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Wordle: Diphtheria Treatments, 1850-1860I generated the wordle diagram at the left by entering in the text from numerous diphtheria treatments found in an English-language GoogleBooks search of publications from 1850-1860.  The sources included both allopathic and homeopathic remedies.  As with all diagrams of this nature, the relative size of the word indicates the frequency of use in the text sample.

Now, do you think this ‘tells’ you something that a list of remedies wouldn’t?  It certainly does highlight the fact that most remedies were an acidic solution that was mean to be gargled by the patient.  But what else does it tell you (other than that I am a geek)?

(Note: a larger image can be found by clicking the image above or on this text)

Comments

3 responses to “word”

  1. Megan Avatar

    Have you played with Google’s ngram viewer yet? It lives here:

    http://books.google.com/ngrams

    And you might like the TED.com presentation on it here:

    http://www.ted.com/talks/what_we_learned_from_5_million_books.html

    Really interesting, and surprisingly nuanced research if you start playing around with it!

    1. janaremy Avatar

      Yes, I have played with it quite a bit, and am even including some of my findings in a dissertation chapter :)

      1. Megan Avatar

        That is so cool! I just love the expansion of knowledge and information possible through this amazing digital world we’re creating.

        I’m about to bring it up in reference to King Alfred and his perceived role in the foundation of English literature and the English nation. Don’t know why, but medievalists are often the first in our dept to embrace emerging technologies.

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