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I Smell a Rat Trivia Quiz

A brief history of Britain's great unwashed and the accompanying scourges.

A multiple-choice quiz by Englizzie. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
Englizzie

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
317,304

Updated
Jul 23 22

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
757

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. The Romans quit the shores of Britain in an attempt to save the empire from the hordes of Hun and other barbarian marauders. They did, however, leave behind a wonderful system of baths. Why were these not used by the Britons? Hint

The Anglo-Saxons felt they would be attacked by pagan gods if they undressed

The early Christian missionaries associated Roman with with debauchery. They believed that uncleanliness was closest to godliness

Washing seemed unimportant when you were fighting off hairy Vikings at every turn

There was a universal distrust of anything Roman

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Question 2 of 10

2. Life expectancy in Anglo-Saxon times was no more than 35. Despite the growth of monasteries to treat the sick, most people relied on magic for cures. Plague was prevalent, and many of those injured in battle died of gangrene.
What was the major spreader of germs? Hint

Foreign ships carried many diseases.

Human waste flowed freely in the streets.

Rancid food, dirty pots and unwashed hands.

All of these

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Question 3 of 10

3. During the Middle ages, personal hygiene among the castle-dwellers inproved somewhat with greater frequency of washing and rudimentary cleaning of teeth. However, one area remained a deadly threat to human life, what was that? Hint

Uncleaned privy chambers.

Winter dampness and drafts.

Dung in the water supply.

Rushes on the floors.

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Question 4 of 10

4. The Black Death hit England around 1348, although the exact port of entry is unknown. The spread of the disease was assisted greatly by unhygienic living conditions, particularly in large towns. There was an unforseen social result of the enormous loss of life. What was that? Hint

Trade diminished and many ships were burned.

40% of the Catholic clergy perished, hastily replaced by badly trained priests. The Church's power diminished and hastened the Reformation

Peasants were afraid to venture from their own areas.

People started to improve their hygiene.

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Question 5 of 10

5. Yet another virulent disease was the "Sweating Sickness". It had an unknown etiology, but appeared at the beginning of the Tudor period in 1485. It may have been some sort of hanta virus. What was strange about its course? Hint

Only the nobles contracted it.

It appeared almost exclusively in England at first and was never seen again after 1578

Only the peasants were affected from eating toads.

It was spread by French merchants through the port of London.

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Question 6 of 10

6. The discovery of the New World may have given Europe a little something they didn't expect. Columbus and his sailors are traditionally said to have returned with what disease? Hint

Syphilis

Yellow Fever

Malaria

Influenza

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Question 7 of 10

7. By the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, London had reached a population of nearly 500,000. Conditions for the poor were abysmal. They were crammed into rat and parasite infested hovels, with the uninterrupted spread of venereal diseases, plague, typhus, etc. What was the unexpected remedy for London's filthy over-population? Hint

Many able-bodied men were press-ganged into the army or navy.

The sick were sent out of London to remote islands of Scotland.

Large groups of people were sent to work in the colonies.

The Great Fire of London in 1666

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Question 8 of 10

8. In the 18th century, London and all large towns had the poor living at very close quarters with filthy conditions. This left themselves susceptible to epidemic disease. How did the treatment of patients with infectious disease change at this time in London? Hint

Sanatoria were set up outside major towns to keep infections away.

Medical philantrophy provided five new general hospitals in London for the study and treatment of infectious diseases.

All ships were forced to dock further down the Thames, away from the general population.

Rat catchers were employed to diminish the spread of disease.

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Question 9 of 10

9. As result of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, and the tremendous expansion of the British Empire, London's population grew well beyond the available housing. The Thames was an open sewer, drinking water was polluted, and cholera prevalent and deadly. By the very hot summer of 1858 the sewage problem worsened and Parliament stepped in. What was the situation known as? Hint

Death on the Thames.

The Great Stink!

The Great Escape from London.

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.

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Question 10 of 10

10. After all those bad odors, we should look at the production of perfume. It may not kill disease, but it makes body odor bearable, which was it's original purpose. Although first produced in Mesopotamia and Cyprus, where has the perfume industry been based since the 18th century? Hint

Millefiori, Italy

Grasse, France

Vienna, Austria

Fez, Morocco

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

Answer: The early Christian missionaries associated Roman with with debauchery. They believed that uncleanliness was closest to godliness

The departure of the Romans left Britain open to attack from everybody. The Vikings just really enjoyed a good 'Rape an' Pillage' for the sake of it. Pagan habits began to take hold, but the early Christian missionaries found acceptance as they brought medicaments with them that appeared stronger than the Anglo-Saxon herbal remedies, and supposedly fought off disease.

Answer: Rancid food, dirty pots and unwashed hands.

Despite all this filth and disease, there is some evidence that the Viking communities had rude bath houses with hot stones and oakwood buckets that acted as an early sauna. Unfotunately, the Anglo-Saxons were afraid that there naked bodies left them open to evil spirits, and prefered to stay as rank as their pigs.

Answer: Rushes on the floors.

It was the rushes, spread on the floors, that contained a myriad of health threats. Erasmus, the great scholar and reformer descibes the rushes in detail. The rushes "ocasionally renewed, but so imperfectly, that the bottom layer is left undisturbed, sometimes for twenty years, harboring expectoration, vomiting, the leakage of dogs and men, ale droppings, scraps of fish and other abominations not fit to mention".

Not quite your mother's shag pile carpet!

Answer: 40% of the Catholic clergy perished, hastily replaced by badly trained priests. The Church's power diminished and hastened the Reformation

The Black Death is a bacteria-born disease, carried in the blood of wild black rats. The fleas that lived on these rats would not normally have human contact, until the rats started to die by the thousands and the fleas sought alternative accommodation.

Not only did so many priests die at this time, but there was a tremendous angry backlash against the established church, which in time called for change and a break with the Church of Rome.

Answer: It appeared almost exclusively in England at first and was never seen again after 1578

This was an odd disease, to be sure. Initially appearing only in England in 1489, then again in 1507 and 1517, wiping out whole populations of towns. In 1528 it appeared for the fourth time with terrible force. This time it spread rapidly throughout Europe.

The disease was linked to the heat, dirt and germs of summer, because it subsided with the onset of winter. It never recurred in England after 1578.

6. The discovery of the New World may have given Europe a little something they didn't expect. Columbus and his sailors are traditionally said to have returned with what disease?

Answer: Syphilis

Syphilis may have been carried back to Genoa by Columbus and his sailors. Until the discovery of penicillin, there was no cure and the disease proved to be a terrible scourge from the High Renaissance onwards.

However, in recent decades the traditional view that the disease was brought to Europe from the New World by Columbus and his men has been challenged. Some researchers claim to have found remains of medieval monks in Hull riddled with carbon-dated syphilis.

Answer: The Great Fire of London in 1666

First came the the Great Plague of London in 1665, during its peak 7,000 were dying each week. It started in the poorer districts of London in 1663, and was largely ignored by the authorities. By the summer of 1665 it had reached epidemic proportions. The Royal Court and nobles fled. The gates of the City of London were barred shut and 100,000 souls perished.

The fire that started in a bakery in Pudding Lane the following year, consumed 13,200 dwellings, 87 churches and St. Paul's Cathedral. Approximately 430 acres were destroyed, almost 80% of the city.

Answer: Medical philantrophy provided five new general hospitals in London for the study and treatment of infectious diseases.

Between 1720 and 1745 London saw the building of Westminster Hospital, St.George's, Guy's,the Middlesex and the London Hospital. Physicians tried to improve public health by giving out advice on cleanliness in the home and also personal hygiene.

Small fever hospitals were set up to treat the poor with smallpox, thus by the end of the century, Edward Jenner and others were working on a vaccine developed from cow pox, which ultimately saved untold numbers of lives.

Answer: The Great Stink!

Joseph Bazalgette, a civil engineer and Chief Engineer of the Metropolitan Water Board, was given the responsibility of rebuilding the London sewer system. This required 318 million bricks, 2.7 mllion cubic meters of excavated earth and 670,000 cubic meters of concrete.

It produced a remarkable system that dramatically reduced disease in the city. Many of the magnificently built brick sewers remain today.

Answer: Grasse, France

Based in southeastern France in the hills of Provence, Grasse produces most of the attars, esters, distillations and essences that make up modern perfume. However, if you are ever close enough to the town to get a whiff, a combination of all those smells produces quite a stink.

Source: Author Englizzie

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