In the early 1900s, Imogene Rechtin started a crusade to get people to stop kissing socially as a way to stop disease spread. Her argument was sound, but she was largely dismissed as being uptight.
Research:
- “Health Society Bars Kisses.” The Taney Country Republican (Forsyth, Missouri). June 15, 1911. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/859865029/?terms=Imogene%20Rechtin&match=1
- “World’s Health Organization Waging War Against Kissing.” The Evening-Times Star and Almeda Daily Argus.” Feb 23, 1911. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/607117745/?terms=Imogene%20Rechtin&match=1
- “An Assault on Kissing.” The Washington Post. Nov. 22, 1908. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/28961790/?terms=%22kiss%22&match=1
- “Declares Kiss Must Go.” Herald and Review. Decatur, Illinois. Nov. 27, 1908. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/92535138/?terms=%22Declares%20Kiss%20Must%20Go%22&match=1
- “Woman Doctor Says Kissing In Unseemly.” The Washington Times. Nov. 22, 1908. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/80711073/?terms=%22kissing%20unseemly%22&match=1
- Patterson, Ethel Lloyd. “Kiss is Under Ban of ‘Brains’ in Quaker City.” Oakland Tribune. Nov. 30, 1908. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/76453147/?terms=%22Kiss%20is%20Under%20Ban%20of%20%27Brains%27%20in%20Quaker%20City%22&match=1
- “Fight Against Kissing.” The News (Frederick Maryland). June 17, 1910. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/18372050/?terms=%22Fight%20Against%20Kissing%22&match=1
- “To Kiss or Not to Kiss.” The San Francisco Call. July 31, 1910. Accessed through the National Endowment for the Humanities. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85066387/1910-07-31/ed-1/seq-16/
- “Antikisser? Pshaw!” The Washington Post. June 29, 1910. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/31555929/
- “MORTALITY STATISTICS:1910.” Department of Commerce and Labor Bureau of the Census.” 1912. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsushistorical/mortstatbl_1910.pdf
- Dublin, Louis I. and Jessamine Whitney. “On the Costs of Tuberculosis.” Quarterly Publications of the American Statistical Association , Dec., 1920, Vol. 17, No. 132 (Dec., 1920), pp. 441-450. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2965239.pdf
- “Cincinnati Woman in Fight Against Kissing.” The Tribune. Aug. 10 1910. https://www.newspapers.com/image/legacy/157436476/?terms=%22Fight%20Against%20Kissing%22&match=1
- Last, John. “The Woman Who Fought to End the ‘Pernicious’ Scourge of Kissing.” Smithsonian. May 31, 2022. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-woman-who-campaigned-against-the-pernicious-scourge-of-kissing-180980141/
- Tesh, Sylvia. “POLITICAL IDEOLOGY AND PUBLIC HEALTH IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.” International Journal of Health Services, vol. 12, no. 2, 1982, pp. 321–42. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/45130380
- Baldwin, Peter C. “Dangers that Lurk in a Kiss: Quarantining the American Mouth, 1890–1920.” Journal of Social History. Volume 55, Issue 3, Spring 2022, Pages 647–667. https://doi.org/10.1093/jsh/shab014
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
This is an unofficial transcript meant for reference. Accuracy is not guaranteed.
Hey. It's roxy romeo from the rising crime morning show on philly's tower ninety nine and I absolutely love listening to podcasts. But after you put listening and are ready to get back to the music I'd love for you to check out power. Ninety nine phillies, legendary home for hip, hop and rb. We play the biggest songs from the biggest stars like drake chris brown and phillies on jazmine Sullivan. Listen live on, phillies, our ninety nine or wherever you are on our iheart radio. App, don't forget to check me out on the rise abroad. Podcast is hey everybody!
holly fry em. I just wanna take a sec and talk to you about the
Radio app! You hear me periodically tell people to go subject
I've just shows that I'm on it, but I really want you
I understand that there is a whole world of audio available there. You can list two thirds
thousands of lives and local evanescent stations on it. You can keep track of your favorite local stations, even when you're travelling somewhere. That is not that location, but really what we re talking about here is broadcast, because I'm guessing, if you hearing this, you are a pod cast listener
This is very cool because you can download any podcast so that you want to interests. Have it with you when you're you know out and about in the world, if you dont have wifi doesn't matter, you can still listen to your favorite shows. You can also get recommendations that are based
This shows that you listen too, so that the odds are pretty good, that you are actually going to like the new thing that suggested there could be something,
you out there. You don't know about yet the radio I was gonna tell you. The other thing is: if you could just listen to any podcast just about four
and I love the follow feature because it means you're gonna get a notification anytime, I show that you follow drops in you
episode. This is great for me. I can't keep up with all of the production schedules,
all of the entertainment media I can so if I can
does get a little fellow colleagues that thing you like there's more of it right now. It feels like I gave myself a little gift, it's the best, and it's all
through the I hurt radioactive available for download now for free, welcome to stuff humans,
in history glass, a production of I heart, radio,
hello and welcome the podcast, I'm probably fry, and I'm trying.
tv, wilson tracy. I have not told you this, but I'm using the podcast for personal therapy. That thing that I dont know if I've ever told you
Ok, you know, there are certain words you just don't like sharia
One of those words for me and all of its variations is kissing.
Really a gruesome me out so bad- and I don't know why I've never known this about you. I will use Emmi other synonyms.
it could possibly come up with. However silly I dont know what it is. It's, like the french word that
denotes. Someone is going to marry you that starts with an ef. I also don't like that word at all, and I dont know why no hey it's varies
range, I'm not anti romance at all, but I now clearly some very specific areas where I want to talk
there's one. So I'd like that's, not a way to move in the world, so we have to break these issues so organist economic, kiss
all data to its very kissing, kiss kisser said I
this thing in the smithsonian magazine in may, and I have been thinking about it. Ever
and it was this article about a woman who tried to get people to stop kissing and its agreed article. But I
there's more to this, and I know it in that article reference some of the more to this, but I just was like this- is the weirdest
and it also
There is a lot of discussion of communicable diseases and people being resist him, and that seem to really really interesting to me in
world. We live in sure, but that is also a difficult topic in the world we live in, and this seems like a nice way to kind of mirror what we ve all been living through for awhile re, its timely. We ve been watching arguments about people taking steps to end
sure public health play out in
whether or not they want to do that if it infringes on their desires, etc,
here in the: u s and in other parts of the world that's been going on. But this is an interesting
It's kind of look at a similar model that it had much less
immediate impact, and it did not involve a pandemic gas. So
today. We are going to talk about a woman named imaging wrecked in and her kiss, not campaign
in nineteen ten emma jane reckon with
at a lady's function, and she had this moment of inspiration that was brought
on by revulsion imaging
it was the mother of two teenage signs. Her husband, Louis threaten was a successful business.
man, he ran a company that made woodworking machines. She was actually born salt Hannah imaging
fraser in eighteen, fifty six and she and Louis had met when they were both working for the cords men machine company. She was a stenographer and he was a bookkeeper and they got married and eighteen ninety shoes actually ten years old,
then her husband, which, for some reason I love ass. She was in her mid fiftys when she was attending this ladys function in question their word. Does
of women. At the event, we don't have an exact number, but she mentions at least
thirty are forty, but were in front of her
they were in a receiving line to be greeted by the hostess who graced each attendee with a kiss on the cheek or even on the lips. In some cases,
Emma gene is generally characterized in accounts of,
are in general and this event, as someone who was a bit of a germ of foam and as
in social anxiety. I don't know
much either of those is true, but they could see where people got there.
Pull seem, though, made her livid. She did not want to be kissed and she found herself.
being that there were some way out of such greetings. That would have
appearing rude for wishing to sidestep a social custom, imaging
than herself. In an interview later that year quote, I was taught by my mother that kissing breeds disease. Am I always disliked it? I gotta say I would not really wants
the inner receiving lime wire,
either I was kissing everyone or I was being kissed after from Point- had kissed everyone. I I would not be down with that anyway,
So the idea came to her was that a button could be warned that simply red kiss- not I've had some so
well are buttons on my body in the last few years. Even if such a button existed, though she didn't know if people would understand it, so there needed to be a campaign that would educate the public on what this button meant, so that people could wear it and be understood as wishing to offs,
out of being kissed. We would recognize us today is a pretty normal process of bodily autonomy or consent.
in the early nineties. Hundreds though this concept was met with some resistance.
any of this social stress of it aside reckons deepest motivations came. She would say many many times from the kiss being a disease, vector of as she did not use those words. She saw, though, that direct physical contact like that could easily spread germs and she thought they can
viewing to do things like kisses? A casual social greeting was just incredibly dangerous
she was not wrong, keep in mind that science
This, like lui pasture and robert coke, who identified the bacteria responsible for tuberculosis, had been working on the concept of joy
in theory in the last part of the nineteenth century and into the early twentieth century. So these
there were known about, but they were still kind of in the early years in terms of the public altering any of their behaviors about it. Antis spitting campaigns had been enacted in years before this, and there had been efforts to educate people about the importance of personal hygiene, but still
social gatherings, particularly in the middle and upper class, was really common for people to greet one another with a kiss, limousine wrecked and wanted to help spread the word that it needed to stop. If people really wanted to stop the spread of disease-
is there is a whole secondary element to this, where racism and classes em come into play, where the priority to minimize physical contact was deaf
lastly, a way that people isolated themselves from other people that they saw as other ally
of the movement that already existed regarding home and personal hygiene advice was kind of aimed at key
white, middle class and above household save those anti spitting campaigns that Tracy just mentioned, for example, were intended.
keep working class men from spitting in public, yes, spitting in public
absolutely gross. But there was an undercurrent of singling out poorer classes as being responsible for
and disease, and in separating
cells from minorities, immigrants and people of lower incomes, middle and upper class,
social circles kind of seem to think they were not at risk of disease transmission
a lot of the advice from health officials regarding what people needed to do to be clean and to stop the spread of disease or actions that were just not
saleable to everyone's socio economically, for example, isolating when sake is great advice and good practice, but how was a person living in a tenement or a multi family homes supposed to do that? It just wasn't possible, so the idea of lower classes being diseased persisted because in some ways it was kind of a self fulfilling prophecy. If you were living in really close quarters was really
before diseases to spread yes, so, instead of saying hey, we should figure out a way to improve the quality of life of everyone. The idea was, let just not talk to them.
People are good near them like I
in nineteen. Oh eight, the philadelphia dispatched to the new york herald syndicated column about doctors.
two advocated against kissing titled declares kiss must go
that particular article was inspired by another article that, when, in the monthly cyclopaedia and medical bulletin, which was called kissing its evils and benefits that was written by doktor John v, shoemaker
but are shoemaker had apparently stated in his work? The because kissing involves the mouth
exit an easy path for germs to travel, to the stomach and lungs in the art,
go from the new york herald. Another doktor weight in this was doktor clearest. Scott is described as a homeopathic physician. She states quote the number of diseases which kissing causes is unbelievable to one who has not said
the question I firmly believe the day will come within a generation when a formidable anti kissing movement will be established and when kissing practically will be confined to the lower classes,
the educated people having been brought to see the evils of the habit next to the evil of kissing babies comes the sweethearts kiss. This is one of the most dangerous of all. Husbands. Kiss soon loses its fervency, but the kiss of two sweethearts is the paradise of the tubercle
both this germ and the deep theory, a germ and other germs, too numerous to mention during the long intervals, while the sweethearts kiss
continues. One may imagine the various germs rushing backward and forward with unholy glee
This is the longest way to go. Don't don't how long make out sessions y'all
the washington times ran a much longer version of that article, which included a quote from another woman position this when doktor rachel s fidel ski,
and she took a more moderate approach to this whole issue, stating quote doktor schumann
There is right, but let's be practical, it is me
The opinion that all unnecessary kissing, the kissing without real affection should be abolished. This would reduce
germ evil to a minimum so attack more about this tug of war that played out in the press in november of nineteen o eight as anti kissing advocates and their detractors fought about publicly. First, that we will pause or is
Answer break pays nazi romeo from the rising crime morning, so unfairly, how a ninety nine- and I absolutely love listening to paragraph, but after you plan is listening and are ready to get back to the music. I love for you to check out power. Ninety nine fillies, legendary I'll bring about an hour b. We play the biggest songs from the biggest stars luxury chris brown philly, though judgments element listen alive, I'm fillies power, ninety nine or wherever you are on our eye or radio, don't forget to chechnya on the rise and grandpa gases, he loved me.
In response
To that washington times article we mentioned right before the break. Another brief article type,
An assault on kissing appeared in the washington post that article starts by
quoting doktor clara scott, almost in her entirely from the previous one, but it does not mention her by name. It just calls her a female position and because her
opens. The article, a kind of seems initially like the right up, is going to be in favour of the entire kissing cause, but the rest of it essentially tears down scott statement and says that quote these pets,
different discoveries of modern scientists, male and female become more and more intolerable. It goes
on with the rather cringing proclamation. That quote, kissing is all right in proper circumstances, an enjoyable, even if the circumstances are quite as they might be. I dont know
the intention or meaning of that is, but it just sounded rural economy
the article that includes quotations of poetry by lord byron and tennyson, to show how very culturally important kissing is and then concludes by saying quote. Scientists ray
and spurious have run the germ theory into the ground. They make themselves preposterous and arouse just resentment in the breast of every right minded man and sweet lipped woman
the holiest sweetest memories of mankind cluster about kisses.
The abolition of kissing would mean the blotting out of happiness, and for what too
wade the imaginary onslaught of a puny, imaginary, germ bah, let kissing thrive.
And let the germs look out for themselves. I, like the implication here that everyone wants to kiss people
there are clearly people who feel very much that that is their entire reason for living
for yet another take on. This was written by Ethel, lloyd, patterson. He was an opinion journalist from new york, noting in
article kisses under ban of brains and quicker city. That doctor, clara scott, was from philadelphia, pennsylvania. She claimed quote so now. We know what is the matter with philadelphia for a long while, of course, we,
all been aware that an indefinite gloom hung over the pennsylvania city, but we had scarcely attributed to a rush of brain to the head, but if this is be true and intelligence is really incompatible with oscillation, well, then tis better to have lost your brains than never to have
kissed at all. Yet another physician this one doktor enrico castelli of new york city, was consulted for his opinion on the matter for patterson article. His take was quote. We physicians cannot expect to divert
the course of human nature, are places to fortify it as far as we can against mishap
That is all we can do to say that we
could, even if we wish to stop people who love each other from caressing one another is utterly absurd, but from a purely scientific standpoint, level,
explained to you how little disease would actually be prevented, even if it were possible to place an m.
Ergo upon oscillation. I have made a special study of back,
korea for over five years, and I have found that practically every known germ is present in a dorm.
Condition, as one might say in air.
In human mouse. They are taken into the
lungs, with every breath now
reason they do not develop is because the person is not in the necessarily rundown condition that affords them foothold. Just going doctor Castelli may be needed.
help from bacteria alleges. That is my personal view. Is that what he basically summed up his stance in additional comments as being the
but was covered in germs and your ingesting them all the time so go ahead and kiss, because quote science will
we're advance, can never advanced to the point where contact with bacteria can be avoided in some kind of one of the phases of the germ theory of disease, where there are people who were like yes, germs exist, but they only make you sick s with the lattice
various qualifiers. Well, it's also that thing where there is not really a distinction between leg bacteria and virus, footmen yank
you carry all the stuff all the time? And I, like my dear no way back when so imaging interacted with starting her social reform effort about kissing added
I'm when there was already all this arguing about it and her living
room in Cincinnati. Ohio. Mrs erected launched an umbrella organisation for her efforts, which was called the world health organization. This is not to be confused with the world health organization, which was not bounded until nineteen. Forty eight, the world's health organisations, pledge written by Emma Jane, was quote in order to encourage good health and lessen the spread of consumption. I desire to join the world health organization and here by pledge myself to discourage the custom of kissing on the lips whenever it is in my power at then to say that this is a pledge not to kiss it was certainly implied, but this pledge is a promise to discourage others from kissing once the pledge was,
I'm and sent back to Emma genes organization, along with a nickel person you sent it received their kiss, not button in return. So one of the things that imaging did to spread the word was to write articles up and send them out to newspapers, and she also gave interviews
She got a lot of press. Some of that press was
please straightforward, reporting on what she was doing, but some of it definitely has a mocking tone, but for a brief too,
I am regardless of which flavour you were getting. Her message was being spread widen far in june of nineteen ten. The san Francisco sunday call covered the formation of the organization and a picture heavy article titled shoe kiss or not to kiss that article opens by saying quote after years of sporadic crusading a non kissing organization has been started in Cincinnati, ohio. That is meeting with surprising six
es this article states that, according to the societies president, there are more than a thousand members and that the numbers are steadily growing expecting to have members in every. U S, city, within two years
aside on that number, there were articles circulating at the same time. That said that there were five thousand members already. Some of this might have been due to papers. Picking up the story at different times, but there were paper
running in june and July of nineteen ten with each of these numbers. That makes it all a little bit confusing
the number is also just what imaging provided. It does not seem like it was sourced from anything other than what she said,
We're gonna run into a lot of that as we for that's heads up this right up.
Also described imaging stating quote. Her name is missus John rectum. She is a rather attractive looking dark, haired brown I'd little woman of about thirty five years who law
before marriage was diametrically opposed to promiscuous kissing. She began to preach her doctrine,
you, her husband, won him to her way of thinking and then started on her friends with such success that the world health organization was founded and she was enthusiastically elected its first president. As a note here, if you have been listening and do
math. Her husband's name does not appear to have been john at all. It was louis but
this also in her fifty. So not thirty. Five. This article clearly pretty light on fact, checking so now to address a question you may have at this point. It is not
clear if Emma Jane and her husband kissed. That may sounds unusual, probably because such an intimate thing to ask a married couple, it seems like a ladder. Reporters came to their own conclusions about this and then went to print with them. Some right up stirring emma genes relatively brief
if crusades state that she did not kiss even her husband and others like the one we just read, or more careful to frame her position as being against promiscuous kissing, which makes it sound like she would not have been opposed to a smooth with her husband. Just not maybe a whole lot other people how he never came across the definitive statement from amazon wrecked in herself on this matter, so we don't really know she did state. That quote, it is impossible to get lovers and sweethearts to realise that they must not kiss each other on the lips. Hyena makes it sound like she was against kissing on the lips in all contexts, but I mean those romantic scenarios. She just described there that but should list marriage as one of them. Your guess is really is good as ours on this year. I think that's one of the reasons that her story did get so much coverage is that people like to
speculate on whether or not she had like a marriage with no effects at its old papers is the bottom line. On that same note, we should point out not all of the people in the anti kissing movement were against romantic kissing, even like by
catching at a saying, listen! This is going to happen
presumably they intended to be with consenting parties involved. Some of these people were exclusively focused on the kissing of babies and children. Babies, of course, do not have fully developed em, you
system, so there is legitimate danger and having random people kiss them, particularly on the lips. It was apparently pretty common practice in the early twentieth century. This is
rose to me. For so many reasons like strangers would kiss babies yuck no, but
Oh babies are truly message and I wouldn't want to kiss them anyway notion
into your baby there. All like that, I was like that is a baby. Just the whole thinks he's very grows to me.
Kissing of young children, of course, was also problematic, both because it spread disease and
also because a child simply may not want it. So there were people.
both within and without image genes, world health organisation who really
for only advocating for refraining from kissing kids. Next, we will discuss imaging reckons month by month, plan to eradicate kissing, and thus she thought disease first, that we will pause for a mother
sponsor break, hey, it's roxy, romeo from the rising of the morning, show on philly's tower ninety nine and I absolutely love listening to podcasts. But after you finish listening and are ready to get back to the music I'd love for you to check out our ninety nine philly's, legendary home for hip. Hop and rb we play the biggest songs from the biggest stars like drake chris brown and phillies on jazmine Sullivan. Listen, live on, phillies, our ninety nine or wherever you are on our iheart radio. App, don't forget to check me out on the rise abroad, podcast as well
and that's it.
Is or not kiss article that we were talking about reckon,
air her month by month, plan for the organization to try to expand the group's numbers and reduce
is the spread of germs through kissing, because this went to
as in june, her first targeted group was young bride.
It's who were having summer weddings reckon stated quote the custom,
of kissing a bride on her wedding day is a most dangerous one to stamp out this evil at once,
to accomplish the impossible, but we have made the start and are much encouraged. She reported that seventy five brides had joined her group and
read to wear their kiss, not buttons on their wedding days
imogene was pressed about whether she was suggesting that the newlyweds not kiss she specified quote I mean
the relatives and wedding guests should not kiss the bride and subject her to risk of getting consumption following,
summer. Brides redskins august goal was to get parents on board.
Including not kissing their own babies, we're not parents, we can imagine. This would have been a hard
Well for a lot of people, I will say in more recent era:
there is like a whole conversation
about, like parents, kissing their babies being a part of their babies, developing their immune system, etc. Just as the note, the September target shifted, unsurprisingly, two teachers with the hope that they would not only pledge
not against the children in their care, but they would also explain the need to abstain from kissing and their classes as well. In october,
the organization plan to reach out to ST cleaners and laundresses the
object. There was that these were occupations that often came in contact with the law
out of people's potential germ, so they would be.
apparently invested in spreading this anti kissing message november.
Would be all about women's groups, including church clubs, literary clubs and gain groups and the hope there
that they would all start to wear their buttons to gatherings as a way to normalize social events with
kiss it gives a greeting.
Four december you might be thinking
that family gatherings might have been imaging game plan, but nope weddings again.
Winter weddings meant big gatherings. It was essentially a repeat of her July plan erect and has also quoted in this. Article is saying quote my life for just one kiss sounds thrilling and romance and poetry, but disillusion is found in the hospitals whence lovers follow. Each
there too? The grave and a few short months they are quite some other women on the matter, which shows that most of them are really only concerned about children and babies. Mrs philip bomb balkan burg said that quote: I dont think life would be worth living without kisses. Of course, I don't believe in promiscuous kissing which cheapens the value of the kiss, but it is silly to talk about
urging all kissing. Miss Albert hill, quoted in the article made the case that telling people not to do something just made it more alluring, but she
also mentions that she was raised in Japan, where people simply quote don't do such things
mrs bell de rivera of new york thought, organizing anti kissing drives was simply silly missus, william
Coming story admitted generally thought about it. Much and mrs Harriet J would thought quote. The practice of kissing is altogether too extensive
she qualified that by adding that parents should absolutely be able to keep their children.
Young men and young women quote, are old enough to look after themselves, although my favorite response,
This gathering of quotes from women was from MRS ida, huston harper, who told the inquiring reporter quote if women,
vote. They wouldn't be worrying their heads about being kissed like that, get off the internet.
we have bigger vision where I get out of my brothers Bob,
Its article also includes images of couples kissing with captions. That definitely seem intended to mark the answer kissing cause to things like this may mean tuberculosis and my
I want a chance for those awful germs. These are editorial choices that are worth examining because, though, just about all of these women that were quoted were not really worried about romantic kissing
That was what the paper chose to focus on four all the visuals there's, not a single image of a baby or a child, other kind of a menacing looking cupid that cupid scarce
cute. Sorry you throw that illustrator into the bus that cupid is frightening the same month that here
spread was published. The Washington post consult
but a physician named doktor harvey w wily chief of the bureau of chemistry at the department of agriculture to get his thoughts on kissing and germ spread
those answers recurring salty and their dismissive of wrecked intergroup. In its efforts he told the post
they had never seen a single instance of kissing being the cause of transmission of a deadly disease. He stated quote a society for the prevention of kissing is nothing less than a society for the poor,
of pleasure. Just imagine yourself in a kiss, less courtship can you contemplate
a more uninteresting predicament. I have feeling,
so that doctor widely and they're not kind new media. I want to introduce him to you, like the married, a sexual
Oh I know I'm not saying no a sexual people ever kiss, but you know
I thoroughly. I've prerequisite in every relationship
It's also, if you read more of that, it sounds almost a little predatory and yucky of like men should just be able to kiss women, and it's like ugh, dr wily, yuk yeah. I don't. I don't stick to the department of agriculture, please you yeah yeah anyway,
During the summer of nineteen eleven emma jean pushed hard for teachers to pledge that they would not kiss their students when school returned in the fall. This is not fallacious. He was talking specifically about teachers, have really young
children like kindergartners and when she spoke to the press on this matter, MRS reckon was quoted as saying quote: teachers and pupils will both benefit by it. Sweet based kindergarten, teacher kissed, her pupils good by saying I'll, take a good rest this summer in the fall.
if you more games they tire me now, she died of consumption.
In the middle of August were the children exposed to consumption. Had the disease been diphtheria or smallpox, would they have been exposed to it? Since you cannot quarantine against consumption nor vaccinate against consumption? How will we control it? It takes whole families to the grave
teach, the little ones to quarantine their mouths. Okay, so imaging, as we ve been saying, was not wrong that a teacher kissing children could be a disease vector by
She also seem to really like to tell the story said: no verifiable sources which could not have helped her campaign
in the case of that example of the teacher who died of consumption, Josie would give a vague location and one would think if there were unknown potential outbreak
she might want to use her platform as an advocate being interviewed by newspaper to alert the community involved.
Also in that same article quotes a prominent position, but she gives no name, and according to this.
anonymous physician quote if one of these buttons could be put upon the bib
every new born baby and worn till the child is eighty years old
it would be more old people than there are today. Member particular right up also includes a favorite quote of emma dream. He was quoting someone else. She says the group's health officers motto is quote kiss only your
ami's. I want that, I'm a shirt, kiss your enemies sense. Wonderfully evil
image. Dream always had this steady stream of information to share that have legitimate scientific merit. But again she also always went to extremes to make her point. Take this story.
she told him. Nineteen ten,
but I know of one instance in a suburb of this city, where a young woman was a sufferer from tuberculosis,
the young man who called on her was well and strong. He became infected during the courtship
and our investigation shows that the infection was caused by kissing. They both died before the date set for the wedding
Again, no specifics!
no other record seems to appear of these people and as a cost.
As the press really started to secure imaging with these out
this cartoons that somehow
Went along with these stories live feature.
Things like all manner of contracts.
to cover young women's faces and make sure that they could not be kissed.
In nineteen eleven. She gave this statement quote in the case of smallpox. The disease shows quickly after infection has taken place, but in consumption it does not, therefore, do not kiss any one. You are not sure by looking at a person whether he has consumption or not, he may not know it himself. Sometimes he is able to attend to his regular duties till the last
if with the expenditure of thirty million dollars, as was spent last year to conquer consumption, to say nothing of the heart ached for the left once gone for
We can say we are now rid of the disease, then the crusade against it would die a natural death, but with all this expense,
sure we are still in the midst of it.
about thirty million dollar number,
I don't know where she got it. I could not find a single source for it. One outlet actually seem
doubt her in printed. It is thirty thousand dollars
all of the others that I saw there were quite a few, had the thirty million dollar number. But again, I don't know where she pulled out from
and if you look at national mortality statistics for the? U s. For the years from nineteen o six to nineteen ten guess, the number of tuberculosis deaths went up from seventy.
Five thousand six hundred forty eight reported in nineteen o six to eighty six thousand three hundred nine reported in nineteen ten and none
This like bad may have certainly helped reckons case, butts
that rises, actually reflective of a much larger reporting pool rather than a tree rising cases. So if you look at the death rate from tuberculosis per one hundred thousand people, there is actually
A pretty significant drop in that period in nice,
you know six. One thousand five hundred sixty seven point: five people per one hundred thousand died of tuberculosis in nineteen ten. That number had
rob till one thousand. Four hundred. Ninety five point, eight. Obviously there are not point five in point eight of people, but it's the numbers game, so that
rate was actually dropping already, presumably from greater efforts than had been made through public health initiatives. What
The thing that merits considering is the ways in which Emma Jane reckons efforts were treated by the public and the press and even medical professionals, she's kind of relegated to the role of the kind of a nervous kook historian peter, see, Baldwin wrote a paper that was published earlier this year in the journal of social history, and he makes the case that wrecked and was also advocating for women to be able to deny unwanted romantic attention from men by wearing the kiss, not button. So the served this kind of a safeguard couldn't stop a man from overpowering, a woman, of course not, but it also sent a clear
signal at a time when women didn't really have a lot of options to do so that we're socially acceptable. The other thing about all of this is that, at least when it came to romantic couples
Emma Jane was probably not really just talking about kissing them,
so is the time when talking openly about sexually transmitted infections, was a hundred percent, not a thing so
then some of her writing she seems like she is actually talking around kind.
the bigger issue, but she will never actually reference like. Oh I'm actually rating an article, that's about syphilis, with,
talking only about kissing, but that definitely does seem to be the case. A bummer of imaging story is that kind of sputters out at this point without any resolution.
And after the autumn of nineteen eleven, there were no more articles about her answer. Kissing efforts. There were some people who carried on the cause, but they weren't mrs wrecked in she worked with their local suffrage groups and other women's groups than sense, and
are but nothing that ever games her. The kind of attention are scorned, the kiss, not message had we,
they know what she thought of the nineteen eighteen influenza pandemic. Although surely she had said
feelings on the matter when she died and nineteen twenty nine an interesting. When I have much more look,
I got through that whole episode and didn't go back once I'm. I can say kissing only one
shut up
I have a listener mail. It does not involve smashing of any kind.
Okay, we got so many wonderful emails about our monarch, episodes that I actually have two to read. So the first one is from our listeners
Alex who writes holly and tracy. I love the monarch episode. I love science history in your science. History episodes are among my favorite
especially since they shine light on people's overlooked contributions, especially catalina us, and thank you for mentioning that people should
the native milkweed if they want to support monarch butterflies in north amerika, since research does suggest that it is indeed better for them. There are now.
migratory populations of monarchs in the? U s that have been linked to the planting of tropical milk weeds that grow year round compared to native milkweed species that are seasonal or dormant in the winter. We mention as briefly in our episode, but this is a kind of a deeper explain. Her on it
the non migratory populations have been associated with a deadly monarch parasite called o ye. This is ovary cistus electoral sera. I may have pronounced that wrong. So planting tropical milk weeds, maybe facilitating the spread of the parasite within the non migratory monarchs
which can then spread to migratory ones. While I am not a monarch expert, I ended up reading several monarch papers when I was a grad student at Alex went to the university of georgia because they knew the wonderful people in DR sonia Altis.
lab who were studying this very issue. A talk about milk, weeds and monarch disease from the outer lab can be found at the monarch joint venture website that was mentioned on the pod cast that was again monarch joint that you're, not
work in this one. If you probably do a search, therefore, assessment of exotic milkweed, you will come up with that. At that lecture, the episode in the house
The scenes discussion has reminded me how I've wanted to plant milkweed for a long time, and so I plan to get some native milkweed seeds and have them planted by spring. Thank you
do you alex? I hope other people may be room over that they meant to plant milkweed because it did for the monarchs ermine and, as we said, plant your local varieties,
but you don't mess up with any any of their migratory instincts. I saw a monarch yesterday
when I was on my walk knows today
eliza. My wife and I
also walked past. What a stand at what I realized was milkweed, because I had never seen it
as a full grown plant before I had just seemed kind of like illustrations of what the leaves look like with a little caterpillar on their limit limit
here. I am my other listener mail, but is also about monarchs, is former listener caitlin, and I wanted to include this. We did, as I had put out a call to ask people like our kids still getting in person visits.
Got a lot of you will say. Yes, absolutely the lahti highly males yeah this one is the cutest of them all in my opinion, so caitlin. Thank you up front because they might start giggling
to say that I only enter easy. I was already planning to share acute story about butterflies in the classroom and then you asked about it in the friday behind the scenes I teach pre school and I'm pleased her
but we are still raising butterflies in the classroom careers that Tracy described for reasons
unknown to me are caterpillars. This year were painted ladys. Instead of monarchs, we practically kids had lots of books and videos about the caterpillar to butterfly process,
and when our caterpillars, cocoon we announced to the kids, will check every day to see if the cocoons or hatching
one of my kiddos added check the tourism to his morning routine after his beloved
things were stood in his cubby. He would march over and inspect literary him from every angle. After if
It is. I notice him getting more and more dejected when nothing had changed, which led to this conversation me
hey buddy, you seem sad waiting can be hard home kid yeah
lemme. See them me well, the butter.
wise will hatch soon kid visibly distressed. But when will the raccoons come
the entire
two weeks that we have been discussing, caterpillars, cocoons and butterflies
He had been hearing raccoons instead
not sure exactly how he expected them to fit into the process, but boy was disappointed to learn their records are
barely involved in butterfly transformations as always. Thank you so much for all the work you put into the pot
cast its one of my favorite parts of the weak caitlin that its awareness yeah.
Read that and I had a good chuckle women record's gotta. Listen, I understand wanting to see
Kids are real cute. I also just gonna give thanks to Chad for sending us not really an email of information, but just pictures of the
herbal haiti and max brother and sister kiddies, who looked like trouble and apparently
tension as well as the kitty siren who just this lake at no magic to me siren looks like a dilute toward each mostly gray, but I see some little pale, buff color patches
which means and chad mentions she has grown up to be absolutely unstoppable. She goes where she wants when she wants. She was a tiny kitten that they rescued, and that sounds right for a dilute tortie. So thank you for taking care of beautiful kitties and giving them attention and rescuing them and for sharing them with us. Thanks
If you are listers that have written in about monarchs. As I said during that that's a subject that is near and dear to my heart, so it makes me happy that one kids are still getting that
the commission about them, even if sometimes raccoons get involved accident and to that other people respond. So much too that important cause and I hope everybody is investigating their local milkweed. If you'd like to write to us, you can do so
history podcast at her radio dot com. You can also find
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Hey it's roxy romeo from the rise dry morning show on philly's tower ninety nine and I absolutely love listening to podcasts. But after you finish listening and are ready to get back to the music I'd love for you to check out our ninety nine philly's, legendary home for hip, hop and rb. We play the biggest songs from the biggest stars like drake chris brown and phillies on Jazmine sullivan, listen live, I believe, our ninety nine or wherever you are on our iheart radio app and don't forget to check me out on the rise abroad podcast as
Transcript generated on 2022-09-22.