# "strike" on the lead weight [Digest urth.v028.n042 *The Urth list — 2 messages, 1 voices, 29 Sep 1999* > Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright > in each message remains with the person who wrote it. > Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original > archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than > retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. --- ### Greene, Carlton *29 Sep 1999, 15:13* 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/ > ---------- > 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, Carlton *29 Sep 1999, 18:16 · follows 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. > ---------- > 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 ---