Page 200
“…the room was like a large funnel…”
See “…the large chemical auditorium…,” above. The description suggests amphitheater seating, and a capacity of 750.
“…used to make lye.”
Narrative of Della Fountain. While not all enslaved people may have had an actual funnel to serve as an ash hopper, I think the shape of the room would likely have suggested this.
Library of Congress. (2018). Slave narratives: A folk history of slavery in the U.S., Oklahoma Narratives, Vol. 1, p. 102.
Della Fountain
“Dr. Gibson praised Dr. Sims to the class…”
“Old Days at the Old College,” William H. Taylor, The Old Dominion Journal of Medicine and Surgery, Vol. 17, No. 2, August 1913, p. 60.
“Catalogue of the Medical Department of Hampden Sydney College, Richmond, Virginia, Session 1851-52, and Announcement of Session 1852-53,” Richmond: Colin and Nowlan, 1852.
“…thickened and indurated…”
From a description of Bozeman’s on a case Sims experimented on.
Bozeman, N. (1884). History of the clamp suture of the late Dr. J. Marion Sims, and why it was abandoned by the profession, pp. 42-43.
“…free black people…”
Sanger, W. T. (1973). Medical College of Virginia before 1925, and University College of Medicine 1893-1913. Richmond: Medical College of Virginia Foundation, p. 298.
“…while Anarcha was recovering from the experiments…”
See “…a slave woman named Anarcha…,” above.
As there are no records indicating that Anarcha stayed at the Egyptian Building, the details of her life with Delia there are speculative but not a radical departure from what one might expect—including the fact that Anarcha was now a nurse experienced in the aftercare of fistula surgery.