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touched by a king

2023-06-13 · documentary visit · John · 3:59 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Health · mode: Personal essay · tags: on location, heavy topic, recurring series, self promotion

Touring the Indiana Medical History Museum while filming a deep-dive Crash Course on tuberculosis, John explains that lymphoma was once thought to be TB, describes scrofula and the old European belief that the king's touch cured it, and argues that history is also an encouragement: he is angry Hank has cancer but grateful for the accumulated knowledge behind better treatment.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Pop quiz, greeting and setting: the museum's autopsy room, filming a new deep-dive Crash Course on tuberculosis

  • ★★ John is at the Indiana Medical History Museum, in the old autopsy room where students watched, filming a new kind of Crash Course that takes a deep dive into one topic. — 00:00:00 · Crash Course
  • ★★ John's deep-dive topic is tuberculosis, which he calls the oldest, deadliest and, in his opinion, least understood infectious disease in human history. — 00:00:00 · tuberculosis, Crash Course

00:00:29 — Lymphoma once thought to be TB, shared symptoms, the infant iron lung, scrofula, the microscope and John's talking doubles

  • ★★ John recalls Hank pointing out that lymphoma was originally believed to be a type of tuberculosis, which makes sense given shared symptoms: night sweats, fevers, sometimes coughing. — 00:00:29 · tuberculosis
  • ★★ Looking at an iron lung for infants with polio is helpful for John because it reminds him that progress is possible. — 00:00:29 · progress
  • ★ John says the other symptom TB and lymphoma share is swollen lymph nodes. — 00:00:29 · tuberculosis
  • ★★ When TB invades the lymphatic system it is called scrofula, and it can make lymph nodes swell so much that they rupture through the skin. — 00:01:14 · tuberculosis
  • ★★ Pointing out an exhibit to Hank as a microscopy enthusiast, John says people always say humans are the worst, and sure, but look how hard we have worked to get better. (playful) — 00:01:14

00:01:43 — Mic-cord, costume and graffiti gags, the weather report, and why swollen lymph nodes are usually harmless

  • ★★ John says Hank's swollen lymph nodes turned out to be lymphoma, but almost always swollen lymph nodes are no big deal, just the body dealing with an infection. — 00:01:43
  • ★★ John says people whose swollen lymph nodes turn out to be TB also have a significant problem, especially if the nodes rupture. — 00:01:43 · tuberculosis

00:02:19 — The king's touch as Europe's supposed cure for scrofula, and a recommendation of the museum

  • ★★★ Not long ago, at least in Europe, the most reliable cure for scrofula was widely believed to be the king's touch: being touched by the king. — 00:02:19 · Europe
  • ★★ John explains the belief: the king touched your head or wound and you were cured, since his healing power supposedly came through an apostolic line back to Jesus. — 00:02:19
  • ★★ John says anyone in Indianapolis has to visit the Indiana Medical History Museum: it is just awesome. — 00:02:19 · Indianapolis
  • ★★★ The museum reminds John that history is, as Stephen Dedalus put it, a nightmare he is trying to awake from, but also much else: history can be an encouragement. — 00:02:19

00:03:08 — History as an encouragement: anger at Hank's cancer, gratitude for accumulated knowledge, hope for the future; sign-off

  • ★★★ We no longer treat scrofula with the king's touch, which John argues is good on a few levels: kings are no longer thought that powerful, and treatments are much better. — 00:03:08 · progress
  • ★★★ John tells Hank he is super pissed off that Hank got cancer, but grateful to the people who accumulated, shared and built on each other's knowledge for a healthier world. — 00:03:08 · cancer
  • ★★ John hopes that 300 years from now we will look back on many things the way we now look back on the king's touch. — 00:03:37 · progress

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description tells new viewers the video belongs to The Format, the brothers' recent new format; John chose no close-up shots, just to let viewers enjoy the scenery. — video description
  • ★★ John's comment says the Awesome Socks Club has reopened and urges viewers to get Awesome Coffee Club coffee, whose profits all fight maternal and child mortality in Sierra Leone. — creator comment · Awesome Socks Club, Awesome Coffee Club, Sierra Leone, maternal death, child mortality
  • ★★ Answering a viewer in the comments, John says TB kills more people every year than malaria, typhoid, homicide and war combined. — creator comment · tuberculosis, malaria
  • ★★ In a comment John says one much-publicised model claimed up to half of all humans died of malaria, but most models indicate this is nowhere near true. — creator comment · malaria
  • ★★ John's comment says malaria remains a huge, cheaply preventable and treatable problem, but TB is deadlier and probably always has been. (hedged) — creator comment · tuberculosis, malaria

Humor (significant)

  • Two copies of John meet in the museum; one is surprised the other is there, and the other says he is always there. — 00:00:29

    “Right, I guess that is kind of the issue. Wherever I go, I bring myself with me.”

  • John says the 30-foot microphone cord never stops being the funniest thing in the world, then walks to see if it will reach. — 00:01:14

    “Is it going to be enough? It's close. But I made it!”

  • John keeps appearing in different outfits from shot to shot. — 00:01:43

    “By the way, I'm not going to explain all these costume changes.”

  • Earlier John announced a check of the weather; much later he remembers it in the middle of the TB tour. — 00:01:43

    “Right, the weather report. Yeah, it's a nice day.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: history · Indiana Medical History Museum · progress · royal touch · scrofula · tuberculosis

Also: Projects: Crash Course

Concepts: cancer · cumulative culture · infectious disease · iron lung · lymphoma · polio

Places: Europe · Indianapolis

Characters: Stephen Dedalus

Myths: Jesus

Only in the description or credits: Awesome Coffee Club · Awesome Socks Club · child mortality · homicide · malaria · maternal death · Sierra Leone · typhoid fever · war

Also centred on history: REIGN OF TERROR: The French Revolution, Part III

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