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Tue, 7 May 2002 15:52:07 -0400 |
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Subject: Re: Bed length
> Well, I wasn't born in the 19th century, but as a child sick with asthma I
> was required to sleep sitting up because it was better for my lungs. .....
It seems probable
> that this belief was common even centuries earlier.
But this is for a sick person, in the 20th century. Many 20th century
medical practices can't be read back into the 18th or 19th century, so I
don't think this is really evidence. I believe it was Dr. Benjamin Rush who
did advocate sleeping sitting up... I just question how many people followed
this advice.
When I worked at the Paul Revere House in the 1980s we did some research to
try to debunk this as a myth, but I don't remember all the details. We had a
perfectly normal sized bed, one that would have been comfortable for a
6+-footer, and visitors always exclaimed "look how short that bed is"! It
amazed us. Was it: prior expectation? foreshortening? the puffy feather bed
confused the normal proportions? The relatively sparsely furnished room? A
puzzlement.
Carol Ely
Museum Consultant, Louisville
Do you think we can keep this thread up as long as the skateboarding
discussion?
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