h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Was it something to do with wearing a too tight corset ?

Hello,

Having performed minor research and surgery, I can confirm that "Planets" refers to the condition of being "Planet Struck" a rather astrological reference to being either confused or paralysed due to a brain condition.

"Rising of the Lights" refers to a lung disorder - fluid rising in the lungs. Lungs, being light in weight, were referred to as lights by butchers. One could apparently purchase "Cat's Lights" - cows lungs as a food for cats. The phrase "knock your lights out" stems from the use of the word for lungs rather than meaning to cause you to blackout, which was what I thought it meant until reading about this.

"Evil" refers to the kings evil, scrofula.

Some other explanations and the original Bill referenced by Baddiel at http://footguards.tripod.com/01ABOUT/01_sickness.htm. The routine is on his Too Much Information tour which you can get on DVD still or probably on youtube.

Thranjax

That definitely deserves a QI!

Corsets were not involved, and neither were cowboys or Indians, at least not to any greater degree than the general population. Probably less, even.

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having an electric current passed up your bottom as some sort of medical, health, quackery practice.

Ooooh, "Quackery", our first .

Sorry I've only got four, and you found one.

the beneficial effects of radium??

No.

It might help you to think about *when* this was considered an official cause of death...

snake oil health remedy poisoning

Anything to do with race?

Natural causes ?

When I was doing some tracing (ages ago) I remember that the records seemed to be "pre 1910" and "post 1910" - it seemed that there was a distinct demarcation.

Is it more to do with the way that records were kept than an actual cause of death?

Not actually dead yet?

That *would* be a good one, toy box, but is not it.

Nothing to do with race, nor is it generic "natural causes" - but I suppose if there was a reform in 1910, they tossed it out then, so +1 for that.

Maybe if you figured out when the *first* time it was used was, that might help. Or not.

It wouldn't be by old Smokey, would it?

I believe this was an old electric chair that, because of the way it was wired or it's age, it caused the victims to 'smoke', hence it's name. I don't know which US penitentiary it was in though... Alcatraz?



MMF

Chocolate?

Ah no, death by chocolate is a dessert.

Choked on a passenger pigeon?

The person in question wasn't executed, nor are extinct animals involved, nor confectionery.

I *have* been dropping hints...

May I take a moment to refresh and rewind?

"Which official cause of death appeared on an American (US) death certificate for the last time in 1910"?

Only one point given so far, for a 1910 reform, and a for Quakery.

Positives:
Victorian Mechanism?
Considered an 'Official' cause of death?
When it was 'first' used?

Negatives:
Death through slavery.
Treason.
Mercury poisoning by occupation.
Witchcraft.
Hanging.
old age.
Spontaneous combustion.
Indian uprising.
american civil war.
Death by C/W injury.
being a no good low down varmint.
rebelious injun.
Run over by a steam-driven car.
Fell from a hot-air balloon.
Crushed by a threshing machine.
Crushed by a traction engine.
Claiming to be the fastest gun in the west.
Last person to die on a stage coach.
In a cowboy shoot out.
The last person to die in the US cavalry, on horseback, against Amerindians.
Wearing a too tight corset.
Having an electric current passed up your bottom as some sort of medical, health, Quackery practice.
The beneficial effects of radium.
Snake oil health remedy poisoning.
Race.
Just listed as natural causes.
Electric chair.

The hints:
Corsets were not involved, and neither were cowboys or Indians.
Nothing to do with race, nor is it generic "natural causes" - If there was a reform in 1910, they tossed it out then.
Figure out when the *first* time it was used was, that might help. Or not.

I'd guess it is some form of Victorian Medical practice... considering it was possibly a Victorian Mechanism. Amputation? Use of ether as an anaesthetic?
Otherwise death by the ague? Now often reclassified as Malaria.
Palsy? (I think this one is either stroke or Parkinson's)
Plague?
Lockjaw? (Tetanus)
Consumption? (Tuberculosis)
Flux? (heavy bleeding)

O am I by ?

MMF

Sorry, Plague was indeed a .

It's not an illness, as such, or a medical practice.

I guess I had reasoned that by pre-empting the , but at least it clears medical ailments and Malpractice out of the way!

MMF