Heritage et AL

While checking some of our earlier magazines in our basement I came across a London magazine called 'The Builder; an illustrated weekly magazine for the architect, engineer, archaeologist, constructor & artist '.  Ref: The builder, Title page, 1856, Central Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, 690.5 B93. Ref: The builder, page 515, 1856, Central Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries, 690.5 B93.

Constipation was an obsession in the early 20th century. It was thought to pollute the blood and in turn cause everything from bad breath to liver failure, madness or syphilis. In books such as “The Conquest of Constipation” doctors warned that the contents of the colon created “sewer-like blood” leading to 90 percent of disease. Ref: AWNS-19220615-35-5, Sir George Grey Special Collections “How can I emphasise enough the importance of bowels in those days?” wrote New Zealand author Ruth Park. As a child in Te Kuiti she was forced to drink castor oil every day. “It was given to me in orange juice on the top of which it floated in a viscid greenish layer. I wanted to throw up before I drank it.”