A really interesting example of cannibalism in pop-culture media, Gormogon from Bones. Season 3 is super interesting because it looks into secret societies and their counterparts. Also forensic anthropology is really cool. Just is, can't change that. The following season addresses an interesting question when contemplating murder, can someone actually kill another individual. It's something that may be applied to cannibalism also, can you actually eat an individual? Is it something that you are willing to go through? Just food for thought. Bad pun.

TV is amazing. Medical tv shows are the pinnacle of the film because they are SO COOL!! There's a new show on NBC called Heartbeat, and there are a lot of super interesting procedures on it. Including the separation of identical twins, fancy surgery robots and a heart transplant for a situs inversus totalis (complete reversal of organs)!

I love medicine. It's super cool. The advancements are truly amazing, and even cooler when the directors add squirting blood. Gotta love the gross special effects. They make you squirm but totally squirm worthy.

Another show on NBC is Grimm. There's a really interesting episode in the first season, where this wesen species butchers humans for their organs. Not something you would think about, but something that we used to do, to our own species. Bit of a mind twister. It's cool when you realize how history affects us without our even knowing it.

Let's go back in time, back to the dinosaurs. Because they were awesome, like chimpanzees

Chimps are actually really cool. They are the species closest to humans in both development and actual practice. But more than that, they are cannibals. Sometimes.

There was a documented period where these two chimps, mother and daughter, were killing baby chimps and eating them. Really weird and kind of sad, but true. No one was entirely certain why that happened, but as soon as one of the chimps had her own child, they stopped.

Dolphins are weird like that also. Male dolphins will kill a mother's young in order to breed her themselves. Don't think they eat the young though.

But infanticide is definitely a thing in the animal kingdom. Not legal in the human subsection of that kingdom though.

'Confession time here's what I got'.

I've been listening to Hamilton, the play that should win all the Tony's. Here's to hoping that Leslie Odom Jr. wins Best Actor. But anyways, I digress.

Medicine is weird. Not a life changing statement, but it's true-ish. There are a lot of conflicting opinions in the world about medicine right now. Some people swear by medical professionals (e.g. physicians, surgeons). Others only utilize naturopathic remedies. Personally I'm all for surgery, but that's because I've needed it. Naturopaths just scare me. It's an irrational fear that's not really a fear. I can't explain it.

In the 17th century, there wasn't such a huge issue over who was providing your medical care. The only thing patients' cared about was whether or not they were being fixed. Medical professionals had issues, but mostly over who got to be the healer.

I think I prefer the controversy filled world of today. Not sure I trust the barber surgeons of the 17th century. They might pull a Sweeney Todd.

Something that I forgot to mention is that Eastern medicine is super cool. Literally. Weird factoid, China has the oldest documented practice of medicinal cannibalism ever. It's totally true. It continued into the 20th century even. You see it in literature, particularly Amy Tan's books. Recommendation, read The Bonesetter's Daughter and The Joy Luck Club. Both are great books. Both mention medicinal cannibalism.

What's great about both books, is that the reference isn't super obvious. Well, it's not shouting at you. I hope someone enjoys these books. They are fantastic.

I really like hospital tv shows. Grey's Anatomy, The Knick, Scrubs. Not because of the drama, but because of the medical procedures. Well actually because the characters are funny in Scrubs. It's really interesting to watch the procedures, particularly for The Knick since the setting is the 20th century in New York City. Surgery back then was pretty gory. Lots of blood, not as much hygiene, or really an understanding for the human anatomy. When you watch some of the newer tv shows it demonstrates the progress made within medicine over the past century.

One of the biggest advances made since 1900 is organ transplant, a form of medicinal cannibalism. Super interesting to consider because you wouldn't consider it to be medicinal cannibalism. Just thought that I'd throw it out there. You are physically incorporating someone else's organs and genetic material into your own body. Pretty life changing isn't it?

The more I read, the less I know. I'm nearly positive that this is something demonstrated in life as well. It's frustrating, but reassuring. Backwards logic there, but I honestly like not knowing everything. Much more relaxing that way, less pressure. Still frustrating though.

A lot of the things that I thought would be super useful to my research ended up being dead ends. Burgundy pitch, sap from a Norwegian spruce tree. It does have some interesting connotations however, so I'm including the link to a brief article below in case anyone is interested.

Burgundy Pitch

Since burgundy pitch was a resin based material, the same conclusion had to been drawn about stone pitch. Oh well, I will get over this loss. Eventually. (Tears are running down my face. Metaphorically.)

Another dead end, dragon blood. One would think that this is actually some form of human material. They would be wrong. It is also a plant resin. This project has really started turning me off from plants. They are truly disgusting creatures. Ruining all my efforts in seeking out cannibalism.

Manna, that food in the bible, is also a plant. I feel justified in my hatred for them. I though it might have been Arabian mummy (created from drying out under the desert sands). It wasn't.

My disappointment is overwhelming. But I will persevere. I must.

Working and working and working. My progress has been slow and steady up to this point, and will undoubtedly continue to be so for a while more. I'm finishing up my primary sources now, focusing on the 18th century documents at this point. But I'm also searching for references to modern day cannibalism. The most obvious case that I've found in consumption of the placenta (aka the afterbirth).

It's supposed to be very nutritious for mom after baby has been born, since the placenta is filled with nutrients used to feed the fetus since conception. And since the primary DNA component of this organ belongs to the fetus, mom (or any other person) eating it is CANNIBALISM!! There are actually instances of people eating the placenta in the 21st century. Below is a link to video documenting four different pregnancies. One of the mothers saved the placenta and consumed it via smoothie for the potential nutrients. Additionally, there is a BuzzFeed video where a person tries eating the placental via pills.

Childbirth: All or Nothing
BuzzFeed

About half-way through the project timeline at this point, but the sources are still piling up. At this point, I have to start cutting documents out. Something that I'm doing based off of their dates (when they were created). I have limited time, but the most important part is that I cover as much time as possible. So if I have too many sources with similar dates, I'm going to have to cut some unfortunately.

Getting through these documents has become both easier and harder. I know what I'm looking for now, but getting through these documents is just taking way more time. I'd say that it's super stressful, though honestly I'm getting kind of excited. Since I'm about half-way through the documents, I can now start analyzing the data. Looking at what I've found and seeing what I can do with it. These past few months are starting to pay off!

I also got a new book, An Intellectual History of Cannibalism. I think that it's going to provide a great basis for general information about cannibalism in different areas, particularly the areas colonized by Europe. Here's to hoping!

I have found a reference to actual cannibalism!!! Weird thing to be excited about, but still! This is incredibly useful as it means that my research may actually have some sort of purpose (or direction, validity, etc.).

Additionally, if I really wanted to, I could probably make a lot of preserves, it seems to be the thing one did in the 17th century. Housewives would make preserves or pies. Very odd, though there weren't any grocery stores. I'm glad there are grocery stores. They make my life worthwhile. Not really, but still. It's nice to have a place to buy junk food and healthy food simultaneously. Makes life exciting.

I tried including an image of one of the primary sources I've been working with as requested. There are difficulties however in loading the image directly onto the post. Instead, if you want to see one of the primary sources, click on the link below. If you go to image 94, you can see the recipe that utilizes mummy. What's really cool is that the death of the mummy is even specified!! For reference, the recipe in question is on the bottom of the right page.

Bridget Hyde

I have officially begun my research now. As with any project, it hasn't really started until you hit the roadblock labelled "This is incredibly difficult. You will not enjoy most of what is ahead of you. Good luck!" Yeah, that's happened. It started with actually reading every single poorly written word in the first primary source. Hand writing on an unlined page from a time period where literacy was not a standard, it's terrible.

Additionally, finding all the proper primary sources is difficult, since the majority of them stretch across two centuries. That's actually great, or at least it would be if the dates were the ones I wanted. I'm pretty sure that this is what is referred to as reality/life. I don't like it.

But the upside is that this entire process means that I'm finally getting somewhere. Something that I'm happy about, so if I need to go through a whole lot of mental agony for a little good, I'll do it. I think this is what is referred to as facing the real world. It's either this or rent. I'm not looking forward to the second one.

I've been working my way through the primary sources slowly but surely. At this point, I've simply been looking for references to medical receipts, a method some people disagree with. However, I believe that finding references to the use/consumption of mummy will be incredibly time consuming. Therefor, I want to eliminate as much irrelevant text as soon as possible. As such, quick comb throughs. Which aren't quite so quick because handwriting, abysmal in the 16th and 17th centuries. Swoops and flourishes might look pretty at first glance, but by the second or third time they suck hard.

On a different topic, I'm currently in New York City. Undoubtedly one of the most congested and disgusting cities in the country. Pretty sure not all the rain puddles are just water. But five hundred years prior, this city would have been like the promise land to physicians. Dead (or in the process of dying) bodies everywhere. Perfect for mummy or anatomy. I've been watching this show The Knick and what's fascinating is the competition over dead bodies in the early 1900s. In one of the earlier episodes, it depicts the literal bidding wars over these bodies. Hospitals and universities were desperate for these bodies. Earlier though, think five hundred years and go to the 1400s, that competition wouldn't have existed. Instead, people practicing anatomy would have been more likely to simply go grave robbing. It's a little strange to think about the differences within our society, but they definitely existed.

So the other night I was working on my reading. I wanted to see if I could find anymore works that specifically reference medicinal cannibalism. In an effort to find specific works, I looked at one of my all-time favorite books, Dinner With A Cannibal. Or I tried to at least. Word of advice, Organizing your books is totally worth the time. It took me around a half-hour to find the book. And this morning I was on my kindle and saw that I have a digital copy there as well. Yep, I'm not super organized at all.

The book really is great. It gives a fairly comprehensive look at cannibalism and culture throughout the world. And when searching Amazon for a replacement copy, I found a few more books on the top that I'm really looking forward to reading. You know a book's going to be good when the title is Mummies, Cannibals and Vampires and it has a picture of a skull on the cover.

This week, I started looking through the primary source documents I've pulled together. It seems as though people really liked preserving food and making cake and water. Can't say that I blame them on the cake part. I may try a few of those recipes at a later time. Can't say that I'm a fan of flavored water, so I'll probably skip that. I have found some medical receipts though, and I'm hoping that they prove worthwhile when I go through them in more depth later.