The nineteenth century saw the invention of many wonderful technologies and the birth of entirely new courses of scientific study, art, and literature. As part of our birthday bash, we thought you might have fun trying to figure out which of the following were first created in the nineteenth century. Because 100 years is a bit of a long span to consider, we’re narrowing it to things created anywhere from 1800 to 1820.
Figure out which of these items you think was “born” between 1800 and 1820, then check the answers in the comment section to see how you did. We’d love to hear how you scored, but please don’t tell where you found your answers. You might spoil the fun for someone else.
Remember, anyone who comments on this post or Marissa’s Tuesday post will be entered into a drawing for a $25 Borders gift card (it works online too, I’ve been told, so you don’t have to have one near you) and a genuine Nineteenteen faux-Regency fan. We’ll collect comments until midnight Monday. Good luck!
1. Submarine
2. Battery
3. Wellington boots
4. Tin can
5. Plastic surgery
6. Soda pop
7. Ice cream
8. The Gothic novel
9. Poker (the card game)
10. Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey.
4 comments:
Answers
1. No. The submarine was actually invented BEFORE 1800. The earliest documented submarine was commissioned for James I in 1623 and sailed under the Thames.
2. Yes. The battery we all use today to power our addictive electronics was invented in 1800 by Count Alessandro Volta.
3. Yes. The Duke of Wellington commissioned a special pair of boots, made to his specifications, before 1815. The style was so popular (and so was he), it was named after him.
4. Yes. The tin can was invented in 1810 by British merchant Peter Durand to preserve food.
5. No. Plastic surgery was actually invented BEFORE 1800. One of the first documented cases in England was the replacement of a soldier’s nose that had been destroyed by mercury treatments. But remember, anesthetic wasn’t widely used until the mid-1840s. Ouch!
6. No. Soda pop (carbonated water) was actually invented BEFORE 1800. The scientist Joseph Priestley invented a way to create imitation mineral water, as it was called, in 1767.
7. No. Ice cream also predates the nineteenth century by several hundred years.
8. No. The first Gothic novel was published in 1767. Hm. That seems to be a good year for inventions.
9. Maybe. The basic system of poker, with betting on the outcome of a hand of cards, can be traced to a number of cultures. But it didn’t really get popular until later in the nineteenth century and in America.
10. Yes. All Jane Austen’s novels were published between 1800 and 1820, with Northanger Abbey and Persuasion being published in 1818, after her death.
Heh - I got most of these right (poker & the battery were the exceptions). But I got the soda one right for the wrong reasons - I thought it was post-1820. Oops!
I always feel a bit sorry for Arthur Wellesley, having his duchy reduced to boots in the language. (the Earl of Sandwich should probably also be pitied in the same category.)
(please don't enter me into the drawing - I'm in the UK so I don't think the gift card would translate. And I also have several dozen fans and am trying to cut back ...)
That was fun. I only missed 3 so I am kinda happy with that.
I got the battery and the ice cream wrong. Don't know why I thought ice cream was made during that time....silly me!
Thanks for the fun quiz ;)
Post a Comment