"Could you Survive the 1860s" MSN news feature

[10TnVI]

Re: "Could you Survive the 1860s" MSN news feature

Beside the James River deposits, there was a considerable amount of mining for precious metals in the Appalacian region along the Tennessee/North Carolina border.

Ok, here is the question. How much mining was going on in the eastern US for Gold and Silver at this point in time? And since when was water hard to find this side of the great plains? That question on water makes no sense in so many ways.

[10TnVI]

Re: "Could you Survive the 1860s" MSN news feature

Geez- what idiots- on question 8, the recipie they give will yield "ginger beer" but it has negligable alcohol and sure isn't "beer",It was fizzy because of the CO2 produced by the yeast but lacked enough sugar for significant fermentation of alcohol. It was as much a beer as modern ginger ale(it's lineal descendent) is an ale(a beer made with 'top fermenting' yeast strains).

As to milk- My wife's grandmother kept a jar in the fridge brought over from the milking barn. So it definatly made it to the house without spoiling:-)

Also- apparently they are under the impression Virginia City is located in Virginia, guess they never watched Bonanza

[KentuckyReb]

Re: "Could you Survive the 1860s" MSN news feature

There's apparently (if it's still in operation) a placer-mining gold operation somewhere here in Central Indiana. That quiz though...stinkin' the place up. I too hope that isn't an example of the way ancestry.com handles historical fact on their site.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: "Could you Survive the 1860s" MSN news feature

"After 1833, the average ran about $56,000.00 a year, until the outbreak of the Civil War."


Not a whole heck of a lot when you compare that to $80,000,000 coming out of Placer and Amador counties in 1852 alone. (1852 prices)

[Michael McComas]

Re: "Could you Survive the 1860s" MSN news feature

Also- apparently they are under the impression Virginia City is located in Virginia, guess they never watched Bonanza

There is a Virginia City in Virginia, but they mine coal there, not gold. It's in Southwestern Virginia, and it's certainly not as famous as its namesakes in Nevada or Montana.

[hireddutchcutthroat]

Re: "Could you Survive the 1860s" MSN news feature

There is a Virginia City in Virginia, but they mine coal there, not gold. It's in Southwestern Virginia, and it's certainly not as famous as its namesakes in Nevada or Montana.

AND the Virginia Cities out this way were "Silver towns".

[2RIVB]

Re: "Could you Survive the 1860s" MSN news feature

The whole question about Lister is rediculous at best. Although Lister may have developed the beginings of aseptic technique, it wasn't widely accepted until the late 1800's, and more so in the early 1900's. Most people viewed his ideas as quackish. Frankly, Doctors were insulted that someone, especially one of their own, would state that they were the ones killing their patients. Doctors were more snobbish then than they are today, and took great offense at Lister's research.

An interesting side note, Lister used Phenol as an antiseptic. He developed a foot peddle machine, which would spray a fine mist over the patient, physician, and nurse.. The first use of rubber gloves came about from this. They were not used as part of aseptic technique, but rather as a barrier between the hands and Phenol. Phenol is a skin irritant. Lister's nurse was also allergic to Phenol, and would break out in a rash on her hands, while assisting Dr. Lister. Because of this, she started to wear rubber gloves. Also, to this day, a lot of disinfectants carry a Phenol Coefficient, which rates their strength vs. the strength of phenol; 1 being equal to phenol, 2 being twice as strong as phenol, and so on.

[Company Tailor]

Re: "Could you Survive the 1860s" MSN news feature

A little knowledge and a website is a daaaangerous thing.

[ElizabethClark]

Re: "Could you Survive the 1860s" MSN news feature

An excellent book related to germ theory, etc is: The Doctor's Plague: the Strange Story of Ingac Semmelweis. He actually discovered the causes of child-bed fever and maternal death in the 1840s, but because he didn't think to have his results examined under an available microscope, the world had to wait another 30 years for Lister--and they were just as unreceptive for Lister as they were for Semmelweis, though Lister was not involuntarily committed to an insane asylum over it--Semmelweis was, and died there.

[79th N.Y.S.M.]

Re: "Could you Survive the 1860s" MSN news feature

I dont know what to pick, really funny or really sad! Let me get this right....by answering these 8 questions im going to know if i could have Survived in the 1860's? And knowing the answer to all 8 questions ensures my Survivel? Whats the point?

[2RIVB]

Re: "Could you Survive the 1860s" MSN news feature

Semmelweis was another interesting fellow. I believe he used carbolic acid. If I remember correctly, that was used originally to dispell nasty sewage oders. Could be mistaken though. Either way they were both great men, and well ahead of their times.

[Jayhawk102]

Re: "Could you Survive the 1860s" MSN news feature

What we need is a show called Living ing the 1860s, ran and directed by living historians not a 8 question quiz. Heck I only answered 3 correctly.

[DonSmithnotTMD]

Re: "Could you Survive the 1860s" MSN news feature

What we need is a show called Living ing the 1860s, ran and directed by living historians not a 8 question quiz. Heck I only answered 3 correctly.

Sorta like Hardcore History -- has anybody seen it recently, it's on past my bedtime?

[va-yank]

Re: "Could you Survive the 1860s" MSN news feature

Ditto to all the above. Some of the questions were poorly worded at best, and the "answers" were misleading or just pointless.

[James_Kane]

Re: "Could you Survive the 1860s" MSN news feature

That quiz was really terrible and so wonderfully demonstrates the simplistic and elementary fashion in which society tends to define things.

-James Kane
76th NYSVI