[Sca-cooks] water and plums

[Stefan li Rous]

Suey replied to me with:
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Stefan makes me laugh. He wrote:

 > I do have this Florilegium file on medieval water quality.
 > bev-water-msg     (30K)  6/11/06    Water as a beverage in period.

As St. James is the patron of Spain all Spaniards really feel they
should walk this route some time during their lives from any point be it
Paris, Leon, Burgos etc. I did it once from Astoria and would repeat it
any time. I met people from all over the world walking. It was a
wonderful experience. One can do it any time of the year or any year.
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Ah, I wasn't aware of this connection between St. James and Spain.  
This does sound like it could be a wonderful trip for those that are  
physically fit enough for it.

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Stefan's msg does not deal the dangers of polluted rivers as does the
10th Century text I read, which we can also translate as danger of
changing the in take of different minerals. Today I do not drink tap
water in Chicago, the Pocono mountains in PA, Barcelona etc. not because
the water is not safe but different minerals affect my stomach.
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Is the book really talking about the effects of different mineral  
concentrations or about disease caused by pollution from human  
habitation?

No, as I think about it, my file probably doesn't deal with the  
dangers of polluted rivers in the Middle Ages.  What I was hearing  
back  then was that "No one drank water in the Middle Ages because if  
was so polluted", so I was trying to save references showing that  
that wasn't always true.

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 > If you come across the details of this 10th century book on water
 > quality, I'd love to add that information to this file.

You don't want it. It's in old Spanish and very hard reading for me and
I can't find it so forget it..
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Yes, I do. At least the bibliographic information on this book if you  
run across it. Not for me though. I have enough trouble reading  
modern Spanish or Shakespeare, much less things like this book or  
Beowulf.

However, this is the first I've heard of such a book and I'd like to  
add the information to the Florilegium if you come across it again.  
Perhaps it would be of use to someone researching the water quality  
in the Middle Ages sometime in the future.

Sometimes the unusual/odd/stupid questions I ask here are being asked  
with something like this in mind, and not just for my own edification.

Stefan
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THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****