------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Thu, 13 May 1999 19:06:41 +0100
Reply-to:      VICTORIA 19th-Century British Culture & Society
               <[log in to unmask]>
From:          Lesley Hall <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:       Re: brandy (again)
To:            [log in to unmask]

>            During the time period of -The Mill on the Floss_(1860) modern
>medicine was , at best , in it's infansy - which is to say that, though
>there was knowledge of opiates , most people had no immediate access to
>them .

This is not strictly speaking true: opium preparations were widely
available - cf Mrs Gaskell's _Mary Barton_ for literary evidence, and V
Berridge _Opium and the People_ for a historical study.
Brandy was regarded as a reviver, rather than a soporific (which opiates
would be), so the intended action was different anyway.
Lesley Hall
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-----Original Message-----
From: tom.chambers <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 13 May 1999 18:49
Subject: Re: brandy (again)


>Dear Professor Sutton-Ramspeck ,
>            If you might entertain an opinion based on experience , rather
>than academic studies -
>            I can tell you from personal experience that alcohol can
>temporarily free one from some pains which modern pain-killers are only
>moderately sucessfull in handling.
>            I suspect , though this is only a guess , that brandy is the
>best way to administer alcohol, because it contains a high sugar content,
>which would cause it to be metabolized rapidly.
>            Perhaps some biologist on the list can explain this for us.
>                                   Cheers -
>                                           [log in to unmask]
>Beth Sutton-Ramspeck wrote:
>> Okay, this is driving me mildly nuts.  I've encountered brandy yet again,
>> this time in _The Mill on the Floss_.  Mr Tulliver, when he "feel[s] a
bit
>> weak," is given some of the brandy that Aunt Pullet had brought for Mrs.
>> Tulliver when the latter was ill.  Given Aunt Pullet's fixation on
illness
>> and medications, the choice of brandy was surely well considered.
>> Maybe someone who's joined the List since my last query will know the
>> answer: why administer brandy medicinally? Why liquor at all, and why
>> brandy in particular.
>> Just puzzled,
>> Beth Sutton-Ramspeck
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> Beth Sutton-Ramspeck
>> Assistant Professor of English
>> Galvin 410A
>> The Ohio State University at Lima
>> 4240 Campus Drive
>> Lima, OH 45805
>
>--
>            Experience exceeds my most macabre expectations
>