The discovery of LSD and the subsequent psychedelic renaissance of the mid-20th century hold ample space in history books, but Albert Hofmann didn’t discover the first mind-altering chemical. At the turn of the 20th century, natural psychedelics’ ancient power crossed continents to shape both cultural and technological development.
Category: Toxic History! lecture series
Episode 23: The Elixir of Death
Want to know what toxic medicine has killed thousands of people? Why outbreaks keep happening? And how it started the modern FDA? Listen Dr. Prosser’s Toxic History episode to find out! Dr. Jane Prosser is the host of the Pick Your Poison podcast, an amazing series on the diagnosis and medical management of poisonings.
Episode 22: Radithor Radioactive Water
In the 1920s and 1930s, radium was an exciting new material. It was used to illuminate watch dials in the dark, treat tumors, and also as a primary ingredient in quack medical remedies. This is the story of Radithor, a fake medicine containing radium.
Episode 21: The Salem Witch Trials and the Ergot Hypothesis
The Salem witch trials of the early 1690s were the most notorious and lethal witch hunt in American history. At the heart of the trials, the Village of Salem was a town at its boiling point, but the complex political and social factors at play still seem insufficient to explain the happenings that ultimately transpired….
Episode 20: Bringing Deadly Sleepe: A Review of Selected Pre-1900s Toxicology Literature
Toxicology is full of treatments which are poorly supported by literature. Many of those treatments originated over 100 years ago. If you think data are bad now, we invite you to see what treatments were like in the past – drawn from the pages of multiple historical toxicology textbooks.
Episode 19: Dioxins and the Poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko
Dioxins are a category of persistent organic pollutant (POP), with a long history of human exposure and serious adverse health and environmental effects. Where did this forever chemical come from, and how did it end up in the dinner of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in 2004? Join us as we discuss the long-lasting legacy of…
Episode 18: Twisted Sister, a Widow’s Intrigue
Springtime at the turn of the 20thcentury promised rebirth, hope, and prosperity in America. But in northern Michigan, a twisted nightmare was consuming an idyllic community. An infant was found deceased in a crib, the mother succumbing within the next hour, and the father only days later. Some feared a curse, others speculated a contagion….
