Authors: Gustave Flaubert trans Lydia Davis
| 295 | camphor, benzoin: Camphor is a fragrant compound obtained from the camphor tree; benzoin is a fragrant balsamic resin, one of whose uses is as an incense. |
| 295 | miasmas: Noxious atmospheres, or vaporous exhalations formerly thought to cause disease. |
| 297 | fill the gaps with wool: Although the original is ambiguous, Flaubert’s earlier drafts make it clear that the gaps he had in mind were between her body and the oak coffin, not between the two outer coffins. |
| 297 | she was placed on display: The French is on l’exposa —she “lay in state.” |
| 298 | chasubles: A chasuble is the long, sleeveless outer vestment worn by the priest celebrating mass. |
| 299 | serpent: A bass cornet made of wood and shaped like a snake, no longer in common use. |
| 300 | the De profundis: This is Psalm 130, a penitential psalm—that is, one especially expressive of sorrow for sin; it is used in liturgical prayers for the faithful departed and takes its name from its opening line, “Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord.” |
| 301 | aspergillum: A perforated vessel containing a wet sponge and used for sprinkling holy water. |
| 304 | Pentecost: Again, a date is identified by the religious observance associated with it. Pentecost occurs on the seventh Sunday after Easter and commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles. |
| 306 | leprosy: A chronic, infectious bacterial disease mainly affecting the skin and the peripheral nervous system and resulting in rashes, numbness, weakening of muscles, and often deformity. |
| 306 | primary schools … Ignorantine friars: Primary schools were created in France in 1833 by François Guizot, minister of education under Louis-Philippe; the Ignorantines ( frères ignorantins ) were brethren of the Christian Schools, a religious fraternity founded in 1680 that offered a free education especially to children of the poor. Rouen was their headquarters from 1705 to 1770. They continue to thrive as an international institution. |
| 306 | Saint Bartholomew’s Day: The reference is to the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre; see note to p. 32. |
| 306 | cho-ca and revalentia: Health foods, the first made from chocolate, which became very popular and widespread by the end of the nineteenth century. |
| 307 | Pulvermacher hydroelectric belts: These first appeared in England in 1850 or before; they consisted of linked metal plates that were supposed to improve the health through the application of mild electric shocks to the body, but they were eventually dismissed by the medical establishment as quackery. |
| 307 | Scythian: The Scythians, a nomadic people who flourished between the fourth and eighth centuries B.C. , inhabited mainly the area between the Danube and the Don rivers. They wore belted tunics often adorned with gold plaques. |
| 307 | a Magian priest: A member of the priestly class among the ancient Medes and Persians. |
| 307 | Temple of Vesta: Vesta was the Roman goddess of the hearth; her public cult maintained a temple in which her priestesses, the vestal virgins, tended a fire that was never allowed to go out. |
| 307 | Sta viator … amabilem conjugem calcas: The Latin text reads, “Stay, traveler … you tread on a lovable [or lovely] spouse.” Homais evidently remembered the first words of an epitaph he may have come across in his reading of Voltaire, who discusses it: “Sta, viator, heroem calcas”—“Stay, traveler, you tread on a hero’s dust.” |
| 310 | cantharis beetles: See note to p. 287 on cantharides. This golden-green beetle is also known as a Spanish fly. |