Lizzie, wake up!

[Harry]

We all know that Lizzie swooned or fainted after Moody's opening. The Sourcebook, page 219, has an interesting description of her attack:

"It was 11 o’clock when he ended his presentation of the Commonwealth’s case. The black figure of the prisoner had not attracted attention during the preceding half hour. She had been sitting with the great Japanese fan close against her face. Only the correspondent of The Sun and the deputy sheriff beside her could see behind the fan.
Two or three minutes passed and the fan and the arm that held it dropped upon the prisoner’s lap, Her head was back against the rail, her eyes were shut, her mouth was open, and her breast heaved with very long breaths.
“Lizzie Borden’s asleep,” was the whisper that galloped through the court room. Deputy Sheriff Kirby, who sat beside her, took friendly alarm at such disrespectful behavior, and tried to awaken her before the Court should see her. He shook her arm. He might as well have shaken a pump handle. Her head rolled over so that her cheek rested on the rail at right angles to the line of her body. A purple cast came over her face. Kindly Mr. Kirby looked alarmed and helpless. City Missionary Jubb of Fall River was sitting near by, and sprang to his feet and began to fan her.
A Deputy Sheriff came quickly with a glass of water. After a little she regained partial consciousness. Mr. Jubb ordered her somewhat sharply to find her smelling salts. Her hand went into her pocket mechanically and came out with a little cut glass bottle in it.
Then she put both hands on the arms of the chair and fell back against the railing, not half over her faint. Mr. Jubb was applying the smelling salts, and was so much in earnest that her breath went from her and she put up her hand to push the bottle away. In another minute her eyes opened, and she heard Mr. Jubb advising her to drink some water, which she did. Sheriff Wright, in the mean time, began rapping on his desk for order. The people crept back into their seats, and the episode ended with Miss Borden leaning her head against the rail, with her eyes shut, while everyone wondered whether she was going to faint again."

This was the first that I had read that Lizzie carried smelling salts. It's hard to imagine Jubb speaking sharply to Lizzie. It may just be the way the reporter wrote it.

There are many examples of small bottles used for perfume and smelling salts from this era on EBay. These two are described as "Green Glass Smelling Salts Bottles - Crown Perfumery - Late 19th Century"



I found the above photo at:

http://1st.glassman.com/gallery-victori ... ttles.html[/img]

[Kat]

Wow! That was very descriptive, thanks!

As you say, maybe the writer added some drama with the Jubb comment about him speaking sharply to Lizzie- but maybe after knowing her better as the scandal-ridden girl who has been in jail all these months, he would have seen what she was really like? Maybe he saw tantrums and mottled face and petulent silences from her over time, as her family did. He may have lost patience with her by now- causing such a scene in the courtroom was not seemly. He may have had as stern a nature as Andrew.

Many, though, would and will see this "faint" as Lizzie showing her true sensibilities, her feminine side and give her pity and compassion.

[john]

Good job Harry.
I met a man who almost met Robert Frost once.

[Susan]

Tlhanks, Harry, I've read that passage before about Lizzie's smelling salts, it does make her sound all girly and feminine. It sounds as though any woman that wore a corset needed to keep her smelling salts close at hand, fainting was expected.



Corsets:

The displacement of internal organs and the associated health problems caused by wearing a corset were called Visceroptosis. Evidence has been found that the shape of the corset could influence the shape of the spine, and that the high waisted corsets compressed the lungs to cause respiratory diseases, and that low waisted corsets compressed the womb to cause problems with menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth, and that corsets generally caused problems for most of the women who wore them, to such an extent that they gave women the reputation for being the weaker sex.

Corsets also trapped blood below the waist and reduced blood flow to the brain, so virtually all women who wore them tended to faint, and many of women had severe fainting fits which were generally referred to as hysterical fits because of the popular belief that they were caused by psychological factors.
Public debates about the health affects finally convinced women to start discarding their corsets in 1900, and by 1914 the corset era was virtually over and the classical hysterical fainting fits which had been very common in the nineteenth century became extremely rare.

The normal broad and open base of the rib cage allows for free and deep breathing, but the V-shaped deformity caused by corsets interfered with the full movement of the respiratory muscles which was compensated for by a shallower and more rapid breathing. The normal flexible rib cartilages consequentially became rigid from lack of use and that added to the problem. Pressure in the chest interfered with the flow of blood from the heart to the lungs. The heart was affected causing hurried circulation with a net result of imperfectly aerated blood chemistry that led to other obscure ailments. The heart was prone to flutterings and palpitations which probably occurred with or without heart disease, and resulted in panicky apprehensions about the prospect of collapse or death.
The liver was greatly mis-shaped and displaced downwards and indented by the ribs. The diaphragm and all the abdominal organs were mis-shaped, displaced and disturbed in their function. The ligaments which held the abdominal organs in place were stretched, or weakened or gave way. Constipation was common because of the affect on the bowel, where intestines were dropped, folded upon themselves, kinked and dilated and had impaired circulation and poor tone.
The nervous system was affected so the women suffered from"nerves" and sleeplessness.

From this site:
http://users.chariot.net.au/~posture/Co ... chor283358





Smelling Salts:

Ammonium carbonate, (NH3)2CO3·H2O, is a colorless-to-white crystalline solid commonly known as smelling salts; in water solution it is sometimes called aromatic spirits of ammonia.

Ammonium carbonate is mixed with perfume to create a stimulant. The ammonia fumes from the salts irritate the membranes of the nose and lungs, which triggers a reflex causing the muscles that control breathing to work faster.

Apparently smelling salts are still in use, sounds as though its mainly for atheletes like boxers who may have been knocked out.

From this site:
http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20001206.html

[lydiapinkham]

Susan, those McKenzie salts look brand new. Are they still produced? Although the odor would bring you to your senses with a jolt, I suspect it made some women feel worse. But I'd be willing to bet Jennings told her to carry them into the courtroom and use them openly to counter that mannish reputation some of the papers were giving her. He'd want the jury to see a fragile thing that a breath might wither--one who couldn't possibly lift an axe, let alone bring it down so many times.

--Lyddie

[Susan]

Hi Lyddie, missed you! Yes, that is a current brand of smelling salts that is available in England. Hmmm, your post just made me wonder, could that be why Jubb was talking rather sharply to Lizzie, because she didn't normally need or use smelling salts? Like he was telling her, "Okay, now you've done the fainting thing, grab your smelling salts, thats what a lady does when shes faint." Almost like he was teaching her what to do? Hmmm.

[lydiapinkham]

Hi, Susan! That's exactly what I was picturing--Lizzie just doesn't seem like the smelling salt type to me. I think she'd sooner keel over. I know I would.

--Lyddie

[lydiapinkham]

Hi, Susan! That's exactly what I was picturing--Lizzie just doesn't seem like the smelling salt type to me. I think she'd sooner keel over. I know I would.

--Lyddie

[snokkums]

Do you all think that maybe she faked fainting? I mean she was charged with murdering her parents.

[Audrey]

I imagine Lizzie as more the type who would not pass out in any circumstances...

[Allen]

I agree with Audrey there. I think Lizzie was a strong willed, bull headed,
sort who was not easily rattled. I mean, if she didn't faint on the day of the murders, when would she faint?

[Audrey]

Not to mention-- If she was guilty...

I imagine if I had the nerve to hack people to death (and the idea of the sound that must have made has been haunting me recently) a little thing like a murder trial or a couple of skulls wouldn't cause me to bat an eye!

[Susan]

Hmmm, makes me wonder, if Lizzie wasn't really the fainting type, what if she really was caught out asleep!!! Realizing her embarrassing predicament, Lizzie decides to pull a fast one and fake a faint. Jubb is on to her game, hence the sharp call for her smelling salts.

[john]

It bothers me for you to think that she was guilty Abbey, oops Andrea, and I wish you could show me one shred of evidence.

[john]

See what you've done Aberly?

[snokkums]

I think she was faking it. I think she was keeping up with the times that young ladies see or hear something gross, they faint. She was too strong to faint at anything; she had to put on a good show.

[Davo]

Smelling salts are strong and smell awful. When in high school I fainted and the RN came running and stuck them under my nose. They didn't know then I had been born with cardiac arrythmia problem and my heart had stopped. But I remember the smell. If she were faking the faint, it would be a jolt for someone to place it under her nose even if she heard the order to use it. The corsets were a problem and made it more difficult to breath and do simple household chores. This was brought out in the TV series 1900 House where they had a family live like it was 1900 for three months. Very interesting to see how people lived at that time even though it was 1900 London England but it was a middle class family who had one servant. Lizzie, innocent or guilty? Fascinating isn't it?