James claimed his concoction could treat any number of ailments, including fever, scurvy, and even distemper in cattle.īut he was notoriously secretive about the recipe of his fever powder. Robert James, an 18 th Century English physician, invented and patented his famous “Dr. It claimed to not only improve energy, but could also aid in digestion, increase vitality, and cure impotence in men.ĭespite the fact that the adverse health effects of radium were already known as early as 1913, RadiThor remained a popular drink throughout the 1920s, until the federal government forced an end to its production in 1932. Radium water was marketed under the name brand RadiThor with the slogan: “A Cure for the Living Dead.” Radium, another dangerous element, was commonly mixed with water sold as an over-the-counter “energy” drink in the early 20 th Century.
However, that, unfortunately, wasn’t the case. You’d hope that after mercury, people would have learned their lesson about using potentially toxic elements as a curative tonic. In this case, the cure really was worse than the disease. However, ingesting mercury can also lead to lung damage and kidney toxicity, and many people undergoing this treatment died of mercury poisoning. However, that wasn’t always the case.įrom the 16 th all the way up to the 20 th Century, mercury was welcomed as a healing drug and regularly prescribed by doctors and consumed by ill people.īecause of its purging capabilities, doctors believed that it could cure everything from constipation to parasites, the flu, and even melancholy.Ĭalomel, the powdered version of mercury, was prescribed through the 20 th Century. Today, mercury is known as a potentially toxic element that can be harmful in large doses. Therefore anyone who consumed human remains could gain some of their former strength.Īs gruesome as it might sound, corpse medicine remained a popular course of treatment for centuries, with the last known occurrence happening in 1908. When rubbed on the outside of the body, it was believed that human fat could relieve aches and cure gout, while a tincture of ground-up skull mixed with alcohol could help cure epilepsy.Ĭonsuming fresh blood was thought to aid in general health and vitality.Įveryone from laypeople to royalty believed in the idea that corpses retained the “spirit” of the person who had passed. Peaking in popularity in the 16 th and 17 th centuries, doctors prescribed everything from blood to ground-up skulls to their patients. Corpse Medicineįor hundreds of years, European physicians believed that a whole host of human maladies could be cured by cannibalism. Poor hygiene standards, toxic medicines, and a general misunderstanding of human anatomy all led to some creative, albeit ultimately dangerous, medical practices.Īll too often, the doctor’s cures only ended up causing their ailing patients more harm than intended.Īnyway, without further ado, here are eight old medical practices that did more harm than good. Throughout history, going to the doctor was often more risky than just taking your chances with your illness. However, while we are lucky today to be alive in a time of great scientific and medical knowledge, that was unfortunately not always the case. Physicians have been concocting tinctures and performing surgeries to alleviate these ailments for just as long. © 2002 by Michael Swanwick and as long as human beings have been around, they have been getting ill, injuring themselves, and contracting diseases. I'd blush to tell you what everything King Antimidas touched turned to. Where Midas had servants, luxury, a palace, he had nobody, squalor, a cardboard box. Very few realize that he had a twin brother who was as antiwealthy in antimony as Midas was-well, you get the idea. The whole world knows that everything King Midas touched turned to gold. Once a year it sends an immodest lump of antimony to you. So once a month the government sends modest sums of money to your retired parents. Both are alternatives devoutly to be avoided. Too much money results in a celebrity culture. Too much antimony results in a depression. It's important that neither one dominates the economy. It proves the moral superiority of the poor, for the rich hoard all their wealth to themselves while the poor are willing to share their largesse of antimony with anybody.Ī good government will keep equal amounts of money and antimony in circulation. It humbles the mighty and silences the proud. It rids us of obnoxious billionaires and blowhard politicians.
Next to money, antimony is the most useful substance in the world. Too much money in the bank? Too much furniture? Too big a house? Antimony can take care of that.
But the opposite of money drops the letter "e" and is spelled "antimony."Īntimony makes the world go the other way round. What a funny language English is! The opposite of matter is antimatter, and the opposite of macassar is antimacassar.
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