Category: Fun Facts

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Fun Fact: smallpox

smallpox

Anatomy def: An acute contagious viral disease characterized by fever and prolific pustules, leaving survivors with permanent scars.

Outlander def: Ship-burning plague rendering Claire and Jamie enemies of the Frenchie, Comte St. Germain! Oopsie!

Learn about smallpox in Anatomy Lesson #21, “Smallpox” or “The Devils Mark.”

Smallpox (one word) was first used as a term in 15th century Great Britain to distinguish it from syphilis, the “great pox.”

Read about smallpox in Diana Gabaldon’s second book, Dragonfly in Amber!

I approached him cautiously, … He was flushed with fever, his skin a queer dark red, scabbed thick with white pustules. … I sank to my knees by the sick man and opened his filthy shirt. … His arms were relatively clear, but the pustules clustered thickly down his chest and stomach, and his skin was burning to the touch. I had seen smallpox many times before, in the uncivilized parts of the world to which my uncle Lamb, an eminent archaeologist, had taken me during my early years. …“I’m afraid it is smallpox,” I said.

See sailors stricken with smallpox in Starz episode 201 “Through a Glass Darkly.” Wonderful special effects – raised lesions with small dimpled centers typifying smallpox lesions. Well done Outlander! yay!

a deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

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Fun Fact: contusion

contusion

Anatomy def: region of injured tissue or skin in which blood capillaries have been ruptured; a bruise.

Outlander def: “Laddie, you-in-big-trouble-now” patch of flesh, bruised by wickedly sharp teeth!

Learn about contusions in Anatomy Lesson # 35, “Outlander Owies! – Part One” and Anatomy Lesson #37, “Outlander Owies Part 3 – Mars and Scars”

Read about Jamie’s thigh bruises in Diana Gabaldon’s Dragonfly in Amber!

“What,” I said again, “happened to you?” … high on the inside of one leg was what could be nothing other than a bite; the toothmarks were plainly visible.

…“Sassenach,” he said, “what do ye think I’ve been doing?” “Er, well,” I said, trying and failing to keep my eyes away from the marks on his thigh.

…are those the scars of honorable combat, gained in defending your virtue?” … “Yes,”
He said calmly.

See Jamie’s thigh contusions in Starz episode 204, La Dame Blanche!

a deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

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Fun Fact: phalanges

ep 202 phalanges

sing. noun: phalange [fuh-lan-jee]; pl. noun: phalanges [fuh-lan-jeez].

From the Greek, phálanx, meaning military formation; later used for the bones of fingers and toes

Anatomy def: 14 bones in the digits of each hand or in the toes of each foot; 56 phalange bones in total. Each thumb and great toe bears two phalanges and remaining digits each contain three phalanges.

Outlander def: Smashed but healing finger bones of Jamie’s puir left hand (right hand in Diana’s books). Claire’s own loving hands diligently labor to mended them!

Learn about phalanges in Anatomy Lesson #22, “Jamie’s Hand – Symbol of Sacrifice.”

Read about Jamie’s smashed bones in Dragonfly in Amber:

Jamie glanced dispassionately at his right hand. It really wasn’t too bad; a couple of fingers set slightly askew, a thick scar down the length of the middle finger. The only major damage had been to the fourth finger, which stuck out stiffly, its second joint so badly crushed that the healing had fused two finger bones together. The hand had been broken in Wentworth Prison, less than four months ago, by Jack Randall.

See Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser tighten the laces of Jamie’s amazing hand brace, in Starz episode 202, Not in Scotland Anymore. Designed to stabilize his healing phalanges, Clever Cunning Claire likely devised this awesome medical appliance!

A deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist