lördag 28 augusti 2021

Lördag med Gutenberg

             Reading woman in an interior. 

             Bertha Wegmann



 HOME-NURSING.

BY A LADY.

SECOND ARTICLE. 


”Before commencing our subject proper, the sick-room, it may be well to consider two points very frequently neglected in home-nursing. First, as to a nurse’s dress. Unless the case be infectious, nothing is better than some soft woollen material that will not rustle or creak, after the fashion of silk or print, but that will bear washing should the necessity arise. If the patient’s raset is known and can be consulted, all the better; but if a favourite dress is too valuable to be devoted to sick-room wear and tear, a ribbon bow of some soft bright colour, and spotless collar and cuffs, will help to give that air of quiet cheerfulness which is soothing to senses so often rendered painfully acute by illness.”



Hur man vårdar en patient i hemmet, kan man lära sig om man läser ”Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, Fifth Series, No. 35, Vol. I, August 30, 1884”.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/66141/66141-h/66141-h.han

Man ska inte bara tänka på att stärkta kläder kan prassla för mycket, fotbeklädnaden är även den viktig — skorna får inte knarra, men tofflor som man rör sig ljudlöst i, är inte heller bra. Man kan skrämma patienten om man tyst som ett spöke glider upp bredvid sängen.


Jag är rätt svag för alla dessa tidskrifter som bjöd på ett verkligt blandat innehåll.

”Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art”, (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chambers's_Edinburgh_Journal) grundades 1832 av William Chambers. Den förändras och bytte namn, men levde vidare ända till 1956.

I det här 137 år gamla numret finns förutom ovan nämnda artikel, en följetong, en artikel om utbildning för kvinnor, på det tämligen nybildade ”Queen Margaret College”, (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Margaret_University).  Vi får lära oss att man, redan då, försökte sig på distansundervisning:

A few years ago, comparatively little was known about Correspondence Classes, that is, of education conducted between teacher and taught through the medium of the post-office. The system was on its trial. There were grave doubts and solemn shakings of the head when the scheme was suggested as a substitute for oral teaching. It was pronounced impossible that questions and answers sent to and fro between the teacher and the taught could produce any satisfactory result, though it was admitted by some objectors that this interchange might be of some use where other instruction was not to be had; it was better than nothing. Another class of objectors spoke deprecatingly of ‘cram’ with its train of evils, and among these were some who would have judged otherwise, had they only for a moment thought of what they were familiar with, university examination papers. One of the special advantages of Correspondence is that the pupils are obliged to study for themselves as thoroughly as they can any subject they take up. They receive a plan of the course so divided that they know exactly how much is expected for the lesson of each fortnight; they know where to look for information; books of study are prescribed; books of reference are suggested. Patient, careful, diligent study is the only true preparation for this kind of work, and the faculties of the pupil are fully exercised before the tutor steps in with corrections, comments, and criticism.

Månadens ”science and art” intresserar mig, den handlar om mycket; som en brandsläckare: ”Harden Hand Grenade Fire-extinguisher, and consists of a glass flask containing a chemical liquid, which, when the flask is broken, emits a copious supply of that enemy to combustion, carbonic acid gas”, hur man kan utnyttja vattnet från varma källor, var man kan finna ingredienserna till fågelbo-soppa, om parasiter som vi människor får i oss med maten: ”There are altogether no fewer than fourteen different kinds of parasites which find their home in the mackerel. Speaking of vegetarianism, he said that it was a mistake to suppose that those who eschewed flesh-foods had any consequent immunity from diseases provoked by parasites; on the contrary, the most common parasite known in this country was a vegetable feeder which could easily be received into the system by carelessly washed salads, &c.” Detta bland mycket annat.

Så en glädjande nyhet för fotograferande konstälskare: ”Most people will be glad to hear that the guardians of our national picture-galleries have at last consented to allow their art treasures to be copied by photography. Why this permission has been delayed so long is strange, for nearly every continental gallery has long ago distributed fac-similes of its contents to willing purchasers. 

Och slutligen en textil nyhet: ”The success of the Royal Tapestry Works at Windsor, where so much excellent work is turned out every year, has stimulated others to endeavour to produce a material similar in appearance, without all the costly processes which makes the woven fabric so expensive. In London recently, an Exhibition has been opened of the works of English artists upon a material known as Gobelins tissue. The work is executed with the brush like an ordinary picture on canvas, but with an intention to imitate the work of the loom.”

Det här blev långt nog, utan att jag fördjupade mig i de franska. kronjuvelerna och behandlingen av diarré och kolera, så jag går direkt på en annan favorit, ett av alla små reklamhäften med mönster för allt från ” ”tåvärmare” till användbara prylar.


Afghan Book No. 289 (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/66111/66111-h/66111-h.htm), från 1952, har ovanligt många mönster, som jag skulle kunna tänka mig att nyttja som inspiration. Förutom färgfoto av filtarna, så finns det läckra, tidstypiska vinjetter som alluderar på filtens namn, som den här för ”flower garden”



The word afghan refers to the people of Afghanistan. The use of afghan in the English language for a textile object goes back to at least 1831, when Thomas Carlyle mentioned "Afghaun shawls" in his Sartor Resartus. By 1860, Afghan as a noun, not an adjective, denoted a type of handicrafted object shown at state fairs and other exhibitions, along with patchwork and knitted quilts, and was being mentioned in novels.

Inga kommentarer:

Skicka en kommentar