First impressions of the past

astroboyuk

astroboyuk

Chrono Cadet
What do you think would be your first impressions of the past (were you to travel there).

I have a suspicion, that if you travelled to any human community pre 1930 (lets say mid 19th centruy) would be peoples BO! .. and other countryside smells, and lake of sanitation, open sewers etc?

Would the intrepid time travellor be overwhelmed by the range of stenches!
 
Maybe if I was younger. But that seems to be a plus with growing older. I no longer have to cringe and gasp for air upon entering a room, whereupon waits a female without a clue as to what she has done with that bottle of perfume.
 
what about raw sewarage running throug hte streets? Cattle in the streets? no one washing for weeks at a time?

but maybe smell isnt the main thing to contend with: what would the practical time traveller have to be prepared for?
 
Well for one thing, my lack of a defining scent might stand out to others in this time zone. I would be noticed. Something I may have not been prepared for. Perhaps if traveling back to this era, one should consider not bathing for at least a week, so as to blend in with the locals.

Wearing apparel might be something to research. Also carrying and knowing how to use a gun might be something to consider as well.

You would literally be a fish out of water trying to blend in.
 
astroboyuk said:
What do you think would be your first impressions of the past (were you to travel there).

I have a suspicion, that if you travelled to any human community pre 1930 (lets say mid 19th centruy) would be peoples BO! .. and other countryside smells, and lake of sanitation, open sewers etc?

Would the intrepid time travellor be overwhelmed by the range of stenches!
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That only assumes that you're entering a past that is cleaner and more orderly than your present.
If I was to travel to the past I would have to be very patient with people and not constantly call them drooling idiots. It isn't their fault they grew up in a world with few challenges and did not have to refine themselves in order to survive.
 
What do you think would be your first impressions of the past (were you to travel there).
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Possibly that I would have little to no immunity against a host of specific strains of formerly deadly diseases, especially virii, that are either relatively rare today in the US and EU or for which we have innoculations and effective treatment but which were common in the past and for which there was little effective treatment available:

smallpox
yellow fever
black fever
typhoid fever
scarlet fever
typhus
polio
tuberculosis
influenza
rabies
tetanus
plague
measles

The return trip "home" would be problematic as well. Bringing back home these diseases could be disasterous.
 
Darby said:
Possibly that I would have little to no immunity against a host of specific strains of formerly deadly diseases, especially virii, that are either relatively rare today in the US and EU or for which we have innoculations and effective treatment but which were common in the past and for which there was little effective treatment available:

smallpox
yellow fever
black fever
typhoid fever
scarlet fever
typhus
polio
tuberculosis
influenza
rabies
tetanus
plague
measles

The return trip "home" would be problematic as well. Bringing back home these diseases could be disasterous.
Click to expand...

great point: infecting the future.. I dont think any literature has used that as a theme have they? Dont got ot 1919 and get spanish influenza
 
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