HG, Refeeding and English domesticity

A medical journal and a social history journal. Brontës everywhere:

The death of Charlotte Brontë from hyperemesis gravidarum and refeeding syndrome: A new perspective
Simon P. Allison, Dileep N. Lobo
Clinical Nutrition
Available online 10 February 2019

Many theories have been advanced concerning the cause of Charlotte Brontë's death, none of which fully explain all the symptoms she experienced in the course of her final illness. Her death certificate records the cause of death as phthisis (tuberculosis), but there is no evidence, other than circumstantial, to support this diagnosis. A diagnosis of Addison's disease, caused by tuberculosis of the adrenals, has been proposed, but this is unlikely, since it does not fit well with two and a half months of severe anorexia, nausea and vomiting, followed by remission of these symptoms and eventual death. We agree, as suggested by some authors, that the most likely diagnosis was hyperemesis gravidarum, but suggest that this was complicated by the refeeding syndrome consequent on recovery of her appetite after resolution of hyperemesis gravidarum and that this was the cause of her death. These two diagnoses are compatible with the remission in her symptoms of anorexia, nausea and vomiting in the third week of March 1855, followed by further decline and death.

Votary, vixen and vulgarian: German governesses and English domesticity in novels by Charlotte Yonge, Charlotte Brontë and Mary Braddon
Susan N. Bayley
Journal
Cultural and Social History
Published online: 04 Feb 2019

Among the most amusing vignettes in Victorian novels are German governesses created by Charlotte Yonge, Charlotte Brontë and Mary Braddon. Fräulein Ohnglaube is a votary who believes in ghosts. Fräulein Müller is a vixen with a secret ambition, and Fräulein Braun is a vulgarian who scoffs two breakfasts of beef and beer. All are depicted as potential threats to the values and norms of the English ‘cult’ of domesticity.This paper argues that these authors wished to preserve and celebrate "pure" English domesticity . Their negative representations of German governesses reveal how thoroughly English and anti-cosmopolitan were their conceptualisations of domestic life.