Genealogy Chat

Hello all, I have recieved a death cert from 1892 which states cause of death as TB, then underneath is says '8 months' then 'althenia' and who certified the death. Is the 8 months how long she had suffered TB, and does anyone know what 'althenia' is. Ive tried googling it but have hit a brick wall..! Can anyone enlighten me please.? Thank you. Jackie x

Jackie The 8 months is the time from which the person's disease was diagnosed by a doctor. as to the actual illness, I think its a misreading, but not sure for what. You could have a look at this site and see if it has anything that looks similar: www.paul_smith.doctors.org.uk/ArchaicMedicalTerms.htm nell

ooh cheers Nell, I'll get onto that now. Isnt it frustrating when the writing is almost illegible? Thank you xxx Jackie.

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a look at other letters that you know are right on the cert and then see if you can put down the letters you can see are OK in the diagnosis and replace the ones you aren't sure of with *. Perhaps someone on the boards will be able to say 'oh yes, great uncle Bloggs died of that'. nell

ok Nell here goes ******** haha no, really, i think it does say Althenia or Althinia. Ive checked against the other letters, and ive just visited the site you recommended but no luck. Other than that do you think it isnt a complaint, maybe part of the Drs name or title or something like that? this is the full thing Pulmonary Tuberculosis 8 months Althenia certified Wm R Shorth MB and thats it. She died in an asylum, but i dont think that has any bearing, but i could be wrong, i usually am..!! thanks Nell Jackie x

Have just found that 'thenia' means weakness, so if you can work out the beginning bit of the word... nell

ooo, that helps, we getting there, cheers. so i wonder what Al is for then - weakness of something or other eh? probably her full body if she had TB eh?..! thanks Jackie x

Hi Jackie It will be Asthenia - generalised weakness - term not used much now, but will have resulted from the debilitating TB Tom

Tom, Thank you, that sounds right dosn't it?. Nell said it was a weakness of some sort, so it looks like youve both cracked it for me. Many thanks Can get a good nights sleep now...haha. Cheers Jackie x :-)