Nineteenth Century
The Techno-Chemical Receipt Book
This is one of those volumes you pack away for when civilization collapses, as it give the formulas for making from scratch glass, nitroglycerin, glue, and a thousand other handy things.
Read it here.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Sep 13, 2020 -
Comments (2)
Category: Science, Technology, Books, Nineteenth Century
Merchant’s Gargling Oil
A small article here.
And another one here.
Posted By: Paul - Wed Sep 09, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Animals, Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Nineteenth Century
The Right To Be Lazy
Happy Labor Day!What better way to spend this annual celebration of work than by reading Paul Lafargue's 1883 treatise The Right To Be Lazy, in which he made a case for the virtues of idleness.
Some info about Lafargue and The Right To Be Lazy from RightNow.org:
Much of the book consists of a contrast between ideas about work in Lafargue’s day and the very different attitudes held in earlier societies, particularly in classical antiquity. Ancient Greek philosophers regarded work as an activity fit only for slaves. So where others hailed the arrival of modern industry as progress, Lafargue saw regression.
Longtime WU readers might remember that we've posted about Lafargue before. He made headlines back in 1911 for his unique retirement plan, which consisted of divvying up all he had for ten years of good living and then killing himself when the money ran out.
Posted By: Alex - Mon Sep 07, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Jobs and Occupations, Utopias and Dystopias, Books, Nineteenth Century
The toenails of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy
Victor Emmanuel II, who was king of Italy from 1861 to 1878, had a strange habit which isn't recorded on his wikipedia page.Each year he would let the nail of his big toe grow. Then he would cut the nail off and have a jeweler polish it and frame it in gold. The king would then present this oddity to his mistress (and eventual wife), the Countess Rosa Mirafiori. She eventually accumulated fifteen royal toenails.
I assume these royal toenails must be preserved in a museum somewhere. But if so, I haven't been able to track down where. Nor can I find any pictures of them.
Unless, of course, the story is an urban legend. The lack of good sources does make me a bit suspicious.
Chicago Tribune - Mar 26, 1961
Nebraska Advertiser - May 15, 1896
Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 27, 2020 -
Comments (3)
Category: Royalty, Nineteenth Century, Feet
The Chelsea Flash Pistol
Source of first pic.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 22, 2020 -
Comments (0)
Category: Death, Destruction, Photography and Photographers, Technology, Nineteenth Century
S.S.S. Tonic
Created by Charles Swift, this patent medicine is still for sale today. (Two separate links in that last sentence, if you're interested in following them!) And yet for some reason they make no claim about "purifying and invigorating polluted blood" or "inherited taints."
Posted By: Paul - Sat Aug 15, 2020 -
Comments (1)
Category: Patent Medicines, Nostrums and Snake Oil, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century
Cottolene
As the Wikipedia page tells us:Cottolene was a brand of shortening made of beef suet and cottonseed oil
Posted By: Paul - Fri Aug 07, 2020 -
Comments (5)
Category: Food, Nineteenth Century, Twentieth Century, Nausea, Revulsion and Disgust
Chief Long Hair
The modern-day Vietnamese man named Tran Van Hay reputedly had hair "over 22 feet long."
Other modern record-holders are in the 18-ft range.
But they can't hold a patch to Chief Long Hair of the Crows.
Itchuuwaaóoshbishish/Red Plume (Feather) At The Temple (born ca. 1750, died in 1836) A Mountain Crow leader during fur trade days and signer of the 1825 Friendship Treaty. Traders and trappers called him Long Hair because of his extraordinarily long hair, approximately 25 feet long. At his death, his hair was cut off and maintained by Tribal leaders.
Now because Long Hair lived before photography, there is no visual record of this. However! Supposedly his tresses are part of the exhibit at Chief Plenty Coups State Park in Montana. (Plenty Coups was a descendant of Long Hair.)
Source of quote.
If any WU-vie is passing by the museum, perhaps he or she can confirm!
Here's a photo of another Crow tribe-member named "Curley."
Posted By: Paul - Thu Jul 30, 2020 -
Comments (1)
Category: Human Marvels, World Records, Eighteenth Century, Nineteenth Century, Hair and Hairstyling, Native Americans
Occupation: Woman
Dixon Evening Telegraph - Nov 19, 1976
Posted By: Alex - Sat Jul 18, 2020 -
Comments (3)
Category: Jobs and Occupations, Gender, Women, Nineteenth Century
Human-Powered Flight
"Vélocipède aérien," proposed by Jean Jacques Bourcart, Paris, August, 1866
Source.
Posted By: Paul - Sat Jul 11, 2020 -
Comments (3)
Category: Death, Flight, Technology, Nineteenth Century
| Who We Are |
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |