the world we have lost

I've been reading this book titled The World We Have Lost. Although it is pretty dry and it is taking me a while to get through it, some of the information presented is rather fascinating. The time period that it focuses on is mostly the pre-industrial revolution period, namely the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

It is interesting, because many of the rumors that it dispelled so long ago are still in effect today. Even i must admit that I am guilty of believing that the "old world" of pre-industrial society was so much better than it became. Since childhood we are led to believe that things like starvation, infant mortality and disease prospered under the life-changing effects of the industrial revolution. Strangely enough, the records don't really support this belief. In fact, in some cases, the mortality rates of the pre-industrial world were actually worse.

As something of a luddite, I was a bit frustrated that my attitude towards industry may be a bit skewed (assuming that the book's statistics are accurate), but it does agree with my belief that our work has changed for the worse. No longer are we employed under a "family" type roof, but by complete strangers now. It is this change in employment that seems to have made the largest impact on our society, by separating our work and home. It's a very interesting read and I heartily recommend it, if you can get through it.

The book also covers interesting some social customs and other experiences that few historians have ever thought to review. There are lots of records of birth and death statistics, but few explaining the personal relationships of everyday people or how they coped with the stresses and dangers of the times. One of the things that shocked me was the fact that the average age at death was around 30 years old. When you consider that many youth spend most of their lives as an apprentice or servant under the roof of a master craftsman, and only had several years to marry and have children, it's a rather depressing thought. There was also a statement in the book that stuck with me that basically said that it was unusual for anyone to get to meet any of their grandparents.

This young life expectancy explains a lot, though. I've always wondered why we never hear of people in the "old world" having to deal with so many of the medical conditions that we deal with today. We can blame some of it on our over-population and what we have done to our environment, but the sad fact is that most people didn't live long enough to have typical "old age" health problems. And if they did, they probably died from them. Sure, they had apothecaries in many towns but who really knew if this root or that ground up leaf could really cure your illness?

There are so many products available today for every possible ailment (no matter how small or seemingly insignificant) that we rarely find examples of them in the history books. Did the inhabitants of the "old world" have their own version of antacids or did they just live with heartburn? Did they even get heartburn, or were they smarter than us in that they knew to take their time when eating? We know that many Asian cultures have known of the benefits of substances like ginseng but did other cultures have their own ancient viagra equivalent? If a woman had really bad PMS, was she burned at the stake as a witch or assumed to be possessed because of her aggressive monthly personality, or did pre-industrial society understand this condition and prescribe some natural dosage of progesterone (yams?) to try and soothe the savage beast?

These are the types of silly questions I often find myself pondering when I get to read about the lives of the people of yesterday. Some of these answers can be speculated based on archaeological findings and written journals, but many seemed to have been lost with time. Perhaps they were too concerned with other more serious ailments to be bothered with these modern day product opportunities. Or perhaps, as I suggested earlier, they just never lived long enough to address many of them.