19 June 2010

Radium rectal suppositories

I previously posted an advertisement for Tho-Radia, a face cream for ladies of the 1930s that contained radium bromide.  For the men there were radium suppositories which were marketed to restore sexual potency.

These and many more real products are collected at the Oak Ridge Associated Universities website.  Most date from the era before the toxicity of radium was understood.  The mind boggles at the number of human tragedies that must have ensued...

Wikipedia has a brief article about "Undark" - a commercial paint made with radium, offered to the general public as a do-it-yourself, glow-in-the-dark craft product.
(click to read).

1 comment:

  1. Knott's Berry Farm used to have a chapel which presented a phosphorescent Jesus. They also sold the paint. We bought lots of it. Men (mostly) had radium dials on their watches. I couldn't pass a shoe store without looking at the bones in my feet through the ¿fluoroscope? Ah, those were the days!

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