"Humanitarian Nonsense":
This chapter is called "Humanitarian Nonsense" and it is about fluorine, bromide, and iodine. Fluorine is the first and most reactive halogen. Fluoridation began in World War II. It was put into water and used to aid in dental practice. Bromide was used in sedatives. In was used as a anticonvulsant for Queen Victoria which helped curb her epilepsy. Both fluorine and bromide were found to be too dangerous for further regulated use. Iodine however is less dangerous than the other two and was found to be beneficent rather than harmful. It is used as an antiseptic and is characteristically brown liquid in a brown bottle. It was a great accidental discovery in 1805 by Bernard Courtois when he added sulphuric acid to alkaline soda. It was soon found in seawater and other minerals. Each of these chemicals were used at some time for ailments, but only iodine has stuck around.
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| Picture Work Cited: Bromine, http://images-of-elements.com/bromine.php, Creative Commons, January 30, 2010 |
Slow Fire:
The next chapter is called "Slow Fire" it is about oxygen and water. Water is composed of two hydrogen and an oxygen. In the 18th century neither hydrogen or oxygen was known, water was thought to be one of the four elements. In 1767 Joesph Priestly discovered "fixed air" or Carbon dioxide. It extinguished fires, choked animals, and made plants thrive. In 1777 Lavoisier performed further experiments that created oxygen, which means generator of acid. He then used oxygen and hydrogen to create an explosion that left only pure water behind. Phlogiston described this combustion of air but no one had any real understanding of this. His work placed oxygen at the center of combustion. Even though he made a scientific breakthrough he was still guillotined for his work as a tax collector on May 5, 1794. Oxygen Therapy began to spread in the 19th century. It was used to support life and cure ills. Many skeptics tried to prove this method of quackery, but failed when John Scott Haldane proved the benefits of oxygen therapy on World War I soldiers that inhaled poisons. Recently however, oxygen has been found to be a destroyer of life. This excess amount of oxygen may have killed Michael Jackson.
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| Picture Work Cited: Oxygen Tank, http://www.ozoneservices.com/products/OLO/tank.htm, OzoneLab, April 6, 2014 |
Our Lady of Radium:
This chapter was called "Our Lady of Radium", it is about radium. Radium is explosively reactive and radioactive. Marie Curie discovered Radium through her work with radiology. In 1902 a tenth of a gram of radium was made. She was awarded a Noble Prize for this discovery. Although radium was harming to the skin it was also found to cure cancer. Everyone adored it for its therapeutic qualities. Other products began to emerge like radium butter, radium beer, radium toothpaste, and radium chocolate. It wasn't clear until the 30's that radium was found to be a danger to health. In New Jersey 15 workers died after suffering anemia and jaw decay from making luminescent watches and using their mouths to put a fine point on the brushes they used. Radium is now only used in radiological clinics.
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| Picture Work Cited: Radium, http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/nobelprize_info/curie-edu.html, Mausweisel, Creative Commons, November 2011 |
Once again this was very interesting I especially found the radium section fascinating because of how long it took for people to find out how harmful it really is.
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