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Once
upon a time, and not all that long ago, the medicine you took had more
to do with advertising and wishful thinking than with scientific testing
of its effectiveness. The latest miracle cure would be discovered,
sweep the country, and then die out when it turned out to not work. But
worse, many of the cures could kill you.
“The Radium
Water Worked Fine Until His Jaw Came Off” has to be one of the best
Wall Street Journal headlines of all time. The “radium water” in
question was called Radithor, and the jaw in question belonged to one
Eben Byers: industrialist, socialite, and amateur golf champion.
Radium
and radiation were all the rage around the turn of the 20th century.
People who went to natural hot springs seemed “invigorated and renewed,”
and scientists noted that many of these natural springs were high in
naturally-occurring radon. The radon seemed to be to water what oxygen
was to air; without it, water was “dead.” Looking to profit off of this
discovery, companies first bottled water directly from the springs, and
later produced “invigorating” crocks (containing internal radon discs or
coatings) to irradiate water. Just fill the crock before you go to
sleep, and have healthy, stimulating water all day long!
Things
did not work out well for Eben Byers, who drank three bottles of radon
water every day. Read about his case and seven other dangerous "cures"
at
mental_floss.
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