What Makes Flamingos Pink?

by Bill McLain

  Although medical quackery has been around for centuries, it seems to have flowered the most in the United States. The medicine wagons of the snake oil peddlers in the 1800s later gave way to much more sophisticated scams.

  Radionics was one of the most popular frauds in the 1920s and 1930s. The quack doctor used a small wooden box with a number of holes in the front and a light bulb inside. A number of wires, a dial, a pedal, and a glass tube were added to make the box impressive. Thin pieces of colored paper were pasted over the holes.

  The patient would moisten a slip of paper with his tongue and then drop it into a slot on top of the box. The quack doctor claimed he could see a letter through one of the holes that would diagnose the patient’s illness. For example, an A meant the patient was suffering from arthritis. Radionic doctors claimed they could lengthen a patient’s legs, cause amputated fingers to grow back, and fill dental cavities, as well as kill dandelions over any specified distance and fertilize fields as far as 70 miles away.

  Another fraud was the Spectro-Chrome therapy machine. The quack doctor explained that each color had significance. For instance, red energized the liver, blue built vitality, lemon yellow built bones, purple prevented malaria, and so on. When these colors were not in harmony, disease or other physical ailments resulted.

  The quack doctor claimed his Spectro-Chrome machine would attune all the color waves of a person’s body to bring good health. As bizarre as it sounds, by 1940 he had sold enough of his machines to earn him over $1 million.

  There are countless other medical frauds in our history, most of which were invented in the late 1800s or early 1900s. A few examples are the Homo-Vibra Ray, whose practitioners claimed the ability of diagnosing illnesses even if the patient was a great distance away; the electric brush designed to relieve headaches and promote hair growth; the galvanic eyeglasses said to improve eyesight and prevent nasal congestion; and the radio disease killer, which was an impressive-looking box of electronic gear that the patient could use to cure himself.

  Although it may seem odd that such fake devices could ever sell, when people are ill or suffering and cannot find a cure, they will often try anything.

  Today there are many reputable alternatives to standard medical techniques, but there are also many quacks out there.

  FACTOIDS

  Individuals frequently made medicines at home, often containing opium or alcohol, which they claimed could cure most ailments. The inventor would then seek a patent for his concoction. Hence the name patent medicine.

  A typical patent medicine might claim it could cure sour stomach, headache, nausea, coughs, cold, consumption, pneumonia, asthma, bronchitis, and pleurisy.

  One man made a very successful machine called the “Magno-Electric Vitalizer,” which he claimed could cure almost anything, including rheumatism, deafness, and paralysis. When his company was shut down for fraud in 1904, his father, the well-known inventor Thomas Alva Edison, said, “My son has never shown any ability as an inventor or electrical expert and is incapable of making any invention or discovery of merit.”

  DID YOU KNOW?

  Will Keith Kellogg, the creator of the Kellogg cereal company in 1894, once worked as a bookkeeper and manager at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, where his older brother, John, was a staff physician.

  John Kellogg’s surgical skills were admired by well-known doctors of his time, but he began using questionable medical practices and later was called a quack.

  During this time both Will and John Kellogg searched for a digestible substitute for bread. They experimented by boiling wheat. They never did find a substitute, but by accident Will came up with something far better.

  Will had forgotten about a pot of wheat he had boiled, and it softened and congealed after standing for a long time. When he finally put the wheat through the normal rolling process, each grain emerged as a large, thin flake.

  He decided to serve this to the patients. They liked the wheat flakes so much that it eventually became one of their favorite foods.

  After leaving the hospital, many patients wrote Will and asked for packages of the wheat flakes. He began packaging the flakes and his small enterprise eventually grew to become the Kelloggs Company.

  What is the origin of the word “cocktail” for a mixed drink? (A cocktail can make you cockeyed.)

  No one really knows for sure. There are at least 14 explanations of the origin of the word and authorities do not agree on any one of them as being factual. Here are a few of the more common explanations.

  When preparing roosters for a cock fight, trainers often made a bread from a mixture of flour, stale beer, white wine, gin, seeds, and herbs. They fed this to the birds to ready them for the fight. This bread was called “cock-bread ale” which was later shortened to “cock-ale.” This eventually became “cocktail.”

  In the 17th and 18th centuries, beer was mixed with minced meat of boiled cock and other ingredients and was called “cock-ale,” which evolved into “cocktail.”

  In 1926 a French writer claimed that the word cocktail was derived from the French word coquetel, which referred to a mixed drink produced in the Bordeaux region of France.

  Another source claims that the word is short for “cock tailings,” which are the remains of various liquors all put into one container and sold cheaply.

  FACTOIDS

  The word “punch” comes from a Hindi word for “five.” Perhaps coincidentally, the English colonists in India often used five ingredients when making the drink: rum, tea, sugar, lemon, and water.

  Bourbon derives its name from Bourbon County, Kentucky, where it was first produced. However, Bourbon County no longer produces bourbon. Although some counties in Kentucky produce bourbon, it is illegal to buy it in these counties.

  Trader Vic (Victor Bergeron) created a new drink and served it to his friends from Tahiti. After tasting it, they exclaimed “Mai tai—roa ae!”—“out of this world—the best” in Tahitian. Mai tai became the name of the drink.

  When the pilgrims loaded the Mayflower before sailing to the New World, they stored more beer than water.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  There is a mystique about one of the most famous cocktails of our time, the martini, made with gin and dry vermouth. The proportions depend on the type of martini:

  Traditional: two parts gin to one part dry vermouth

  Dry: five parts gin to one part dry vermouth

  Extra dry: eight parts gin to one part dry vermouth

  There are countless stories about martinis and famous people such as President Franklin Roosevelt, who added fruit juice or a teaspoon of olive brine; W. C. Fields, who called double martinis “angels’ milk”; and Ernest Hemingway, who called his martini “the Montgomery,” because World War II English Field Marshal Montgomery liked battlefield odds of 15 to 1 and Hemingway liked martinis with 15 parts of gin to 1 part of dry vermouth. There are also famous quips such as the one by Robert Benchley. He had spent most of the day floating in a studio water tank. When he emerged he allegedly said, “I must get out of these wet clothes and into a dry martini.” (Yes, it was said by Robert Benchley, not by Alexander Woolcott, Charles Butterworth, or Mae West.)

  Probably the most famous saying about martinis is the one that Agent 007, or James Bond, uses when he orders one. “Make it large and very strong and very well made.” After a short pause he continues, “shaken, not stirred.”

  Could James Bond have possibly been wrong? Most bartending books say that a martini should be stirred. A good cocktail should be served cold, clear, and not diluted with water. Shaking a drink chills it better than stirring it. However, shaking it traps air bubbles and clouds the drink.

  Some claim that more ice melts when a drink is stirred, while others claim more ice melts when it is shaken.

  Well, it appears to be a toss-up, so it’s not possible to determine if Agent 007 is correct or not. The controversy of shaken versus stirred will never be resolved. There are staunch proponents on both sides.r />
  Unless you happen to be employed as a government agent, why not just enjoy the James Bond films the way they are and drink martinis made the way you personally prefer?

  What is the origin of the word “shrink” when used as a name for a psychologist? (Don’t lose your head over this one.)

  The term “shrink” is a shortened form of “head shrinker,” which was not meant to be a compliment. Many cultures throughout the world were headhunters who took the heads of their enemies as battle trophies. However, the only known practice of shrinking heads occurs in remote parts of Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil. The Jivaros, who live in the Amazon jungle, gained international attention when they were first discovered. They practice a ritual of drying and shrinking the heads of their slain enemies.

  Jivaros are feared throughout South America. In fact, they are one of the only tribes who have successfully defended their homeland against Spanish invaders. In one secretly planned attack, the Jivaros massacred 25,000 Spanish settlers. The Spaniards made numerous attempts to conquer the Jivaros, but never succeeded. Although their land has rich gold deposits, their ferocity has discouraged outsiders from entering their territory.

  Jivaros believe that a shrunken head holds both the power and the soul of the victim. They also are convinced that when a person is killed, the soul seeks revenge. By shrinking the head, the warrior not only gains the power of the victim but also prevents the avenging soul from harming anyone because it is now trapped in the shrunken head.

  To the headhunters, shrinking heads was both a religious and magical practice. The term “head shrinker” or “shrink” implied that psychologists were also using magic, rather than science, in an attempt to cure their patients. Although it was a term of ridicule when it first appeared in the early 1960s, it has since become a common term. It no longer implies contempt and is often used in a humorous sense.

  FACTOIDS

  Of all the people in this country who are between the ages of 15 and 54, about half of them have had a psychological problem during their lifetime.

  The results of a study done by a large corporation showed that 60 percent of employee absences were caused by stress, a psychological problem.

  Six facial expressions are universally recognized: fear, anger, surprise, disgust, sadness, and happiness.

  Between 50 and 70 percent of patient visits to a primary care physician have nothing to do with a physical illness but are related to psychological factors. Depression and anxiety are among the six most common conditions seen in family practice.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  Today the Jivaro tribe of southern Ecuador still performs the ritual of shrinking the heads of slain enemies. It takes quite a bit of time to shrink a head. The Jivaro warrior first makes an incision in the back of the head in order to remove the skull. He then turns the skin inside out and scrapes it. Later he sews the eyes and lips shut.

  He boils the head in a mixture of herbs and water for about two hours, which causes the head to begin shrinking. At this point, it is about one-third normal size. Once it has cooled, he sews up the incision at the back of the neck and successively fills it with hot rocks and sand which continue the shrinking process until the head is about the size of a baseball or a man’s fist. He then hangs it over a smoldering fire all night which changes the color from yellowish to black. As the final step, he rubs the head with charcoal dust to polish it.

  About 150 years ago, there was a lively trade in shrunken human heads. The heads were sought by museums, collectors, and curiosity seekers. Eventually both the Peruvian and Ecuadorian governments passed laws that dispensed severe penalties for anyone buying and selling shrunken human heads. However, there was still a great demand for the shrunken heads, so people started making realistic fakes to sell. These counterfeit heads were carefully crafted from animal skins and often fooled even museums. Even today these fakes are sold as souvenirs and the older, classical fakes can fetch a very high price, often $ 1,000 or more.

  People seem to be fascinated by shrunken heads and often buy a replica made out of rubber at a fair or novelty store. These can sometimes be seen hanging from rearview mirrors in automobiles.

  Perhaps a less gruesome and more appealing ornament to hang from a rearview mirror would be fuzzy dice.

  Where did the term “chickenpox” come from? (What about cowpox and monkeypox?)

  The term “chickenpox” originated in 1720. It is the popular name for varicella, a mild eruptive disease that bears some resemblance to smallpox. It chiefly affects children.

  The name is based on the mildness of the disease compared to the much worse and often deadly smallpox. The chicken is considered the mildest of all barnyard fowl (that’s one of the reasons we use the word chicken as a synonym for cowardly).

  The term “pox” actually comes from smallpox rather than chickenpox. Persons infected with smallpox first break out in a red rash that eventually turns into blisters. If the blisters are scratched or broken for some reason, they leave a “pock” mark or scar on the skin. The person can thus become covered with “pocks,” from which the word pox is derived.

  Most children in the United States come down with chickenpox before they are 10 years old. Although chickenpox is typically not dangerous, recent studies have shown that aspirin should not be given to a child that has the disease. Doing so could cause Reye’s syndrome, a rare brain malady.

  People who have had chickenpox and are cured are immune to the disease for the rest of their lives.

  Most people have heard of smallpox and chickenpox, but not many are familiar with cowpox. Cows carry a virus very similar to smallpox that causes a very mild disease. Many people living in the country knew that if you had been sick with cowpox, you could never contract smallpox. In 1796, a British doctor, Edward Jenner, noticed that milkmaids did not get smallpox. He proved that if he infected someone from the scab of a cowpox sore, that person would never get smallpox. It was the beginning of vaccination. Since that time, medical researchers have developed vaccinations to prevent many diseases, including rabies, diphtheria, tetanus, yellow fever, polio, measles, and mumps.

  We are thankful for more than just the milk that cows give us. You could say that because of this docile animal, we have all been spared from catching many terrible diseases.

  FACTOIDS

  Fortunately, most people recover from chickenpox with no aftereffects. However, it’s another story with smallpox. Here are a few interesting facts about this deadly disease:

  The Spanish explorer Hernando Cortés brought smallpox to the Americas in 1520 that killed over 3.5 million Aztecs in just two years. It also devastated many Native American tribes.

  The Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses V died of smallpox. Five European kings also died of it in the 18th century.

  The last natural outbreak of smallpox occurred in Somalia in 1977. The disease has been completely eradicated from the world since that time. The only smallpox virus in the world was stored in two carefully guarded medical freezers, one in Moscow, Russia, and the other in Atlanta, Georgia.

  There are other “poxes” named after chickens and other animals such as fowlpox, sheeppox, and swinepox.

  DID YOU KNOW?

  There is another “pox” that few people have heard of. It is monkeypox, a disease transmitted to humans by monkeys and other primates in Central and West Africa. Monkeypox and smallpox produce almost identical symptoms, including the typical pock marks. Although scientists have known about it since 1958, it was not of great concern. It occurred only in Africa, was typically not fatal, and was not easily transmitted from person to person. There were only 37 reported cases of the disease between 1981 and 1986.

  All that changed in 1996 when an outbreak of monkeypox occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Over 500 people caught the disease and 6 of them died. Worse than that, it was discovered that it was being passed from person to person.

  Scientists know that if people are vaccinated against smallpox, they will not get monkeypox. Howe
ver, this presents a major problem. You need smallpox virus to make a vaccine and the only smallpox virus in the world was in two medical freezers.

  In 1996, the World Health Organization decided to destroy the last remaining smallpox virus in the research centers in the United States and Russia to totally eliminate smallpox in the world and prevent it from ever occurring again. They decided to keep a half a million doses of smallpox vaccine as well as the smallpox vaccine seed virus in case there is ever a need to produce vaccine in the future. This is stored in the Netherlands.

  Let’s hope that nothing ever happens to the stored vaccine. If it should accidentally be destroyed, stay away from monkeys.

  More questions? Try these Web sites.

  HASH HOUSE LINGO

  http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US8/SPEC/hashhous.html

  If you scroll to the bottom of the page you’ll find about 15 hash house lingo terms and their meanings. Scrolling down further will give you a longer list of terms and definitions.

  The following site will explain many of the terms used in today’s restaurants including Gueridon service, table d’hôte, chef de cuisine, and chef de rang.

  http://www2.ebham.ac.uk/ca/food%20service/gloss1.htm

  WORD ODDITIES AND TRIVIA

  http://members.aol.com/gulfhigh2/words.html

  A good collection of word trivia, including palindromes (a word spelled the same backward and forward, such as “radar”), names of people that became words, and so on.