Ye Olde Hiv

Researchers say AIDS can be traced back as far as 1884. I think it goes back even further. William Shakespeare had a little-known play entitled "Stratford-upon-Avon" in which the protagonist was a barrister dismissed from the Queen's Council for having a mysterious "pox in leopard semblance." He seeks the council of a solicitor "of Moor seed" and takes on the Queen's Council for "labour termination most foul." I don't want to ruin it for you but the hero loses when the Queen's Council uncovers he "laid with a simian fortnightly" thus dismissing the case under bestiality laws. Sadly, you can't make this stuff up. The evidence is astounding. AIDS has been around for a long time.