Dee.Dee wrote:

> I've heard that gas that you can't pass can get up around your heart and be
> very painful -- I can't recall if that is the same thing as pleurisy, tho.

I can't say that I've ever heard of "gas that you can't pass" which gets
up "around your heart", but pleurisy is a lung condition, not a "gas"
condition.

> Women wore their clothes so tight that I'm sure a lot of fainting fits were
> gas/vapours.

Actually, more likely hypoxia from inability of the lungs to expand
adequately. Add that to probable inability to eat much, and perhaps heat
exhaustion from wearing such multiple layers of clothing in a
non-airconditioned world....

After all, doesn't the word vapours derive from gassing off?
> Tee Hee -- I laugh as I write this, "gassing off."
>
> Hey, I just gassed off.
> Ah, me -- reduced to talking about fahrts.
> Dee Dee