Monthly Archives: September 2019

Well I did the obvious thing and ran the query “spectacle maker” on querypic: Querypic doesn’t differentiate between “spectacle maker” and “spectacle-maker” as a query, so we can say that graph shows usage of both forms of the term. The … Continue reading →

It turns out the whole rural oculist thing is more complicated than I thought. Firstly I was wrong in thinking that oculist was the preferred term in the nineteenth century. Five minutes with Querypic showed that while that might have … Continue reading →

I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s quite amazing how many people died of chest and lung related complaints in the late nineteenth century. Not surprising really. I grew up in Stirling, in Scotland, which was at first glance a quiet … Continue reading →

As I’m sure you are all well aware, I’ve been working as a volunteer documenting the contents of Dow’s Pharmacy for the National Trust. A few months ago, I came across a shoe box containing some boxes of old spectacle … Continue reading →