Ulysses page-by-page: Page 81 (5.470-508) "I changed... a bottle?"

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Delaney: [228]

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I changed a sovereign I remember. First of the month it must have been or the second. O, he can look it up in the prescriptions book.

20/0 - 2/9 = 17/3 = 3 crowns, 2 shillings, and 3 pence
= $130 now
StreetView now
1909 map

The chemist turned back page after page. Sandy shrivelled smell he seems to have. Shrunken skull. And old. Quest for the philosopher's stone. The alchemists. Drugs age you after mental excitement. Lethargy then. Why? Reaction. A lifetime in a night. Gradually changes your character. Living all the day among herbs, ointments, disinfectants. All his alabaster lilypots. Mortar and pestle.

probably Sweny himself

44yo in 1901

"lilypots" seems to be joyce's coinage, maybe after Lilypot Lane in London (cf Lillyput)
alabaster jars suggests Egypt
vintage apothecary jars
renaissance pharmacy conventions

Delaney: [229]

Aq. Dist. Fol. Laur. Te Virid.

Aqua Distillata = distilled water
Folia Lauri = laurel leaves
Thea Viridis = green tea

Sidney-tribute: 'Laurus poetam te viridis probat,
Divina virtus progeniem Iovis,
Virtute divine, Philippe,
Et viridi celebrande lauro.' [etext] [notes]

1907 chemist's shop

Smell almost cure you like the dentist's doorbell. Doctor Whack.

(ie, sometimes a good whack will cure you)

He ought to physic himself a bit. Electuary or emulsion. The first fellow that picked an herb to cure himself had a bit of pluck. Simples.

"Electuary" and "emulsion" refer to how it's prepared, not the ingredients
"Simples" means a single ingredient
"pluck" is witty
"picked an herb" echoes the doctrine of signatures (cf p37)

Want to be careful. Enough stuff here to chloroform you. Test: turns blue litmus paper red. Chloroform. Overdose of laudanum. Sleeping draughts. Lovephiltres. Paragoric poppysyrup bad for cough. Clogs the pores or the phlegm. Poisons the only cures. Remedy where you least expect it. Clever of nature.

misspelling of 'paregoric' (painkiller)

Delaney: [230]

— About a fortnight ago, sir?
— Yes, Mr Bloom said.
He waited by the counter, inhaling slowly the keen reek of drugs, the dusty dry smell of sponges and loofahs. Lot of time taken up telling your aches and pains.
— Sweet almond oil and tincture of benzoin, Mr Bloom said, and then orangeflower water...
It certainly did make her skin so delicate white like wax.
— And white wax also, he said.
Brings out the darkness of her eyes. Looking at me, the sheet up to her eyes, Spanish, smelling herself, when I was fixing the links in my cuffs. Those homely recipes are often the best: strawberries for the teeth: nettles and rainwater: oatmeal they say steeped in buttermilk. Skinfood.

loofahs

Delaney: [231]

One of the old queen's sons, duke of Albany was it? had only one skin. Leopold, yes.

hemophiliac
Bloom is Leopold too

Three we have. Warts, bunions and pimples to make it worse. But you want a perfume too. What perfume does your? Peau d'Espagne.

Bloom is mistaken here-- it's opoponax

That orangeflower water is so fresh. Nice smell these soaps have. Pure curd soap. Time to get a bath round the corner. Hammam. Turkish. Massage. Dirt gets rolled up in your navel. Nicer if a nice girl did it. Also I think I. Yes I. Do it in the bath. Curious longing I. Water to water. Combine business with pleasure. Pity no time for massage. Feel fresh then all day. Funeral be rather glum.
— Yes, sir, the chemist said. That was two and nine. Have you brought a bottle?

complexities:
- the Turkish Baths next door had closed several years earlier
- 'Turkish' baths involved lots of steaming and sweating and required at least a half hour
- the massage part was called 'shampooing' then and cost extra
- masturbating in the bath would require a private tub, which was available at 11 Leinster
- the total he paid according to his budget was 1/6 including 'gratification'

A Dublin guidebook (1895) lists the following baths (arranged here by proximity to Swenys):
* The Turkish Baths, in Lincoln place (same block)
* 11 Leinster street. Turkish and other baths (likeliest)
* Nassau Place. (2 more blocks west)
* St Stephen's Green Baths (1/2 mile away)
* The Hammam Hotel and Turkish Baths (3/4 mile)

masturbation motif
neologism: underwater jacking

mysteries:

[DD 03:12-03:25]