Hacker News Reader

I find Bills of Mortality fascinating, and am somewhat disappointed that my favourite inscrutable-sounding cause "Rising of the Lights"[0] didn't make it into the list posted.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rising_of_the_lights

View on HN

After reading the wikipedia article, I still have no idea what this is. Lung cancer, pneumonia, some other lung disease, COVID-1619?

According to one of the references[1]:

> Many doctors believed that only vulgar people used the term to describe a tightening sensation in the chest, difficulty breathing and a cough.

[1]: https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/wellbeing/polio-soon-off...

The 1926 BMJ letters page [1] has correspondence discussing what they thought it was. Nothing specifically medical, but something coming up into the throat and quite possibly croup[2]. For a butcher Lights are generally animal lungs, but the 'cure' was taking a small amount of lead shot or mercury to stop the lights rising.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2523749/pdf/brm...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croup which is now tackled with vaccines and modern medicine.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com