"strike" on the lead weight [Digest urth.v028.n042

Greene, Carlton29 Sep 1999, 15:13original

Fortunately for Dorcas, they were not of the pyrotechnic variety described elsewhere in TBOTNS -- otherwise, her regurgitation of them in Thrax might have sent her the way of little Severian -- gone in a flash. It also raises some rather odd toxicology questions -- could a normal human being really walk around for as long as she did with a belly full of lead shot without suffering brain damage or, at the very least, a really bad tummy ache? I prefer my women unleaded, thank you. C/

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---------- From: John Bishop[SMTP:jbishop at blkbrd.zko.dec.com] Reply To: urth at lists.best.com Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 1999 2:12 PM To: urth at lists.best.com Subject: (urth) Re: "strike" on the lead weight [Digest urth.v028.n042] Apparently this was actual practice in Classic times: herewith a quote from a reference http://omega.cohums.ohio-state.edu/hyper-lists/bmcr-l/1991/02.06.16.html : The section on slogans inscribed on lead bullets (e. g., "take that," "[this one's] for you," "ouch," "get pregnant with this") is particularly intriguing (45-46). : I looked around the web, but couldn't refind the sling page with photos of such sling-bullets. See also http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/rialto/slings-msg.text Further proof that Mr Wolfe has a strong background in Classic studies! -John Bishop works

Greene, Carlton29 Sep 1999, 18:16original

↳ follows, by subject match Greene, Carlton

Not to shake that tired old stick at the question, but maybe the Claw had something to do with it. An alternative: perhaps the word "lead" as used in the text refers to something that is not the lead of our Earth -- a different element with different (i.e. non-toxic) properties.

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---------- From: Michael Straight[SMTP:straight at email.unc.edu] Reply To: urth at lists.best.com Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 1999 5:21 PM To: urth at lists.best.com Subject: RE: (urth) Re: "strike" on the lead weight [Digest urth.v028.n042 ] On Wed, 29 Sep 1999, Greene, Carlton wrote:

It also raises some rather odd toxicology questions -- could a normal human being really walk around for as long as she did with a belly full of lead shot without suffering brain damage or, at the very least, a really bad tummy ache?

One wrinkle is that we don't know how much human physiology has changed between Severian's time and ours (or between ours and Severians, depending on how you want to think about the chronology). -Rostrum works

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