Karamzin's Letters of a Russian Traveler

[Alina Israeli]

Желудок was understood as the whole digestive tract. For ex.

Если кто, имея больной желудок, не может принять горького лекарства,  
которое, бы его очистило, и погибает, то мы обвиняем не лекарство, а  
слабость органа; так и здесь причина — в слабости души. (Иоанн  
Златоуст. http://www.orthlib.ru/John_Chrysostom/riml09.html)

Желчный even though related to a physical function was and still is  
associated with human character.

AI

Nov 14, 2010, в 9:42 PM, Alexei Kutuzov написал(а):

> There's a passage in Karamzin's Letters of a Russian
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> There's a passage in Karamzin's Letters of a Russian Traveler that  
> has been
> giving me some problems.  The passage takes place shortly after the  
> traveler has
> received news of the French Revolution (under the entry for July 29)  
> and is
> speaking to a "young doctor."  The passage reads as follows:   
> "Испорченный
> желудок," сказал он, бывает источником не только всех болезней, но и  
> всех
> пороков, всех дурных навыков, всех злых дел."  Can anyone on the  
> list confirm
> the medical accuracy of this assertion?  That is to say, does an  
> upset stomach
> really have substantial influence on one's moral qualities?  I'm not  
> clear if
> the history of medicine bears this out, but I'd like to have  
> confirmation before
> proceeding with an interpretation of the work.  Many thanks in  
> advance for any
> leads.
>
> With best wishes to the list,
>
> Alexei Kutuzov
> Independent Scholar
>
>

Alina Israeli
Associate Professor of Russian
LFS, American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave.
Washington DC 20016
(202) 885-2387 	fax (202) 885-1076
aisrael at american.edu

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