SC - Gemstones
Jenne Heise
jenne at mail.browser.net
Tue Oct 10 16:00:46 PDT 2000
At 3:45 PM -0400 10/10/00, Jenne Heise wrote:
(I had written)
> > Why do you assume my persona is easily defrauded? Fake (and improved)
>> gemstones existed in period, and people knew it.
>
>My understanding is that for a recipe such as this, you would go to your
>apothecary and order the stones required. Trust in apothecaries was
>apparently high, as many doctors complained that people were taken in by
>substitutions.
Many twentieth century people are taken in by a variety of scams, but
hopefully my twentieth century persona is not one of them. Similarly,
my period persona doesn't know a lot of things my twentieth century
persona does, but he isn't particularly credulous.
For a nice period incident of scepticism vs credulity, I recommend
Ibn Battuta's account of the trembling minaret in a mosque dedicated
to Ali, I think in Basra. It's in the Miscellany, which I have just
webbed.
- --
David Friedman
Professor of Law
Santa Clara University
ddfr at best.com
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list