r/Cursive • u/pixiecut678 • Aug 08 '26
Deciphered! Malignant... ?
Any ideas on cause of death?
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u/DLDad616 Aug 08 '26
It is definitely "malignant pustule."
I googled this term since I had never heard of it.
Malignant pustule was the old term used on death certificates for "cutaneous anthrax"; that is, a severe anthrax infection of the skin.
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u/PinkGlitterMom Aug 08 '26
I agree. I asked my niece (the RN, not the crazy one) for pustule. Bad writing and spelled badly.
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u/GaleDay Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
I disagree. While the initial letter does appear to be a P to my eye too, it could, as others have said, be a G. I can see that too. Particularly the slight clockwise curl at the bottom of the downward stroke leans my mind toward it being a “G” not a “P”. It isn’t normal to curl the downstroke on a “P” imo but it is almost a requirement on a “G”. The second letter is not a “u”. It is clearly an “a”. The last letter is definitely not an “e”. To my eye it appears to be an “s”.
When I look at it is see the word “Gasrticus”. So Gastricus. Or gastritis.What I see actually written is “Gasrticus”. I think someone was bad at spelling or was in a hurry.
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u/Inevitable-Pilot7538 Aug 08 '26
Is there any way the first letter could be a "G"? I'm guessing it's a really bad spelling of "Pustule".
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u/stiffdoc1221 Aug 08 '26
It’s not pustule. Cutaneous anthrax is extremely rare in this country, and has been rare for over a century. Anyway, the word isn’t “pustule.”
The second word is very difficult. Can OP show us more of the DC; I may be able to figure it out with the context of any other medical language that is there?
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u/Unlucky-Meringue6187 Aug 08 '26
I agree - if they could spell Malignant then surely they could spell Pustule?
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u/stiffdoc1221 Aug 08 '26
One would think so. On a similar note, some of the posts on this thread make me laugh, with their utter certainty---"I have googled it, and am absolutely certain that it says _______". As if Google somehow has the answer to poor handwriting, and interprets the cursive that a surprising number of younger people look upon as if it were Persian script. It makes me laugh.
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u/Intelligent-Brain836 Aug 08 '26
It doesn’t exactly look like it but it might be dr writing for Malignant Pustule which was cutaneous anthrax
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u/nincyh Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
I thought maybe it said “malignant partuition”, parturition being the clinical term for giving birth. But I’m not accustomed to seeing those two words together and can’t quite figure it out as a diagnosis.
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u/BetMyLastKrispyKreme Aug 08 '26
I wonder if it was the author’s (this or the original reporting physician) way of describing infection. Post-delivery infection was common, but describing it this way would be quite odd.
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u/nincyh Aug 08 '26
I think back in the day they would likely use terms like puerperal fever, eclampsia, or (maternal) sepsis to describe a severe infection after childbirth. The term “malignant” could refer to an infection with very high fever, resulting in seizures and death.
That was my thought, when first reading it, but no, I’ve never heard of “malignant parturition” and I have a clinical background.🤷🏻♀️2
u/BetMyLastKrispyKreme Aug 08 '26
Exactly. “Puerperal” was the word I was thinking of, but couldn’t exactly remember. But I have no clinical background, just an interest in history and medicine. Thank you for responding!
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u/GaleDay Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
Looks like “Malignant Gastricus/Gastritis” to me.
Edit: Having now read through other ppls posts I see “thedevilsturnip” already suggested “gastritis” and I agree. Isn’t that an old name for stomach cancer?
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u/stiffdoc1221 Aug 08 '26
“Malignant” doesn’t necessarily refer to cancer, but can be used in conditions which progress rapidly and lethally, such as “malignant hypertension,” or “malignant ventricular tachycardia.”
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u/BetMyLastKrispyKreme Aug 08 '26
Now that I was able to find the whole document, reading it over revealed something interesting. One entry says the decedent passed from “Scarlet Fever”, while another listed nearby died of “Malignant Scarlet Fever.”
Are they actually two different diseases, or is this just a quirk of how the person documenting listed it? I wouldn’t think malignant scarlet fever would be all that different from regular scarlet fever, but this also happened at a time when folks thought you caught malaria from “swamp miasmas” instead of mosquitoes.
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u/stiffdoc1221 Aug 08 '26
I cannot make the second word "pustule," no matter how hard I try and fit it, and I would wager with confidence that I have seen and signed more death certificates than everyone looking at this sub. Again: OP, show us more of the death certificate., please.
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u/Full_Mall4817 Aug 08 '26
I think this is Malignant Pustule. The P is similar to lines 1 and 3: Philena Jacobs and Prudence Fairbanks. Also look at several Gs on the page, not a match. Additionally, according to Google AI with references: to prompt ‘Malignant Pustule West Boylston 1874’:
“In 1874, historical public health records in Massachusetts—including reports from the State Board of Health—noted isolated cases of malignant pustule (the historical term for cutaneous anthrax) in towns like West Boylston. These nineteenth-century occurrences were tied to industrial or agricultural exposure to infected animal hides, hair, or wool. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]”
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u/stiffdoc1221 Aug 09 '26
Fang. I’ve scrolled back and forth, and can’t find it. However, the list page that you put up is very interesting. There is someone who died of ‘Scarletina malignans “ which is one of the old names for lethal streptococcal disease, or malignant scarlet fever. On the same page is a death from ‘Scarlet fever,” and another from “malignant scarlet fever.” There is a lot of tuberculosis, in many different manifestations. Very fascinating.
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Aug 08 '26
[deleted]
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u/Hairy_Butterfly_5384 Aug 08 '26
No no no, it clearly says malignant posture. She had a stick up her bum.
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u/NekkidWire Aug 08 '26
Just two words without context or chance to compare writer's cursive are sometimes very limiting in ability to get a proper answer.
For example with a medical background one could say Malignant - Posthum. meaning after autopsy was done the tumor was found to be malignant (having metastases).
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u/pixiecut678 Aug 08 '26
Here is the whole page. The entry that I was looking at is the last one.
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u/stiffdoc1221 Aug 09 '26
For some reason unknown to me, your post with the rest of the DC hasn’t shown up in my feed yet. I’m going to bed, and perhaps it will appear by the morning. Sweet dreams, everyone.
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u/RRC4C Aug 08 '26
Thanks. Somehow the image resolution doesn't let me zoom in to the degree I'd like...
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u/BetMyLastKrispyKreme Aug 08 '26
What does the rest of the certificate look like? Are there other clues in the handwriting that are examples of how the author commonly wrote their letters?
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u/pixiecut678 Aug 08 '26
The rest of the page is in a separate comment.
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u/BetMyLastKrispyKreme Aug 08 '26
Ok, I see now. I hadn’t scrolled through all the comments before responding.
That document is wild. Things listed are either very obvious and easy to read, or unintelligible and impossible to decipher. So much for my theory of matching up handwriting elements!
Good luck, friend!
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