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and inert. To correct this imbalance melancholics were regularly staked out in the hot sun
for hours and denied water.
Hysterics, on the other hand, who screamed and raved and ran about frantically, clearly
demonstrated an excess of blood (dry) and yellow bile (hot). To compensate for their
excessive hotness and dryness, their prescribed medical treatment required that they be
wrapped in wet bedsheets and kept shivering in cold, dark places.
All of this is quite reasonable given the medical beliefs of the early modern era. However,
when Foucault discusses the results of medical autopsies conducted during this period, we
step right into the twilight zone. For well over a century,whenever the brains ofmelanchol-
ics were studied, the autopsies invariably found that they were moist, viscous and gooey.
And, when medical students dissected the brains of hysterics, they were regularly found to
be dry, brittle and flakey. The results of such autopsies were confirmed by several genera-
tions of medical students along with the physicians who were supervising their practicum.
One might ask: How could such a thing possibly happen over an extended period of time?
Bear in mind that we are not talking about second-hand rumors of strange phenomena
among primitive tribes in a remote corner of the globe, but of documented reports contrib-
uted over time by the scientific intelligentsia of early modern Europe. At the least, Fou-
cault's autopsy example alerts us to the degree to which belief systems profoundly influen-
ce our experience of reality. Now it's time to go back to Italy and take another look at the
dangers of cool air.
***
Most of the villas and farmhouse apartments that Italians have developed to rent to tourists
overthesummermonthsdonothaveair-conditioning. Yet,thelackofACinotherwiselux-
urious villas is not and was not a cost-saving feature. The owners simply never considered
it when the property was developed. What would be the point? Who in their right mind
would ever sleep in an air-conditioned room?
In fact, only those entrepreneurs who target an American audience have bucked the trend
and installed air-conditioners in their apartments. For Italians the thought of sleeping all
night long in a room with an air-conditioner blowing cold air fills them with dread. Most of
them, at some point in the course of their lives, have found themselves in a situation where
they were exposed to AC against their will and couldn't do a thing about it. When the sub-
ject of air-conditioning comes up, everyone has a horror story that he is ready to share of
being trapped like a rat with AC. Here are a couple of quick ones to give you the flavor of
these narratives:
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