Resource: itchy and scratchy… :)

If you had lived in the 18th century, you’d given an arm and a leg for this item, and you would very likely have packed it in your husband’s sea chest as a token of your love:

What might it be?

Why – a flea trap, of course!

No phallus jokes, please!

The 18th century was not exactly the century of cleanliness and hygiene – I’d just like to bring Eveiya’s perfect description of the way an 18th century Royal Navy officer would have smelled like up again: Eau de Wet, Rancid Sheep. The ships were scrubbed clean daily, the clothes washed twice a week, but as for the personal hygiene – well. I’m all for keeping my writing as historically correct as possible, but I’ll skip that part. There’s being accurate and then there’s murdering romance…

Anyway. Flea traps were filled with a few drops of blood and honey or resin, depending on your financial means. The fleas, attracted by the blood, would enter the trap and get stuck to the honey or resin. There were simple fleatraps, made out of wood, and highly expensive ones, carved out of ivory and decorated with precious stones. Ladies wore them in their skirts, they were kept in the beds and offered at least some relief from the hungry parasites.

So, a lock of hair aside, a woman couldn’t make her seafaring lover more happy than gift him with a fleatrap.

The things I learn…