Dr. Steven Novella

So you think they had waterproof umbrellas prior to the 1750s?

A hundred percent.

I think they had waterproof umbrellas before 1750.

So what elements of a modern umbrella do you think might reasonably date to the 1750s?

For example, the collapsibility of it.

Yeah, the metal ribbing, the modern metal ribbing that keeps them from turning up in the gust of wind, you know, at least some of the time.

So there was definitely significant improvements that could mark the modern umbrella that could reasonably date to the 1750s.

But this one is the fiction.

No one invented the umbrella, right?

So I just wanted to pick something that nobody invented.

Wait, someone had to?

No.

The umbrella goes back at least 2,000 years, and it was a lot of iterations.

No one could be said to have invented the umbrella, just that, oh, yeah, they started doing this at this time.

And you're right, Kara.

All you have to do is cover it with wax, right, basically, and you make it waterproof.

So the idea of waterproofing...

umbrellas in order to stave off the rain goes back a long time.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.