Imagine you were told that over 140 different illnesses, including blindness, asthma, hysteria, stomach issues, cancer, and impotence, could all be treated by a single miraculous drug. Sounds too good to be true, and indeed it was.
People waited in line to purchase Radithor, a super drug that was advertised as having almost universal cures. Not even reports of people’s jaw disintegrating would be enough to deter people from using this radioactive medicine.
Why did people believe that this medicine could treat so many different diseases? Surely people would question whether this was possible. The special ingredient that launched Radithor into global success was a newly discovered element taking the world by storm: radium.
