Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey brain Stuff. I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and this is another classic episode of the podcast. In this one, we talk about the Great Pox a k a. Syphilis and whether a certain Bard may have been afflicted with it. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. William Shakespeare mentioned diseases often in his plays, probably because he was literally surrounded by them,
I mean, aren't we all. But during his London based lifetime in the fifteen and sixteen hundreds, such notorious illnesses as the bubonic plague, typhus, and malaria ravaged citizens, all made more potent and deadly by rodents, over crowding and virtually non existent sanitation systems. Also striking fear into the hearts of just about everyone were smallpox and the Great pox,
known today as syphilis. The two conditions actually present similar rashes, despite being different in terms of type of action and transmission. Smallpox is a virus spread by breathing. Syphilis is bacterial and almost always sexually transmitted. The hallmark of both diseases was a body riddled with pustules, also known as pox.
It fell to the people to distinguish between these horrors. Thus, syphilis became known as the Great Pox, not because the pock marks of syphilis were larger than those of smallpox, but rather because, in the fifteen to seventeenth centuries, it was the greater fear. Syphilis was likely introduced to Europe when Christopher Columbus, that Guy and his crew brought it back from the New World in fourteen nine three. Although
there are other theories, the timing is definitely suspect. The pandemic began in Europe pretty much right after they returned, killing many. Even those were lucky enough to survive, were typically covered in scars and went blind. Of course, the Europeans, for their part, left behind smallpox and other diseases in the New World, sometimes intentionally, which, how long with slavery,
would wipe out millions of Native Americans. Fortunately, smallpox has now been eradicated by vaccine, and we have penicillin to treat syphilis. Shakespeare's writings indicate an interest in syphilis, such as in the play tim And of Athens, where he references the use of inhaled vaporized mercury salts, a common treatment for the disease at the time. In fact, one of his best known quotes was originally a reference to syphilis. A plague on both your houses from Romeo and Juliet
was first a pox on both your Houses. Thanks to multiple references of syphilis and his works, historians have wondered whether Shakespeare himself was infected. Known for being a little bit of a hustler, his signature during the last years of his life indicates that he experienced a tremor, which is a common side effect of mercury poisoning, which, as
we said, was the treatment of choice for syphilis. Of course, any number of physical ailments can cause a tremor, so it's unlikely that this posthumous diagnosis will ever be confirmed. Today's episode is based on the article You've Heard of Smallpox? But what was the Great Box? On houseworks dot com, written by Leah Hoyt. Brainstuff is production of I Heart Radio in partnership with house Toffworks dot Com, and it's
produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.