Should you happen to be in the vicinity of Albuquerque, NM a stop at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History is well worth your time, if only to see what quacks were pedaling about a century ago. It makes the junk being pushed by the current coterie of quacks look tame.
The museum contains some truly bizzaro medicinal and personal care products that all "worked" because they were radioactive. My, how times have changed. Stuff that people gleefully used back then would now send today's consumers to flee as if being chased by a pre-menstrual saber-tooth tiger, especially these days when people are scared of all chemicals, WiFi, microwave ovens, and 5G, (which, by the way, is not the cause of COVID-19, brain tumors, passive anal leakage, or anything else, no matter what the nut logs say.)
Photo credit: Flickr
Here are just a few (of many) products that were used at the beginning of the 20th century.
The Thomas Radioactive Cone (ca.1912)
(Left) A Thomas Radioactive Cone. (Right) A sample of carnotite. Photo credits: J-Man Enterprises, Wikimedia Commons
This odd-looking object had an even odder use. The Thomas Radioactive Cone consisted of a core of a uranium mineral called carnotite (not visible). Seventy grams of carnotite was encased in a porous concrete cone. The thing was put into 1-2 gallons of water, which resulted in the emission of radioactive radon gas. Then people drank the water for its presumed health benefits, which borders on hilarious because people now pay thousands of dollars to have the gas removed from their basements.
What was it supposed to do? Hard to say.
“neither time nor money” in their “efforts to substantiate . . . the almost unbelievable health results that early users of this invention [the Thomas Radium C. R. Jar] had obtained.”
Source: R. W. Thomas and the Revigator
Radithor Certified Radioactive Water
Why bother with a silly cone when you can just buy radioactive water? Fortunately, Bailey Radium Laboratories made your life easier and more radioactive at once. It's also a fine example of bona fide madness.
The water in Radithor was distilled three times. After all, who would want to take the chance that some unknown impurity might be in the water before radium 226 and 228, both radioactive, were added? The company guaranteed a minimum of 1 microcurie per bottle. How healthy was it? Not so much.
The gory quote below shows what happened to Eben McBurney Byers, a millionaire industrialist in the 1920s. Byers suffered an arm injury and sought "medical help" from Charles Clinton Moyar, a physiotherapist in Pittsburgh. Moyar recommended Radithor. Bad move. Byers initially claimed that he "felt great." So much so that he drank 1400 bottles of the stuff. After that, he didn't feel so great.
"Young in years and mentally alert, [Byers] could hardly speak. His head was swathed in bandages. He had undergone two successive jaw operations and his whole upper jaw, excepting two front teeth, and most of his lower jaw had been removed. All the remaining bone tissue of his body was slowly disintegrating, and holes were actually forming in his skull."
Source: R. M. Macklis, "Radithor and the era of mild radium therapy," J. Amer. Med. Assoc. 264, 614 (1990)
Byers' death in 1932 marked the end of radioactive "medicines."
Pucker Up!
Radioquackery was not limited to "improved" health. It was also cosmetically (at least until your jaw fell off). It is difficult to miss the irony in the following. Pharmacist Alexis Mousalli and (irony alert) Dr. Alfred Curie (no relation to Marie) invented a line of radiation-based cosmetics for French women to give them "a healthy glow."
The ad above was published in Marie Claire Magazine (ca. 1937). It promoted Tho-Radia, the "healthy lipstick" (sold in pharmacies only), which came in five colors: Orange, Fire Bright, Medium, and Dark, which gave French women to option to apply a different dangerous color almost every day! The lipsticks contained both radium and thorium, hence the "glow" claim.
Other ways to expose yourself
You won't find these in the museum gift shop. Moab, Utah is nicknamed "The "Uranium Capital of the World" because it had some of the most important uranium mines (now all shut down). But, back then in the mine visitor center you could buy radioactive uranium jewelry, something you'll be hard-pressed to find on eBay.
Radioactive uranium earrings ca. 1955
My fuel rods are now spent, so I'm going to power down now. I do hope I've left you glowing with this illuminating knowledge.
NOTE
Although the following product was not part of the museum's collection it is too good to ignore. Radioactive toothpaste was invented in Germany in the 1920s. What a smile!
Smile! Photo: Wikipedia
Josh Bloom
Director of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science
Dr. Josh Bloom, the Director of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Science, comes from the world of drug discovery, where he did research for more than 20 years. He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry.
