Today I learned...
- Thread starter Louanne Learning
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Today (yesterday but I was too busy to login) I learned that "vitriol" is an archaic name for sulfuric acid (H2SO4*). So the expression "spraying vitriol" at someone didn't originally mean "saying something nasty to them," it was about a literal acid attack. Learned this from a youtube documentary on the subject, not gonna link because it's a pretty horrible topic with some pretty horrible graphics, but it puts the whole linguistic thing in a different light.
*A limerick from my 7th grade science teacher:
Johnny was a chemist
But Johnny is no more
What Johnny thought was H2O
Was H2SO4
*A limerick from my 7th grade science teacher:
Johnny was a chemist
But Johnny is no more
What Johnny thought was H2O
Was H2SO4
Back in the days when Bosco (remember Bosco?) was advertised in the media with an odious jingle, there was a parody of it circulating among us kids:
"I hate Bosco
It's full of TNT
Mommy puts it in my milk to try and poison me.
But I fooled Mommy
I put it in her tea,
And now there is no mommy to try and poison me."
That was the epitome of wit when you're eight years old.
Today I learned -- or perhaps was just reminded? -- that when my parents were young (before there were refrigerators), their family and their neighbours built a large wooden box and put it in the basement of their shared building. They filled this box with ice, put apples (or other season fruit) on top, and closed the box.
Everyone in the building had a key to the basement, so whenever someone wanted fresh fruit, they could just wander in and help themselves.
This system was obviously not as hygienic as fridges, modern or otherwise, and relied on the honour system. But it was one way to keep fruit fresh.
Everyone in the building had a key to the basement, so whenever someone wanted fresh fruit, they could just wander in and help themselves.
This system was obviously not as hygienic as fridges, modern or otherwise, and relied on the honour system. But it was one way to keep fruit fresh.
That's what song-writing does to me. I've got a few tunes running through my head almost all the time, and a few sets of lyrics that keep wanting to get set to some music. The trick is to match them together.
Louanne Learning
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Today I learned that in the early 20th century women could buy tampons soaked in opium, to relieve pain and relax the vagina.
I was skeptical, so checked it out Snopes. It’s true. Pond's medicated tampon - sold in the 1900s - did indeed contain opium.
I was skeptical, so checked it out Snopes. It’s true. Pond's medicated tampon - sold in the 1900s - did indeed contain opium.
I guess it sort of makes sense, if you look at it really, really cockeyed. (Please pardon the pun). Opium was used in the 19th and early 20th centuries for many medicines, although there were certainly ones that didn't contain it.
Cocaine, for instance, was widely used as a local anesthetic, and was recommended for vomiting in pregnancy or toothaches. Cannabis was used in tinctures and cough syrups as a sedative and painkiller.
Chloral Hydrate was Introduced in 1869 as a sedative-hypnotic to treat sleeplessness -- but with this drug, the window between a therapeutic dose and a fatal one is incredibly small. And strychnine (eek!
) was used in small doses as a stimulant to increase energy.
Patent medicines and tonics were slightly less extreme. Possibly one of the more harmless was Holloway’s Pills, a mixture of ginger, rhubarb, and saffron used for various ailments.
Other, less painful remedies were quinine (for malaria), bromine and iodine (antiseptics for wounds), castor oil (as a laxative), and willow bark (for pain and fever, which led to aspirin in the late 1890s). On the other hand, mercury was extensively used to treat syphilis, often causing severe side-effects.
It's a wonder anyone survived!
Cocaine, for instance, was widely used as a local anesthetic, and was recommended for vomiting in pregnancy or toothaches. Cannabis was used in tinctures and cough syrups as a sedative and painkiller.
Chloral Hydrate was Introduced in 1869 as a sedative-hypnotic to treat sleeplessness -- but with this drug, the window between a therapeutic dose and a fatal one is incredibly small. And strychnine (eek!
) was used in small doses as a stimulant to increase energy.Patent medicines and tonics were slightly less extreme. Possibly one of the more harmless was Holloway’s Pills, a mixture of ginger, rhubarb, and saffron used for various ailments.
Other, less painful remedies were quinine (for malaria), bromine and iodine (antiseptics for wounds), castor oil (as a laxative), and willow bark (for pain and fever, which led to aspirin in the late 1890s). On the other hand, mercury was extensively used to treat syphilis, often causing severe side-effects.
It's a wonder anyone survived!
