Human Anatomy taught through the lens of the Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon and the Starz television series
Greetings Outlander fans! 🤗
The Outlander BTS episode discussions have resumed!
Next up is “Carnal Knowledge!” 😮
Please join us using the following link.
https://outlanderbts.com/outlanderbts-the-discussion-episode-712-carnal-knowledge/
The deeply grateful,
Outlander Anatomist
Follow me on:
Hallo the house!!! 😉
Greetings Diana fans! 🤗
Friday, October 26, was the first day of 2024 Surrey International Writers’ Conference (SiWC) in British Columbia. This is a wonderful gathering of seasoned writers and budding authors.
This is my fourth SiWC over the years. I attend to report on the events and see Diana. I do not plan on becoming a professional writer.
This post is about Diana’s SiWC workshop on Oct. 25, titled “Endings.”
Now, no need to panic. Diana’s presentation was not about the end of the Outlander book series – not yet, anyway!!! 😱
It was about how to write endings to all aspects of story telling including those of sentences, paragraphs, conversations, chapters, books, etc.
I found it extremely informative and I wager most in the room felt the same. Diana remains a fountain of imagination and information. 🤩
Diana entered the room with her favorite beverage in hand! 😄
Understand, these workshops are 1.5 hours long wherein she is the only speaker. I suspect this wee “pick-me-up” helps her stand (mostly) still, essentially immobile and focussed while being pummeled with attendees’ queries! 😎
Unfortunately, I had some technical difficulties with this video recording so it is divided into three segments. 🙄
The first video is the introduction. She tells attendees that she is not going to teach the mechanics of how to write their stories but rather how to write about what happens in a way that keeps readers turning the page. 📖
She began by telling us she recently reread James Clavell’s 1975 book, Shogun. She selected this book because Clavell is a highly regarded author.
Upon opening the book, she immediately read both the first and the last sentences! She didn’t do this to spoil the book but for a scholarly reason: she is now writing what she expects will be the final Outlander book and she is putting serious thought into that last sentence of her epic book series. She is researching good examples. Hankies out! 😥
In the next segment, she talks more about Shogun. She considers its last sentence to be an excellent ending to this classic novel so listen to her read it.
In this third and final video segment, she talks about Shakespeare’s tragedy, “Romeo and Juliette.” Starting to weep, she explains that this story was not about crime or political power but about “Juliette and her Romeo. It is about love.” 🥰
She points out and explains that there are four types of book and chapter endings:
She encourages writers to include pauses in their sentences, to use short sharp sentences in conversations, and try not to shake people out of the story with anything that might distract from the tale.
If your work presents a question, answer it rather quickly to keep readers engaged. (Now, I could make an issue here because upon occasion, Outlander readers have to wait 10 years and two or more books to get answers, but I won’t!) 😂
Question: Are your characters ever influenced by the show’s characters or do you keep them separate? Do you like the show’s characters better? No, she never confuses the two sets of characters and she likes hers best because she writes better dialogue. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Question: How do you decide what your characters will say? Her answer is she never tells her characters anything – they tell her what they will say, think, and do.
Question: Are you conscious of alliteration when you write? She said she was when first writing but incorporates it automatically now. Sometimes she goes back and grooms the alliteration if needed (alliteration is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words – e.g. the sweet birds sang softly).
This video segment stops when she begins reading an excerpt from book 10. It is an intimate exchange between Jamie and William! ❣️
She asked me specifically to remove this part before posting, so I have. I am very sorry that I cannot share it because it is tender, moving and poignant.😢
I feel sure she will share this as daily lines when she is ready. 💙
I hope you enjoyed Diana’s one person workshop. These are always worthwhile and I considerate it a privilege to attend them.
The deeply grateful,
Outlander Anatomist
Follow me on:
Video and Photo credits: Outlander Anatomy,
Hello, anatomy students!
Good to see you again so soon. 😉
Today’s lesson explores the horrific circumstances leading to an intended amputation of William’s forearm.
Just so you know what to expect, this lesson does contain a number of rather gruesome images!
William’s wound appears in Outlander episode 704, “A Most Uncomfortable Woman.”
A short recap: William hastily rides through the Great Dismal Swamp. His steed, Jupiter, is startled by a snake, which looks very much like a copperhead to me!
Jupiter unseats William who tumbles down a steep hillside hitting a fallen tree snag during his rapid descent.
As William comes to rest, he assesses the damage to his arm. Oh, dear,! A branch broke off the snag and buried itself into his right forearm. Ouch! 😱
Being of Fraser blood, he grits his teeth and pulls it out! 😬 Then, using his stock as a bandage, he wraps the wound under pressure and moves forward with his mission. This time, on foot, as Jupiter has hightailed it leaving William alone and without supplies or the notes from Captain Richardson! 😳
Later, he hears a sound. Looking up, he spies an “Indian” who speaks a Scot’s version of the King’s English. 😜 Wolf’s Brother (Ian Murray Jr.) in the flesh!
A very nice chit-chat ensues as they exchange bona fides. Then Ian spies Williams’s wound. Um….best get that taken care of. Because, by now that oozing wound looks pretty yucky! 🤢
Ian sets about building a wee fire and boils a pot of water. Then he crouches beside William, pulls his knife from its sheath, and begins to free the wound of several splinters. Ouch! 😮
The blood clots are well done. 👍🏻
Then he pours boiling/hot water over the wound to try to cleanse and perhaps sterilize it? Oh, boy, that hurts! 🤯
Ian hustles William to the cabin of one Dr. Denzel Hunter and his sister, Rachael. They help William onto a table and Denzel takes a quick keek. Oh, dear, that looks bad. Rachael, fetch me the saw!
After some protestations from Ian and William (it is his forearm, after all!), Dr. Hunter begins to saw. Suddenly, pus oozes from the wound and Denzel declares that the bile has been freed and there will be no need for a hack job today! 🪚
Much later, Williams shares his travail with fellow soldiers. Here, from “A Breath of Snow and Ashes:”
“Wandered round the Great Dismal Swamp for three days in a fever,” he said. “Some … Indians found me and got me to a doctor. I nearly died, and”–he lowered his brows and gave Zeb a piercing look–“the doctor was just about to cut off my arm, when the abscess burst and he cauterized it. You might not be so lucky, hey?”
Sometime later, Rachel tells William his scar has healed well. It looks like the star that guided the wisemen to the Christ child and it suits him. In the book, his scar looks like a comet.
A quote from “A Breath of Snow and Ashes:”
‘The wound was still red and puckered, the skin around it unpleasantly white and moist. It was, however, undoubtedly healing; the arm was no longer swollen, and the ominous red streaks had disappeared. “Well,” she said consideringly, “it’s a fine scar, I think. Well knit, and rather pretty.”
Anatomy and Pathology: Now that the recap is over, let’s discuss the pathology of William’s wound. You may recall, that pathology, which literally translates to “knowledge of sorrow,” is abnormal anatomy, so we are not far off the mark. 🤓
I propose we review one issue at a time, so here we go!
The Accident: I have been asked if I think the accident was plausible. My short answer is, yes. My reasoning is that William is a large man, rolling downhill, rapidly. All that weight with an extended arm and yes, it is possible. 🤔
Believe it or not, this issue is covered by Newton’s (next image) second law of motion which states that F = ma, in which net force is equal to mass times acceleration due to gravity.
Stated more plainly, the force with which William’s extended arm struck the wooded spike equals William’s mass times acceleration rolling downhill.
I asked my physicist son, Diedrich, to help with variables such as hypothetical mass, rate of descent, incline, size of branch, etc. He did the calculations and William struck the branch with roughly 163 ft-lbs of force! Consider that this force was expended onto a stick no more than 1” in diameter. Well, suffice it to say, that force is more than sufficient to snap the branch, break the skin, pierce the muscle, and even fracture one or both forearm bones (radius and ulna)! 😱
Make sense? Gooood! 🤗
Penetrating Wound: Poor William suffers what pathologists categorized as a penetrating wound. This occurs when a sharp object pierces the skin and creates a single opening into either tissues or a body cavity. Clearly, there is one wound and the tissues in this instance are the meaty flexor muscles of his forearm. 💪🏻
Our flexor forearm (the palm side) houses eight muscles (15% of us have only seven). The spike would have driven deep into probably 2-3 of these muscles. This means any bacteria or other pathogens on the swampy branch would have sunk deeply into the tissues. This is why the wound became infected.
Inflammation: Ian unwraps William’s arm and spies a swollen,red, painful wound that will feel hot to the touch. These are four of the cardinal signs of acute inflammation, the body’s common response to injury and infection.
Inflammation is heralded by five cardinal signs, four were described 2,000 years ago by Celsius. These are:
and….
A current day example: The image below shows acute inflammation of the great toe (hallux) due to an ingrown toenail. The toe is red, swollen, warm, sore, and difficult to use.
Cleaning the Wound: I have to say, Ian was caring and compassionate to clean the splinters from William’s Arm.
But, I must protest! Ian has seen Auntie Claire take care of enough trauma to know that he should either cauterize that knife tip in the fire, or plunge it into the boiling water for a bit. Inserting the tip of a dirty blade will introduce more pathogens into the already infected wound!
And, pouring boiling/hot water into the wound? That isn’t much help, either and was traumatic for William. Much better to let the water cool a bit and then cleanse the wound with the “sterilized “ liquid.
The amputation: When I saw this, I thought. Um……No! Denzel grabs his amputation saw and starts sawing away on William’s arm! Now, this enactment exactly follows what is recorded in “A Breath of Snow and Ashes:”
He had—he was told sometime after the fact—narrowly escaped loss of the arm: Dr. Hunter had grasped it and placed his amputation saw just above the wound, only to have the abscess that had formed below it burst in his hand. Seeing this, the doctor had hastily drained the wound, packed it with garlic and comfrey, and prayed—to good effect.
It was very dramatic, but you should know that a doctor with training like Denzel’s would not start sawing on skin. The saw teeth will rip and tear skin and muscle causing even more pain and morbidity for the patient. Instead, a practitioner used an amputation knife to slice the flesh around the bone and then saw through the bone. Below is an example of a typical amputation knife and an amputation saw of the time. 🔪🪚
As horrifying as this sounds, a capable practitioner could remove a limb very swiftly this way, reducing the trauma to the sufferer.
Finally, as Denzel puts pressure on the limb, pus bursts from the deep lying abscess. After removing the pus, the wound was carefully cleaned and wrapped..
Pus is a thick yellowish or greenish opaque liquid produced in tissues infected with pyogenic bacteria such as Streptococcus or Staphylococcus (Not all infections elicit pus formation). Pus is formed of dead white blood cells, bacteria, tissue debris, and serum.
The term pus derives from the Latin and it has been used since the 14th C. Again, since Denzel is a well-trained physician, he would have likely used the term pus rather than bile.
Finally let’s consider William’s scar. Here, he recounts his travail to fellow soldiers…..from “A Breath of Snow and Ashes:”
Look,” he said, displaying the long, comet-shaped scar on his forearm. “That’s what happens when you get an abscess.”
Both Zeb and the doctor peered at the scar, impressed. It had been a splinter wound, he told them, caused by a lightning-struck tree.
Big, kudos to the FX folks. I thought the slightly reddened, puckered, and contracted scar was believable. Well done!
I hope you enjoyed this review of William’s Wound.
Until we meet again, fare thee well!
The deeply grateful,
Outlander Anatomist
Follow me on:
Photo creds: Sony/Starz, www.myclevelandclinic.org, www.en.Wikipedia.org, www.teachmeanatomy.info, www.teachmesurgery.com