Sharp tools, poisons and hazards – as a museum of medicine, we have a LOT of dangerous objects, and what might appear seemingly safe can actually be quite deadly!
Here are (just) 10 things that could kill you.
1. A pint of beer
If you take a wander down Disease Street, you will stumble across the Black Dog pub where empty tankards are waiting to be filled with beer. But in Victorian England, a refreshing cold one is not exactly what you would have received. To save money, many landlords served watered down beer that was intensified with strychnine. Strychnine is dangerous poison; hallucinogenic in small doses and incredibly toxic at higher doses, with the ability to cause a serious drug addiction, and was potentially deadly.
2. A glass of water
If beer isn’t your thing, what about a nice refreshing glass of water?
In the 19th century if you had a drink of water from your local water pump, especially in London, you may have experienced less hydration and far more illness.
In 1854, Dr John Snow discovered that poo from the overflowing cesspits was leaking into the supply and contaminating the water in the Broad Street pump in Soho. Drinking from your local water pump meant there was a high chance of catching cholera (a bacterial disease), which in a lot of cases resulted in death.
Hand-coloured etching ‘Le ministere du Cholera morbus’, from the journal ‘La Caricature’, around 1840
3. J. Collis Browne’s Chlorodyne – a cure for cholera?
So, you’ve had a glass of water from your local water pump and now have cholera, what do you do? Produced by Dr John Collis Browne in the 19th century, chlorodyne was created with the original purpose of treating cholera. But this mixture quickly became very popular for its pain-relieving properties, which many mistook for treating their ailment.
Would you take a combination of opium, chloroform and cannabis? Well, anyone taking a sip of J. Collis Browne’s Chlorodyne would have been ingesting exactly that. Unsurprisingly, the dangerous combination of opium, cannabis and chloroform meant it became incredibly addictive, which led to overdosing and death.
Advertising flyer for J Collis Browne’s Chlorodyne, around 1880.
4. Penny lick ice cream
For the price of a penny in Victorian England, customers would get their ice cream in a small glass, lick the glass clean and hand it back to the vendor. The vendor would then rinse it and reuse it for the next customer, coining the name ‘penny lick’. Sustainable, right? However, the conical shape of the penny lick made it hard to clean, meaning the germs from one customer were easily passed on to the next.
In 1879, a medical journal published that penny licks were ‘dipped into dirty water which contains the mouth secretions of previous buyers, swabbed with a small, wet offensive cloth’. The spread of germs caused frequent cases of diseases such as tuberculosis, which many people died from! Consequently, the penny lick was outlawed in London in 1899.
Glass Penny Lick, around 1890.
5. Mercury
Mercury, among being used in a variety of medicines, was the most common remedy for syphilis from the late 15th century right through to the start of the 20th century. Mercury does have some anti-inflammatory properties and can kill certain (spirilla) bacteria, so it may have helped reverse some very early infections or reduced visible skin symptoms. But, most importantly (and rather unfortunately for patients) it would not have cured syphilis in most stages.
As we now know, mercury is very poisonous! Prolonged exposure can cause muscle weakness, tremors, breathing difficulties, tooth loss, rashes, headaches, mood swings and in some cases death, so it made things much worse for many patients who were treated with it.
So, would a night with Venus be worth a lifetime with mercury?
Stoneware jar storing mercury used to treat syphilis, no date.
6. Mrs Winslow’s Soothing Syrup
If your child or baby struggles to sleep, won’t stop crying or is experiencing teething, then worry not! A mixture of laudanum and alcohol branded ‘Mrs Winslow’s Soothing Syrup’ was marketed directly to families with children and babies in the 19th century to help with these issues – yes, you read that correctly!
Laudanum is an opiate drug – like morphine. One teaspoonful of soothing syrup had the morphine content equivalent to 20 drops of laudanum; and it was recommended that six-month-old babies received no more than two to three drops of laudanum. The reality is one teaspoonful contained enough morphine to cause the average child some serious harm. This coined the syrup’s nickname, ‘the baby killer’, as some babies went to sleep and never woke up after taking the medicine. As the saying goes, the only difference between a medicine and a poison is the dosage.
Advertising giveaway card for Mrs Winslow’s Soothing Syrup, 1887.
7. Picric acid
Bandages have been used in wars for hundreds of years – they’re a simple way to reduce infection, as they provide a barrier for the wound and could also be soaked in antiseptics – great, right?
During the First World War gauze and bandages were commonly soaked in picric acid, which was an antiseptic. However, in high doses, picric acid is highly toxic and can cause various health issues including fits and comas if ingested or through skin contact, which of course was how it was mainly administered!
Large burn dressing, 20th century.
Aside from its toxicity, there was another issue with picric acid – it was an explosive if it dried out! Not the smartest pairing during a war…Unsurprisingly, due to its health and environmental hazards, it is not used in modern first aid, and certainly not in active war zones.
8. Belladonna, aka the deadly nightshade plant
The name “belladonna” literally translates to “beautiful woman”, and some women in Renaissance Italy used to crush the belladonna berries from the deadly nightshade plant and squeeze drops of the mixture into their eyes to dilate their pupils! The belladonna would make the eyes appear more seductive as they would glisten and sparkle, but the reality is, in most cases this caused blindness. Other symptoms from ingesting the berries include blurry vision and hallucinations. Let’s not forget, the deadly nightshade berry is deadly. The saying goes ‘One is a thrill, two will make you ill and three will kill.’
Round glass jar of Belladonnae Folia, around 1898.
9. The Lobelia flower
Lobelia is a small pretty flower that loves the sun and commonly grows in English gardens. Historically Lobelia has been used as a medicine to induce vomiting, which is how it became known as ‘pukeweed’ (which is slightly less lovely). Native Americans also used the plant as a treatment for asthma since it can help clear mucus from the respiratory tract when smoked, which earned its other nickname, ‘Indian Tobacco’. Sounds fairly helpful, right?
Well, it’s actually a toxic plant. Lobelia’s toxicity stems from its high concentration of alkaloids and is structurally similar to nicotine. These types of alkaloids can cause a range of nasty effects, from diarrhoea and tremors to more severe symptoms like seizures, paralysis and even comas. A high dosage and consumption rate of lobelia can also lead to death.
Medicinal herbs of Lobelia, around 1900.
10. Chloroform as an anaesthetic
Some surgeons in the Victorian era advocated against anaesthesia and argued that patients being awake and in pain helped them to understand how the patient was feeling. Well after hearing this, you might agree.
In 1847, a doctor named James Simpson experimented with chloroform and found that it was an effective general anaesthetic. At last, patients were able to not feel any pain during surgery but partly because there was a high chance of dying.
If not administered properly with the correct dosage, many patients either never woke up from going under, or rather unfortunately, woke up mid surgery in a world of pain! So, the options were possible death or unimaginable pain.
Although Dr John Snow (remember him?) invented the chloroform inhaler in 1848, it wasn’t until 1853 that it gained widespread public acceptance. This is because Queen Victoria used a similar method of inhalation through a handkerchief. The mask allowed anaesthesia to be administered in a more controlled way.
Bottle for Chloroform Puriss, around 1957.