
Histories Hidden in the Periodic Table - appwiz
https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/the-histories-hidden-in-the-periodic-table
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saagarjha
> Another scientist toying with Boyle’s phosphorus found that, “if the Privy
> Parts be therewith rubb’d, they will be inflamed and burning for a good
> while after.”

The first test you should do with any unknown substance, yes.

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carterehsmith
Lol, reminds me of examples like Kopi Luwak coffee beans - somebody,
somewhere, followed a type of cat, civet cat, and, once the cat defecated,
decided that _that_ cat shit looked most appealing, so why not go ahead and
taste it? Or, pore through the shit, extract the beans found in the fecal
matter, and make coffee out of those. Why not?

And, thanks to those people's sacrifices, we now get to enjoy good coffee.

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wrinklytidbits
It could be that it was perhaps a delicacy to eat cat feces: perhaps it was
due to a cat's carnivorous diet, and it could be that one day a cat feces
eating guy or gal got a good buzz and made the discovery that that cat had
been eating a certain berry. Chasing the buzz they figured out coffee.

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Someone
My bet would be on famine, a kid, or both.

Alternatively, if you encounter the cat’s faeces after it got dispersed a bit,
it may take a while before you realize that the nicer tasting coffee beans you
find went through a cat.

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nemosaltat
If you enjoyed this, I highly recommend “The Disappearing Spoon.” The title is
a reference to Gallium’s low melting point, and the book has wonderful
histories of most of the elements, and the table itself.

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justjonathan
I came to recommend the same thing. It’s a fun read and filled with lots of
great science history.

[https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Disappearing_Spoon....](https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Disappearing_Spoon.html)

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melling
Great podcast about the elements in the periodic table:

[http://episodictable.com/](http://episodictable.com/)

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thunderrabbit
I wonder what analogues exist between naming chemical elements and the history
of allocating IPv4 addresses or short domain names

