Subject: (urth) S. Delage

From: Dan'l Danehy Oakes <ddanehyo at us.oracle.com>
Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 14:52:28 +0000

American Revolution times.  While the idea of leprosy coming 
through infected items might have occurred to some colonists 
(via the Biblical precepts thereon), it's unlikely that 
anyone would have tried to pass smallpox on through germ 
warfare in those pre-van-Leewenhoek days.

Craig:  
> Good points, but how about this well-known quote from Hamlet?
> "Neither a borrower nor a lender be"

Umm, no.  That was Polonius; the way it's phrased it's clear 
that we're talking about something Hamlet himself says.

Actually, Hamlet has a number of quotables.  Some of these
will be a bit vague on exact wording, it's been _years_, but
I'll bet you'll recognize them all.

"The time is out of joint; o cursed spite
 that ever I was born to put it right!"

"I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself king
of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams."

"...smile, and smile, and be a villain..."

"Get thee to a nunnery!"

"I am mad only north by northwest; when the wind is [in the 
east?] I can tell a hawk from a handsaw."

Need I add that any of these, except possibly the first,
_might_ be brought to bear on S.D. ... ?

Roach

*More Wolfe info & archive of this list at http://www.urth.net/urth/

---

From: William H. Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 23:28:26 +0000

>From "Dan'l Danehy Oakes":

>William:  the smallpox bit won't wash, not in a quilt from

Uh, well, actually it washes quite nicely, thank you very much.

Since Anton van Leeuwenhoek lived from 1632 to 1723, I don't see how his
discovery of micro-organisms rules out "germ warfare" being used in
"American Revolution times" (remember, in the story this was any time up to
1799) even if we postulate that only a person who knew germs existed could
conceive of trying to use bedding from smallpox victims to pass the disease
on to others, a postulate I find very doubtful.

But, I was motivated to find where I had read that this had happened and,
fortunately, it wasn't hard. It is on p. 251 of _Plagues and Peoples_ [1]:

-----------
The ravages of smallpox among Indians may in fact have been assisted by
deliberate efforts at germ warfare. In 1763, for instance, Lord Jeffery
Amherst ordered that blankets infected with smallpox be distributed among
enemy tribes, and the order was acted on. Whether the result was as
expected seems not recorded.
-----------

Now, this is a fairly well-known work and it seems likely to me that Wolfe
has read it, since he seems to be a history buff (to put it mildly) and it
provides a unusual interpretation of history.

In any case, I stand by my theory. (Although my original post about it was
much too long, rambling and maudlin. Sorry. Fatigue affects me that way. I
need to observe my bedtime more strictly from now on.)

[1] William H. MacNeill, _Plagues and Peoples_, 1976, Anchor
Press/Doubleday, Garden City, New York. ISBN: 0-385-11256-4

William Ansley