Mysterious incense
Strange anniversaries
Strained relations
Rare luxury

Mysterious incense

In Antiquity for December, 2000, a paper by Margaret Serpico of the Institute of Archaeology and Raymond White of the National Gallery reveals much confusion that surrounds the identity of incense resins transported into Egypt during the time of the New Kingdom. A parallel confusion appears in the attribution of these materials to geographical localities.

The word interpreted as frankincense is sutr, but there is serious doubt whether this product was obtained from a species of Boswellia, and was therefore what we mean by frankincense, or from a species of Pistacia. The word for myrrh is ntyw, and both incense products were traditionally classed as perfumes of Arabia. According to old Egyptian texts, they were obtained from Punt, a region not precisely defined, but taken to lie between the eastern Sudan and northern edge of the Ethiopian highlands, where species of Boswellia still grow today. Some New Kingdom texts state that large quantities of sutr used to be brought from Syria and Palestine, regions where frankincense does not occur. This has given rise to a suggestion, not widely accepted, that sutr was in fact the resin from a species of Pistacia which can be found today in Iraq and Afghanistan. Resin from this species has been found in the cargo of a sunken wreck off the southern coast of Turkey, dated from the post-Amarna period of Egyptian history, and confirmed by chemical analysis.

Incense bowls excavated from Amarna are coated with a resin which has been found by chemical examination to derive not from Boswellia but from Pistacia. It seems likely that an enormous demand for incense in Egypt prompted a brisk trade in this resin from late Bronze Age centres of production. Meanwhile, confusion between sutr (translated as frankincense) and ntwy (translated as myrrh) is evident through the ancient literature. Undoubtedly, both spices played an important role in ancient Egyptian ceremonial, and both were responsible for considerable shipments of the materials from adjacent regions into Egypt itself.

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Strange anniversaries

February 14 is widely celebrated as the feast of Saint Valentine, when love tokens are traditionally exchanged. Media advertising and the powerful greetings card industry have bolstered this rather doubtful festival to make an appeal to modern adolescents and young adults. Yet its foundations are scant enough. It was briefly mentioned in a poem of John Lydgate in 1430, referred to by Walter Raleigh in 1596, given some prominence by Samuel Pepys in the 17th century, and alluded to by Woodes Rogers in 1712.

In some places it was customary for children to wander from door to door on Valentines day singing and begging gifts, as at Halloween. There was a belief that the first single person met on the morning of the 14th would have a sentimental connection forthwith, and some timid women avoided venturing into public until they were sure of encountering the desirable person. The custom of choosing a sweetheart that day is supposed to have arisen in the 14th century in France and England from a belief that wild birds began to mate then, but the connection is by no means clear.

February 14 has a darker, more sinister connection. On the morning of that day in 1779, Captain James Cook, then on his third great voyage to Polynesia, was clubbed to death and stabbed by the Hawaiians in Kealakekua Bay. Cook was dismembered and his remains, returned to his shipmates, were identifiable only by the remarkable scar on one hand, the result of a powder horn explosion years before. The Commonwealth of Australia erected a white obelisk on the shore in 1874, and at the site of the murder a submerged copper plaque with the inscription "Near this spot Captain James Cook was killed, February 14, 1779" was attached to the rock where he died.

Why Cook should have been murdered by people who had hitherto shown incredible friendliness towards his crews is a mystery. It is known that he had been given a quasi-sacred character by the priests of the island, but was not liked by the military chiefs. Whether his killing was a sacramental ritual or a panic reaction remains obscure. His attitude towards the natives throughout his Pacific voyages was benevolent, except when theft of his equipment, notably that of the Resolution's cutter, called for stern measures. In this respect James Cook stands as a humane man in an age when the virtue of moderation, particularly in naval circles, was rare.

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Strained relations

An editorial in the Lancet for December 23/30, 2000, draws attention once again to the role of class naming in affecting the delicate balance between doctors and patients. It points out that in many clinics and hospitals use of the terms "doctor" and "patient" are discouraged. As alternatives, "client" or "customer" for a patient and "healthcare provider" for the doctor are suggested. The trend comes mainly from the United States, where the language of business pervades the organisations concerned with managing health problems. However, in the United Kingdom there is also pressure for a change in language, to iron out undesirable inferences.

It is arguable that talking of doctors and patients promotes an authoritarian and unequal relationship between the two. The word "patient" comes from a Latin root meaning to endure. This makes it submissive and passive. Such a situation may be appropriate when it comes to distinguishing teachers and students, but does not fit the health care picture, where there should be a fine balance between seeking and giving advice in sometimes desperate life-threatening situations. Mutual trust and respect is needed, and terms that suggest inferiority and superiority should be avoided. However, surveys have indicated that many people prefer to be called patients, however impatient the tedious progress of bureaucratic medicine may make them. The word client is not popular, possibly because it has connections with legal consultations and impersonal matters.

The Lancet suggests conducting surveys among different populations of patients to discover what the overall opinion is. Health care professionals might ask those who come to consult them how they would prefer to be addressed.

In this connection, it might be illuminating to discover how best the relationship between a pharmacist and a customer/client/patient might be described. It might have to vary, according to whether someone approached a pharmacy for advice or to have a prescription dispensed. I do not think "client" would prove popular. Perhaps "customer", despite its commercialised relationships, might prove the favourite, still.

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Rare luxury

It will not be long before quiet is the most luxurious commodity in the world. Even now I doubt if wealth can buy anything better than a littel privacy and quietness. — J. B. Priestley: 'English journey' (1934).