Tag: Gothic

Oxygen Therapy 1: Dr Le Doux

Fiona SubotskyLeave a comment

Armadale pic 2

The villainous Dr Le Doux, previously an abortionist,  has set up a new Sanatorium for nerve sufferers, having bought someone else’s name and qualifications. He provides the very latest in gadgetry for the comfort and treatment of his patients, notably the ‘ventilation method’, which is secretly operated from outside the room so that the nervous asthmatic patient is not alarmed by the use of oxygen. However, Le Doux has the makings of other, deadly, gases, and provides one of these in a ‘Purple Flask’ to the evil Miss Gwilt. Their plan is to trick the hero Armadale into staying, and then kill him.

Suffice it to say that the plan does not work out as expected, and Miss Gwilt is found dead, possibly from an ‘apoplexy’. The epilogue comprises a letter from the family solicitor, who suspects Dr Le Doux of a great deal, but nothing can be proved; indeed, his friends and admirers are about to present him with a Testimonial expressing sympathy.

 

Frankenstein’s Instruments

Fiona Subotsky

Aldini

‘I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet’, said Frankenstein.

Although the lightning storms are a feature of the films, Mary Shelley knew of galvanism experiments. The most famous in London was in 1803 when Giovanni Aldini, Galvani’s nephew and Professor of Physics at Bologna University, applied the electrode and counter-electrode of a large voltaic battery to the corpse of a recently hanged criminal. Depending on the part of the body stimulated Galvani was able to induce convulsions, opening of an eye and even sitting up! (See http://www.oddsalon.com/tag/giovani-aldini/)

More on Karloff’s Monster

Fiona Subotsky

340px-Frankenstein's_monster_(Boris_Karloff)

You may not know that ptosis (lid drop) is an early sign of pituitary adenoma, which can cause acromegaly, but you will remember now!

More fictionally than medically, the forehead scar is perhaps the route of the brain insertion, and the neck bolts may be either to attach the head to the neck or the places to attach the electricity (think of charging a car battery).