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More than 2,500 barbiturates have been synthesized. At the height of their popularity, about 50 were marketed for human use.
In 1885, the Lloyd Manufacturing Company of Albany, New York, promoted and sold "Cocaine Toothache Drops" at 15 cents per bottle! In 1914, the Harrison Narcotic Act brought the sale and distribution of this drug under federal control.
Human stomach acid is strong enough to dissolve small pieces of metal such as razor blades or staples.
More than nineteen million Americans carry the factor V gene that causes blood clots, pulmonary embolism, and heart disease.
When Gabriel Fahrenheit invented the first mercury thermometer, he called "zero degrees" the lowest temperature he was able to attain with a mixture of ice and salt. For the upper point of his scale, he used 96°, which he measured as normal human body temperature (we know it to be 98.6° today because of more accurate thermometers).