Unusual causes of death

[geoff4488]

One of mine.  Edmonton Daily 4th December 1907 "Fred Pratt a young English boy was injured in the Deseronto box factory by falling against a circular saw, he died today" He was 15 and had emigrated to Canada in July 1907.
Geoff

[Emjaybee]

Marie Curie was the first person to die of radiation poisoning, but they did not know it at the time.

[Nick29]

The official cause of death of Marie Curie was "aplastic pernicious anemia" which we now call leukemia.  She did suffer from radiation poisoning during her life, but radiation poisoning usually triggers one of 3 forms of cancer which result in death. Pierre Curie was also suffering from bone cancer, and would have died of it, had he not stepped in front of a car, which resulted in his death in 1906.  In those times, nuclear radiation was treated as a novelty, and there were many radioactive products that could be legally purchased, including radioactive water, blankets, lotions, creams, ear plugs, soap, toothpaste, chocolate bars, suppositories, and contraceptives     In 1929 Eben Byers marketed a 'medicine' called Radithor, which was guaranteed to contain 2 µCi of radium, and he swore by its health giving properties - at least he did until he died of leukemia in 1932!   With so many 'quack cures' around, regulations were gradually tightened up, but even in the 1960s, it was possible to buy 'health giving' products containing radioactivity in small doses.

[Ruskie]

.... there were many radioactive products that could be legally purchased, including radioactive water, blankets, lotions, creams, ear plugs, soap, toothpaste, chocolate bars, suppositories, and contraceptives     In 1929 Eben Byers marketed a 'medicine' called Radithor, which was guaranteed to contain 2 µCi of radium, and he swore by its health giving properties - at least he did until he died of leukemia in 1932!   With so many 'quack cures' around, regulations were gradually tightened up, but even in the 1960s, it was possible to buy 'health giving' products containing radioactivity in small does.

http://news.lucaswhitefieldhixson.com/2011/06/50-of-most-radioactive-posters-ideas.html#!/2011/06/50-of-most-radioactive-posters-ideas.html

 

(I have the radium cigarettes - well, the empty tin at least  )

[stonechat]

I remember at school we had special samples of radioactive materials to test on the Geiger counter

Them some of us tested our luminous watches - much more radioactive that the sample which was kept in a lead containers!

[Nick29]

When I was a kid you could buy luminous paint which came in a powdered form - who knows what it contained 

[stonechat]

***GRUESOME ALERT***
***Not for the sensitive***









My Gtx4 Grandfather was a turnpike keeper who was viciously murdered with a poker and eye gouged out.

Happened in about 1780

[andrewalston]

The registers of Croston, Lancs commonly record a cause of death for those buried from 1731 to 1812. Bearing in mind that that the entries were not made by a physician, they still show that the common illnesses of childhood used to be a tragedy rather than an inconvenience. "Chincough" and "Measels" came in waves, while smallpox was ever-present, as was consumption. There are 3 "visitations of God", 2 "excessive drinking" and two others were "intemperate". Only one death was occasioned by fire, so there must have been few wooden buildings. St Anthony's Fire, which killed a year old girl, is caused by eating grain contaminated by the ergot fungus.

You can see for yourself at www.lan-opc.org.uk.

And there's a relative of mine, aged 17 in 1788:

           Casually poisoned

This also tells us a little about the way the language has changed over the years. Substitute "Accidentally" and you are close to the original meaning.

[Billyblue]

When I was a kid you could buy luminous paint which came in a powdered form - who knows what it contained

When I worked for YHA, one of our managers died from cancer of the mouth.
It was put down to the fact that when he was a teenager during WW2, he worked making watches for RAAF pilots etc. that they could see in the dark.  They used to paint the numbers with luminous paint.  To make the point of their brush sharper, they moistened it with their tongue & lips!  No one knew, even then, what the radioactive materials would do.
      

Dawn M