Comment on Causes of Death in London (1623)
merc@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
| Olde | Modern | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Abortive, and Stillborn | Abortion and Stillbirth | 445 |
| Affrighted | Fear? Possibly a heart issue? | 1 |
| Ague | Malaria, or a disease involving fever and shivering | 43 |
| Apoplex, and Meagrom | Stroke and severe headache, migraine | 17 |
| Bit with a mad dog | Rabies | 1 |
| Bleeding | Blood loss | 3 |
| Bloody flux, scowring and flux | Dysentery and cholera | 348 |
| Bruised, Issues, sores and ulcers | Bruising, open sores, either as a symptom of something else (hemorrhagic fever) or because they got infected | 28 |
| Burnt, and Scalded | Same | 5 |
| Burst, and Rupture | Probably an externally visible rupture | 9 |
| Cancer and Wolf | Cancer and Lupus | 10 |
| Canker | Mouth sores, maybe from herpes? Probably not the underlying cause of death | 1 |
| Childbed | Death following complications from childbirth | 171 |
| Chrisomes, and Infants | Babies less than 1 month old and Infants | 2268 |
| Cold, and Cough | Same (but probably a symptom of something worse) | 55 |
| Colick, Stone, and Strangury | Gallstones, kidney stones, and other intestinal and urinary blockages | 56 |
| Consumption | Tuberculosis | 1797 |
| Convulsion | Seizure, possibly caused by epilepsy | 241 |
| Cut of the Stone | Died during surgery to remove kidney / gallstones | 5 |
| Dead in the street, and starved | Exposure, hypothermia, starvation | 6 |
| Dropsie, and Swelling | Edema, fluid retention, possibly caused by heart failure | 267 |
| Drowned | Same | 34 |
| Executed, and prest to death | Executed is obvious, “prest to death” is accidental death while being tortured (via pressing) to force a confession | 18 |
| Falling sickness | Epilepsy, perhaps “petit mal” seizures vs “grand mal” which went under Convulsion | 7 |
| Fever | Same, interesting that it’s distinct from Ague | 1108 |
| Fistula | Same, horrific, distinct from childbed – I guess the women lived a bit longer? | 13 |
| Flocks, and small Pox | Smallpox and other diseases causing pustules | 531 |
| French pox | Syphilis | 12 |
| Gangrene | Same | 5 |
| Gout | Gout, or inflammatory arthritis, not the underlying cause of death, but a clear symptom | 4 |
| Grief | Modern medicine would be more specific but… | 11 |
| Jaundies | Jaundice, liver disease | 43 |
| Jawfaln | Fallen jaw, lockjaw, tetanus | 8 |
| Impostume | Abcess, a symptom of an infection | 74 |
| Kil’d by several accidents | Trauma, I assume | 46 |
| King’s Evil | Scrofula or Mycobacterial cervical lymphadenitis | 38 |
| Lethargie | Chronic fatigue, a symptom of something else | 2 |
| Livergrown | Swollen liver, possibly cirrhosis from drinking | 87 |
| Lunatique | Lunatic, mental illness – curious about the actual cause of death though | 5 |
| Made away themselves | Suicide | 15 |
| Measles | Same | 80 |
| Murthered | Murdered | 7 |
| Over-laid and starved at nurse | A smothered baby, either accidentally or on purpose, starved from lack of milk | 7 |
| Palsie | Paralysis, Parkinson’s, similar things | 25 |
| Piles | Hemorrhoids, not a cause of death, but a source of infections and an obvious symptom | 1 |
| Plague | same | 8 |
| Planet | Sudden death thought to be related to something astrological (planet alignment) | 13 |
| Pleurisie, and Spleen | Pleurisy (chest infection), apparently it can sometimes be caused by damage to the spleen? | 36 |
| Purples and spotted Feaver | Bruising and spotted fever (tick borne disease), distinct from bruising, listed earlier | 38 |
| Quinsie | Quinsy, Peritonsillar abscess, can cause many other things | 7 |
| Rising of the Lights | Fluid in the lungs, possibly caused by croup | 98 |
| Sciatica | Same, possibly caused by spinal disc herniation | 1 |
| Scurvey, and Itch | Ye Scurvy dogs! Ye been sailing with yer limes! | 9 |
| Suddenly | um… | 62 |
| Surfet | Surfeit, overeating, overdrinking, not fatal on its own, but perhaps blamed when it was the underlying reason | 86 |
| Swine Pox | Possibly a euphemism for “French Pox”? | 6 |
| Teeth | Probably children dying at an age when their permanent teeth were coming in. Similar to “Chrisomes” named for the cloth used when christening a child. Either that or serious tooth infections that led to complications. | 470 |
| Thrush, and Sore mouth | Thrush (Candidiasis) could make it hard to eat or drink, or lead to other infections | 40 |
| Tympany | Excess gas in the gastrointestinal tract making the belly like a drum, many potential underlying causes | 13 |
| Tissick | A wasting disease, often associated with a cough | 34 |
| Vomiting | Long term vomiting can cause dehydration, might also have been used for someone choking on vomit and dying from asphyxiation | 1 |
| Worms | Ugh. | 27 |