4 ms·

The more I understand about science actually works, the more I can't see any reason for someone from 18th century or before not to believe in magic. Especially

The more I understand about science actually works, the more I can't see any reason for someone from 18th century or before not to believe in magic. Especially if he actually did experiments that would confirm this kind of connection - alchemist theories just look like the most logical explanation of such phenomena. (If you don't believe me, just ask Newton).

lkrubner 8y ago
Why is that everyone in the village died of smallpox, except for the milkmaids, who never got sick? Is this some kind of milkmaid magic? Or is there something in the biographies of each milkmaid that causes them to become... ah, what is the right word? It's almost as if they are, ah, "immune" to smallpox? Is that possible? It's almost as if they get cine (aid) from the cows (vacca). One wonders if we could deliberately give this vacca-cine to people?
- swombat 8y ago
  Thank you for this. Didn’t know this was the etymology of vaccine!
  - bonzini 8y ago
    It's not (the cow part is though; vaccine simply means "from cow").
- dunefox 8y ago
  No, they're witches!
- TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
  Do you have a source on the etymology? I've searched but couldn't find anything. Genuinely curious.
  - typothrowaway 8y ago
    At least wikipedia seems to partially agree (on the cow part), with citations I couldn't verify: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccinia#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccinia#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowpox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowpox
    - TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
      I meant on the etymology of cine / aid. Must have valued out when I wrote my previous comment.
      - 1123581321 8y ago
        ine/inus is a Latin possessive suffix that appears in many words. https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/-inus https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/-inus
        TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
        Thank you, that's what I was after.
  - fao_ 8y ago
    https://www.etymonline.com/word/vaccination?ref=etymonline_crossreference https://www.etymonline.com/word/vaccination?ref=etymonline_c...
  - mrighele 8y ago
    Vaccine comes from the latin "vaccinus", a derivative of "vacca" (cow) and means "related to cow" or in this case more like "of cow origin". For example in italian "latte vaccino" means cow milk. So there is no -cine part, only a "-inus" suffix that simply means "related to" or "coming from". You can see that in a lot of words of latin origin. In fact the term "latin" itself comes from "latinus" which means "related to Latium" or "inhabitant of Latium" (a region in central Italy) Unrelated, but as for the origin of the latin term "vacca", it may come from vedic, with the meaning of "the animal that moos" Edit: made my answer more to the point
currymj 8y ago
excellent exploration of this idea in the wonderful history book “The Secrets of Alchemy”. the author actually followed some alchemical recipes which were thought to be nonsense. yet under the right conditions (using iron implements, bad control of temperatures, impure materials) they produced results that must have seemed miraculous at the time — fluorescent materials, elaborate crystalline structures, and so on.

lkrubner 8y ago

Why is that everyone in the village died of smallpox, except for the milkmaids, who never got sick? Is this some kind of milkmaid magic? Or is there something in the biographies of each milkmaid that causes them to become... ah, what is the right word? It's almost as if they are, ah, "immune" to smallpox? Is that possible? It's almost as if they get cine (aid) from the cows (vacca). One wonders if we could deliberately give this vacca-cine to people?

swombat 8y ago
Thank you for this. Didn’t know this was the etymology of vaccine!
- bonzini 8y ago
  It's not (the cow part is though; vaccine simply means "from cow").
dunefox 8y ago
No, they're witches!
TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
Do you have a source on the etymology? I've searched but couldn't find anything. Genuinely curious.
- typothrowaway 8y ago
  At least wikipedia seems to partially agree (on the cow part), with citations I couldn't verify: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccinia#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccinia#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowpox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowpox
  - TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
    I meant on the etymology of cine / aid. Must have valued out when I wrote my previous comment.
    - 1123581321 8y ago
      ine/inus is a Latin possessive suffix that appears in many words. https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/-inus https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/-inus
      - TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
        Thank you, that's what I was after.
- fao_ 8y ago
  https://www.etymonline.com/word/vaccination?ref=etymonline_crossreference https://www.etymonline.com/word/vaccination?ref=etymonline_c...
- mrighele 8y ago
  Vaccine comes from the latin "vaccinus", a derivative of "vacca" (cow) and means "related to cow" or in this case more like "of cow origin". For example in italian "latte vaccino" means cow milk. So there is no -cine part, only a "-inus" suffix that simply means "related to" or "coming from". You can see that in a lot of words of latin origin. In fact the term "latin" itself comes from "latinus" which means "related to Latium" or "inhabitant of Latium" (a region in central Italy) Unrelated, but as for the origin of the latin term "vacca", it may come from vedic, with the meaning of "the animal that moos" Edit: made my answer more to the point

currymj 8y ago

excellent exploration of this idea in the wonderful history book “The Secrets of Alchemy”. the author actually followed some alchemical recipes which were thought to be nonsense. yet under the right conditions (using iron implements, bad control of temperatures, impure materials) they produced results that must have seemed miraculous at the time — fluorescent materials, elaborate crystalline structures, and so on.