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Whales at a party?

20 Mar 2017

An 1861 Vanity Fair cartoon depicted whales celebrating at a party. Celebrating what, you may ask? The discovery of oil in Pennsylvania!

Why Black Hair Dye Became Popular in 1930s Detroit

20 Mar 2017

Well, because Henry Ford decided that younger men could work more productively on his automobile assembly line and so began to fire older workers and higher younger ones. This prompted some of the...

What is the link between diamond, graphite and buckyballs?

20 Mar 2017

They are all composed only of carbon. What determines the properties of any substance? Simple. The properties of any substance depend on the type and number of atoms they are composed of, and of...

X-Rays and Hair Removal

20 Mar 2017

In 1895 Wilhelm Roentgen made one of the most famous medical discoveries of all time when he noticed that a beam of electrons passing through a partially evacuated tube gave off invisible rays that...

What natural substance was the first local anesthetic to be introduced into medicine?

20 Mar 2017

Cocaine. Credit for the discovery of cocaine as a local anesthetic is usually attributed to Dr. Carl Koller, an Austrian opthamologist who in 1884 demonstrated that dropping a solution of cocaine...

Treatments for Baldness

20 Mar 2017

Aristotle used goat urine and Hippocrates recommended pigeon droppings, as a treatment for baldness.

Snorting Things to Survive Smallpox?

20 Mar 2017

A powder made from the scabs of pustules on the skin of people who had survived smallpox. The eradication of this horrific disease, which is thought to have first appeared around 10,000 B.C., is...

What is saltpeter used for and is it true it reduces certain “carnal urges?”

20 Mar 2017

The second part of the question is easy to answer.  “Saltpetre,” (the term refers either to potassium or sodium nitrate) has no effect on carnal urges.  The story that this chemical was put into...

In the 16th Century Someone Tried to Poison Benvenuto Cellini, but Instead Cured his Syphilis... How?

20 Mar 2017

With mercuric chloride, also known as “corrosive sublimate.” People have been intrigued by mercury and its compounds for over 3500 years. Ko Hung, an ancient Chinese alchemist was one of the first...

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