
Valentine’s Potion - Hooke
https://www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/the-non-romantic-history-of-valentines-meat-juice/4011048.article
======
exhilaration
There is a link in this article to this paper:
[http://wilsonweb.physics.harvard.edu/arsenic/UbiquitousPoiso...](http://wilsonweb.physics.harvard.edu/arsenic/UbiquitousPoison.pdf)
And it's a fascinating history of the use of arsenic.

If you're curious about whether you're consuming any arsenic, this Consumer
Reports analysis of rice may interest you:
[https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2015/01/how-
muc...](https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2015/01/how-much-arsenic-
is-in-your-rice/index.htm)

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smoyer
My father and grand-father are from Danville and I had relatives in
Bloomsburg, just 9 miles away. Somewhere in my grand-father's family tree, one
of my relatives created "Moyer's Oil of Gladness" in a time when snake-oil,
elixirs and patent-medicines were very common. Most "worked" because they were
alcohol and then became heavily promoted by doctors "treating" the wealthy
during prohibition.

I should also note (given the history described in the links below), that my
grand-father and father are also William and my uncle is John. My siblings and
cousins each have a nice stamped bottle (first image) as a keepsake.

[https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/bloomsburg-
pennsylvan...](https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/bloomsburg-pennsylvania-
oil-gladness-442734346)

[https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nma...](https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1255540)

[https://www.flickr.com/photos/elycefeliz/8704680638](https://www.flickr.com/photos/elycefeliz/8704680638)

~~~
Psyladine
Ah, Jeppson's Malört, only alcohol that survived prohibition on account of a
taste so strong the government decided noone would enjoy drinking it.

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onychomys
Note that Virgil actually wrote "...omnia vincit Amor...", not "Amor vincit
omnia" like the article claims. See lines 68-70 here:

[http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%...](http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0056%3Apoem%3D10)

~~~
eindiran
That's true, but Virgil just changed the word order to fit the meter (see
dactylic hexameter[0]). Latin word order is relatively free, so poets would
reorder things to make them fit the meter used. It also appears that the
author of the article changed from the more standard verb-final ordering (SOV)
to SVO because it fits the English translations word order better.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dactylic_hexameter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dactylic_hexameter)

------
GistNoesis
Each age has its snake oil vendors.

In the article it was arsenic.

In the last century it was uranium and radium revitalizing products.

Now we have thorium infused wearable (
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22368960](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22368960)
). Though if you want to get rid of your rich old husband it may not be as
efficient.

