Visual Vocabulary: Dyspepsia

I definitely ran across the word "dyspepsia" while reading Mrs. Robinson's Disgrace.  I (incorrectly) remembered that this word basically meant having serious gas issues. It actually means general digestive issues, but there is a subcategory called Flatulent Dyspepsia (can you imagine getting that diagnosis? "Well, madam, you have flatulent dyspepsia. Stop eating so much garlic and the air should clear quickly." Ha!)

But the reason I remembered the wrong definition is that I'm chugging along through this book about proper Victorians taking the hydropathy cure for anxiety and dyspepsia and one of the famous patients at this particular spa being described was Charles Darwin. "Charles Darwin sought help from Dr. Lane because he was overwhelmed by anxiety about his 'everlasting species-book', the work that would become On the Origin of Species; he suffered from terrible fits of flatulence, as well as nausea, headaches and outbreaks of eczema and boils." Yikes! We thank you for your contributions to science, Darwin, and now we will never forget the true meaning of dyspepsia.

Visual Vocabulary is a project I created for myself in which I attempt to sear new words into my memory by illustrating them.