Bethlem Royal Hospital or St. Mary Bethlehem was the first psychiatric hospital in England. For many years, it was known for its inhumane conditions which earned it the nickname of “Bedlam”, meaning madness or mayhem. Its history is the inspiration for many horror books, movies, and TV shows. So why did it become so infamous?
If you look closely at the top image of Detail from Hogarth’s Rakes Progress, depicting Bedlam, you will see a person standing next to the wall pondering the word “longitude” and drawings of the Earth and ships.
During the early 1730’s, British seafarers could only determine longitude by the method of taking “lunar distances”. This was a tedious method at sea. Having a reliable chronometer on board would have made celestial navigation easier to determine longitude but one did not exist.
John Harrison began his development of a maritime timekeeper at the same time Hogarth published this etching. However, it wasn’t until 1762 that Harrison’s fourth iteration of his chronometer proved reliable and successful, thus eliminating the need to take lunars.
Additionally, Hogarth may also have used the problem of solving longitude via lunars as a play on words based on the origin of the word “lunatic”.
If you liked this information, please take advantage of my free subscription to my Substack page, Maritime History.
*facepalm emoji* Second sentence - "For many years, it was known for its inhumane conditions which earned it the nickname of “Bedlam”, meaning madness or mayhem." fundamentally misunderstands the etymology of 'bedlam'. It was in no way a nickname referencing 'inhumane conditions' as it originated as a colloquial pronunciation of Bethlehem and it's meaning of "scene of mad confusion" is derived from the conditions in the hospital. The word did not exist prior to the hospital. Ridiculous basic error that really undermines any confidence in the following text.
If you look closely at the top image of Detail from Hogarth’s Rakes Progress, depicting Bedlam, you will see a person standing next to the wall pondering the word “longitude” and drawings of the Earth and ships.
During the early 1730’s, British seafarers could only determine longitude by the method of taking “lunar distances”. This was a tedious method at sea. Having a reliable chronometer on board would have made celestial navigation easier to determine longitude but one did not exist.
John Harrison began his development of a maritime timekeeper at the same time Hogarth published this etching. However, it wasn’t until 1762 that Harrison’s fourth iteration of his chronometer proved reliable and successful, thus eliminating the need to take lunars.
Additionally, Hogarth may also have used the problem of solving longitude via lunars as a play on words based on the origin of the word “lunatic”.
If you liked this information, please take advantage of my free subscription to my Substack page, Maritime History.
Muslims must assimilate or relocate.. wake up UK
*facepalm emoji* Second sentence - "For many years, it was known for its inhumane conditions which earned it the nickname of “Bedlam”, meaning madness or mayhem." fundamentally misunderstands the etymology of 'bedlam'. It was in no way a nickname referencing 'inhumane conditions' as it originated as a colloquial pronunciation of Bethlehem and it's meaning of "scene of mad confusion" is derived from the conditions in the hospital. The word did not exist prior to the hospital. Ridiculous basic error that really undermines any confidence in the following text.
WOW; https://open.substack.com/pub/drkimberlyhandy/p/week-2-of-words-of-wondersubstacks?r=2io6s&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false