Quite Interesting, but apparently only to me

[soubie]

I'm searching YouTube clips of QI in attempt to demonstrate that a fact really was read out on the show that would surely be of interest here:

- Now, I already knew that until the 20th century the proprietry cure for syphilis contained huge quanitites of mercury. It wasn't clear whether it worked or not, but certainly what was true was that the cure

Comments

[pearlseed]

Well, I'll be go to hell! Okay, I haven't a clue, probably like the story about how hummingbirds hitchhike on the backs of ducks. However, I'm hieing off to webmd and see if there's anything like it...Always something in the world to wonder about. Your post showed up on my friend page and I like to read. Now I'm talking to you about STD and malaria. What a crazy old world, innit?

[etrangere]

Neal Stephenson uses that fact in his Historical fiction the Baroque trilogy to cure Jack Shaftoe of Syphilis. There are amusing parallels to make.

[bombazzinedoll]

Aw, Jack Shaftoe ♥

[justawench]

I had heard that mercury was antiseptic, and so it could alleviate some of the outer symptoms (or perhaps secondary infections that were actually unrelated to syphillis) but not actually *cure* the disease. A quick glance at the intarwebs shows contradictory info on its antiseptic properties, though.

And yep, Neal Stephenson used the fever cure, though I wondered why there wasn't permanent brain damage.