATSU-TOGE [the film SWORD OF DOOM] (although
Okita was not feminine or childlike in this work) it is easy to see
how a doomed swordsman with TB all of sudden takes on female qualities
which would solidify him as a perpetually tragic figure in fiction.
the book will mention some familiar names:
[Matsumoto Ryojun] physician who accompanied shogunate troops as far
as Hakodate and later along with Nagakura and SAitou built a memorial
[Dr. Willis] (at Toba & Fushimi and Aizu during Boshin War,
Kumamoto/Kyushu until Seinan War, later laid the foundation of Siriraj
Medical School and Hospital in Bangkok)
[Dr. Baelz] German who was the personal physician to royality and
governmental VIPS --- his sticking to cellular *rather* than
bacteriology pathology in Tokyo University School of Medicine
inhibited alternate modes of approaching the illness (we now know
bacteriology was the right way to go)
***and for the one person out there who loves Dutch studies*** yes
Dutch medicine is discussed
To learn more about the romanticism connected to TB please read
http://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~mfukuda/english.html
novelist/doctor/bureaucrat MORI OGAI is mentioned on this page.
Mori Ogai, Higuchi Ichiyo and several of the most famoust writers of
the Meiji Era suffered from and died of TB. Note how Mori Ogai kept
his condition a secret.
The book also provides euphemisms doctors will use in diagnosing a
patient. Doctors who diagnose patients with TB were themselves
subject to negative public reaction!
-----------------------------------------
[Footnotes]
The biggest obstacle to medical education was the abhorrance of
dissection and association with uncleanliness see:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/edojidai/message/107
in the late 1890s-early 20th century the only women's medical academy
(born from the founder's desire to have women treat women infected
with sexually transmitted diseases) was ridiculed for unladylike
manners in dissecting cadavers...
Takamine Hideo spent alot of time studying protozoa under a
microcope---the discovery of tubercle bacillus would have been of
great interest to him as well since his own brother died of TB in 1883
The novel mentioned throughout the book HOTOTOGISU (bestseller later
translated into English as NAMIKO: A REALISTIC NOVEL)
was about Yamakawa Oyama Sutematsu
mentioned
http://www.shinsengumihq.com/TakagiTokioinfo.htm
and
http://www.shinsengumihq.com/AizuBeyond1868.htm