It’s About Time (October 2024)

This month, Back In Time Editing Services’ newsletter explores the meaning of surcease. Plus, prepare to be be repulsed by the origins of a deadly cholera outbreak in Victorian London. Also, learn about Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site in southern Alberta.

Vintage Word of the Month: Surcease

This word comes to this newsletter courtesy of the master of Gothic Horror himself, Edgar Allan Poe. Poe’s classic work, “The Raven,” is often re-visited in October by Halloween enthusiasts. The meaning of surcease is easy to figure out, as the following section of “The Raven” shows:

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,

And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.

Eagerly I wished the morrow;—vainly I had sought to borrow

From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—

For the fair and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore—

Nameless here for evermore.

Remove “sur” and the meaning is revealed. Arguably, “surcease” is more fun to say (and read!) than “cease.” It’s certainly a gothic-sounding word, so try using it at your next spooky celebration. Happy Allhallows Eve!

Your Next Great History Read

The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s most Terrifying Epidemic—and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World, by Steven Johnson. Riverhead Books, 2006. 307 pp

You need a strong stomach to read about public sanitation practices in Victorian London. Excrement and effluvia literally ran through the streets and into water sources, which brought disease. In 1854, cholera killed over six hundred people in London, and the source of the pestilence was eventually found to be one water pump on Broad Street, in the Soho district. Steven Johnson’s The Ghost Map explains who solved the mystery of how the disease was spread, and how it was done.

History contains many examples of medical professionals who were laughed at, vilified, and ostracized for stepping outside of conventional belief systems. Fortunately for Dr. John Snow, he maintained his reputation, but he still had to wage a patient and persistent battle to prove his theory about how cholera was winding its deadly path through London. Snow suspected the illness was spread through the water, but at the time, the miasma theory, which held the belief that diseases were spread by bad smells, dominated among doctors and scientists.

Snow was a busy physician (he was a pioneer in anesthesia techniques), but he found the time to knock on the doors of Soho residents to find out which water pumps they used. He then built a Voronoi diagram which correlated individual cholera cases with specific water pumps. Johnson’s masterful prose also focuses on the stories of various cholera victims, which adds a humanizing element to a scientific saga. In brief, The Ghost Map is an illuminating excursion through the effects of urbanization, the spread of disease, and the inflexible lenses through which humans often view the world.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump: A World Heritage Site and Education Centre

275068 Secondary Highway 785, Fort MacLeod, AB https://headsmashedin.ca/

One way to learn about the unique history of the Blackfoot nations (Siksika, Kainai, and Piikani) In Alberta and Montana is to visit Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. The 1,470 acre site is near Fort MacLeod, and was used by bison (the scientific name for the animal) hunters for thousands of years. Hunters used spears and darts to drive the animals over the 18-metre high sandstone cliff.

Following the onset of Euro-Canadian settlement, overhunting led to the bison’s near-extinction by 1881. One hundred years later, the site of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump was deemed a UNESCO World Heritage Site, due to the jump’s cultural and archeological significance. Additionally, an interpretive centre, which opened in 1987, is an educational hub for the millions of visitors who explore the site each year.

Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is open year-round. You can take a self-guided tour through the centre, and there are also programs for schools and for youth groups. The area also has hiking trails; one of them runs right under the cliff. Enjoy this important historical site next time you’re in beautiful southern Alberta!

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