1 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: Welcomed Aaron Manky's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of I 2 00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: Heart Radio and Grim and Mild. Our world is full 3 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: of the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, 4 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,600 Speaker 1: all of these amazing tales are right there on display, 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: just waiting for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet 6 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:38,360 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Medicine has come a long way from the 7 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:41,199 Speaker 1: days of blood letting and drilling holes in skulls to 8 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:43,960 Speaker 1: release the demons. The more we learn about the human body, 9 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,920 Speaker 1: the better we get at curing what ails us. Surgeries 10 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,320 Speaker 1: are more precise, computerized scans give us a clear picture 11 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: of what might be going on inside us, and tiny 12 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 1: cameras can access areas previously unseen. But some problems cannot 13 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,320 Speaker 1: be cut out or removed. In fact, some problem can't 14 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: be fixed at all. But that doesn't mean we can't try. 15 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,119 Speaker 1: Back in nineteen seventeen, one man believed that he could 16 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:10,119 Speaker 1: cure the brain of a common and debilitating disease, one 17 00:01:10,160 --> 00:01:14,000 Speaker 1: that plagued humanity across the globe. That man was Nicola Tesla, 18 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:16,959 Speaker 1: the inventor and electrical engineer known for his work on 19 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:21,040 Speaker 1: the modern alternating current. Decades before we could charge our 20 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: phones and earbuds simply by dropping them onto an inductive 21 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:27,200 Speaker 1: charging pad. Tesla was working on a way to transmit 22 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:31,160 Speaker 1: AC power from his Tesla coil using inductive and capacity 23 00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:33,760 Speaker 1: of coupling. That's just a fancy way of saying that 24 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: he was inventing wireless lighting. He was even seen on 25 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 1: stage a few times lighting various tubes and incandescent bulbs 26 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: from several feet away. Tesla poured his heart and soul 27 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: into electricity. He wanted to change the world with it, 28 00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:52,440 Speaker 1: from wireless power to bladeless turbines. Edison gets all the 29 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:55,920 Speaker 1: credit these days, but Tesla was the true genius. However, 30 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: there was one area where the ingenious inventor saw a 31 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: perfect application for his new technology, the medical field. Tesla 32 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:06,600 Speaker 1: noticed that one of his assistants was performing tests with 33 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: high frequency current, but wasn't following directions properly. After a while, though, 34 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,640 Speaker 1: and with more exposure to the current, the assistant started 35 00:02:14,639 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: doing better. Tesla was quoted as saying, a high frequency 36 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: current intensifies the action of the brain. It is a 37 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: mental stimulant like alcohol, but instead of hurtful to the 38 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 1: brain cells, the electricity is beneficial. He believed that he 39 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:33,680 Speaker 1: could use high frequency current to improve brain functions. In 40 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:38,239 Speaker 1: other words, Nikola Tesla wanted to electrocute the stupidity out 41 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:41,640 Speaker 1: of people. To test his theory, he sought out a 42 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: group of people whose brains had not fully developed. Children. 43 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 1: Tesla hypothesized that special wiring inside the insulated walls of 44 00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:53,320 Speaker 1: school classrooms could amplify millions of electric waves into the 45 00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: local atmosphere, waking up dormant brain cells in the fresh 46 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: faced kiddos, and he put that hypothesis to work in Stockholm, Sweden. 47 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,720 Speaker 1: Two different classrooms were used, one of which was outfitted 48 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:08,200 Speaker 1: with Tesla's special wiring. Fifty children sat in that room, 49 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: while another fifty sat in a normal classroom without the wiring. 50 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:15,000 Speaker 1: Both groups completed their schoolwork each day over the course 51 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:17,960 Speaker 1: of six months, with one set of kids getting bombarded 52 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:21,560 Speaker 1: by electric waves in the air the whole time. According 53 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:24,080 Speaker 1: to Tesla's findings, the end of the six month projects 54 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:26,399 Speaker 1: saw that children in the wired room grow by two 55 00:03:26,440 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: and a half inches, while those in the normal room 56 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:31,880 Speaker 1: only grew by one and a quarter inches. The electrified 57 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: children also gained weight and became more physically developed than 58 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: their counterparts next door. But the most important question, of course, 59 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 1: was how did their brains fair while exposed to a 60 00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: constant flow of electric current. Well, unsurprisingly, the children in 61 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:47,920 Speaker 1: the room that wasn't wired performed the same as they 62 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:50,560 Speaker 1: had at the start of the study. The other kids, however, 63 00:03:50,640 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 1: saw a stark change. They averaged a twenty increase in 64 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:58,480 Speaker 1: their grades compared to those in the regular classroom. Tesla's 65 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 1: research became quite popular, after all, imagine what could be 66 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: accomplished with a quick jolt to the brain. Of course, 67 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:07,240 Speaker 1: we know how that turned out. For decades, hospitals and 68 00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 1: mental facilities used electro shock machines to induce seizures and 69 00:04:11,320 --> 00:04:15,360 Speaker 1: modify the brain's functions, especially to cure various mental disorders, 70 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 1: and though many places have banned the practice, it's still 71 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:22,280 Speaker 1: used today all over the world despite its controversial effects. 72 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:25,919 Speaker 1: But Nikola Tesla didn't think about that. He just wanted 73 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: to make us all smarter the only way he knew how, 74 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: by electrifying the stupid out of us, one current at 75 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:36,279 Speaker 1: a time. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. There's no real 76 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 1: proof that constant exposure to electric current can improve one's intelligence. 77 00:04:40,680 --> 00:04:43,920 Speaker 1: Put another way, as Blue collar. Comedian Ron White has 78 00:04:43,920 --> 00:05:02,279 Speaker 1: often said, you can't fix stupid. Everyone makes mistakes, but 79 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:04,680 Speaker 1: as anyone who was picked on at school can tell you, 80 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:07,920 Speaker 1: people are often remembered for their tiniest slip ups. They're 81 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 1: given nicknames and often become the butts of countless jokes. 82 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:14,679 Speaker 1: But not Monica. For one English writer, her faux pause 83 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,360 Speaker 1: didn't lead to a life of shame. It actually gave 84 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: a name to one of the most recognizable dialects in 85 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:24,120 Speaker 1: the world. Monica, often called Monty by her family and friends, 86 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:27,120 Speaker 1: was born in Paris, France, in nineteen fifteen, but she 87 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:30,720 Speaker 1: was raised in London. Her parents were fairly wealthy, and Monty, 88 00:05:30,800 --> 00:05:33,120 Speaker 1: being from a well to do family, was expected to 89 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:37,359 Speaker 1: follow certain customs of her social class. However, she refused, 90 00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: choosing instead to be something of an iconoclast. For one, 91 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:43,240 Speaker 1: she was expelled from her private girls school after she 92 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 1: chucked her uniform into the Thames River. Monty had been 93 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 1: on her way to court to be presented as a debutante. 94 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:52,240 Speaker 1: She also chose to work as a cook and servant 95 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: rather than enjoy the life of leisure that would have 96 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: been afforded to her. In fact, Monty did a number 97 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,560 Speaker 1: of jobs throughout her life. She was a nurse, a 98 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:02,800 Speaker 1: fact reworker, and she worked for a small town newspaper. 99 00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:06,440 Speaker 1: The amount of experience that she acquired could have filled 100 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,960 Speaker 1: several books, which it did. You see, Monty was also 101 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:12,919 Speaker 1: a prolific author. She used her time as a cook 102 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:15,839 Speaker 1: and a nurse, and all her other occupations to fuel 103 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 1: her true passion writing. Her first book, One Pair of Hands, 104 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:23,200 Speaker 1: was published in nineteen thirty nine and told the story 105 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:26,440 Speaker 1: of her time as a domestic servant. Her nineteen forty 106 00:06:26,480 --> 00:06:29,440 Speaker 1: two memoir, One Pair of Feet, described her work as 107 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: a nurse during World War Two. Over the course of 108 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:35,400 Speaker 1: her career, Monty wrote dozens of books for both adults 109 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: and children, going on to great literary success. Then, in 110 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:42,200 Speaker 1: the nineteen fifties, Monty married an officer in the United 111 00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:44,760 Speaker 1: States Navy, and the two moved to America to raise 112 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:47,640 Speaker 1: a family, and she continued to write, publishing a new 113 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:50,480 Speaker 1: book nearly every year or two for the next thirty years. 114 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:53,120 Speaker 1: But it was on a trip to Sydney, Australia in 115 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:56,000 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four where Monty would make a mistake that 116 00:06:56,040 --> 00:06:59,480 Speaker 1: would change the future of an entire country and its language. 117 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:02,200 Speaker 1: She was at a book signing when a young woman 118 00:07:02,200 --> 00:07:04,760 Speaker 1: approached her. In her hands was a copy of one 119 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 1: of Monty's books. She held it out and asked how 120 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: much is it? But Monty couldn't understand the woman's Australian accent. 121 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 1: She thought the customer had said her name, and so 122 00:07:14,520 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: Monty inscribed the book to one Emma chise It. The 123 00:07:18,240 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: story of the misunderstanding made its way to a man 124 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 1: named Alistair Ardoc Morrison, an Australian writer and graphic artist. 125 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:27,800 Speaker 1: He saw an opportunity to capitalize on an honest mistake 126 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: and have a bit of fun at Monty's expense. In 127 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:34,640 Speaker 1: the process, he adopted the pseudonym afribec Lauder, a variation 128 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:37,240 Speaker 1: on the phrase alphabetical order, as if it had been 129 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:41,080 Speaker 1: said in an Australian accent. Under his new moniker, Morrison 130 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:43,680 Speaker 1: wrote a number of articles for The Sydney Morning Herald 131 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:47,360 Speaker 1: about the strange and exotic dialect that had perplexed Monica. 132 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 1: He called it strine. Say it out loud and you 133 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 1: might be able to hear its origins. It's how the 134 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: word Australian might sound in that accent. Morrison wrote several 135 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: books on Strine, in which he took on the persona 136 00:07:59,720 --> 00:08:03,480 Speaker 1: of Afribet Lauder, professor of Strine Studies at the University 137 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:07,480 Speaker 1: of Sydney, with Sydney being the Strine form of Sydney. 138 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:10,920 Speaker 1: The books detailed the fictional professor's journey with the dialect. 139 00:08:11,240 --> 00:08:14,400 Speaker 1: Within their pages, readers were given phonetic diagrams of different 140 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:17,720 Speaker 1: words and phrases that had been translated from Strine into 141 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: common English. Morrison even published a dictionary jam packed with 142 00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:25,480 Speaker 1: entries for things like split their dyke, fraf lee and 143 00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: eggnersher Did you catch those? They were the Strine versions 144 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:34,800 Speaker 1: of phrases splitting, headache, frightfully an air conditioner. Morrison kept 145 00:08:34,840 --> 00:08:38,080 Speaker 1: the identity of afribet Laud hidden for only a few years. 146 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:40,960 Speaker 1: The truth finally came out in nineteen sixty eight, but 147 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:43,880 Speaker 1: that didn't negate the work he had done for Australian culture. 148 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:46,840 Speaker 1: In fact, the country adopted the term strine as the 149 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:49,680 Speaker 1: official description of its accent, and thought there might be 150 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:53,160 Speaker 1: variations depending on where in Australia it's spoken or the 151 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:57,840 Speaker 1: speaker's social status. It's all strine in the end, as Fermonty, 152 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:00,200 Speaker 1: while she didn't let her gaff get her down. She 153 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 1: continued to write and publish books for the rest of 154 00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:06,240 Speaker 1: her life. After all, it was in her blood. Literally, 155 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:10,480 Speaker 1: Monica Monty Dickens was none other than the great granddaughter 156 00:09:10,800 --> 00:09:18,240 Speaker 1: of the legendary English author Charles Dickens. I hope you've 157 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:22,280 Speaker 1: enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe 158 00:09:22,320 --> 00:09:24,920 Speaker 1: for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the 159 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:29,720 Speaker 1: show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was 160 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:33,640 Speaker 1: created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. 161 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:37,200 Speaker 1: I make another award winning show called Lore, which is 162 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:40,719 Speaker 1: a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can 163 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,120 Speaker 1: learn all about it over at the World of Lore 164 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:47,160 Speaker 1: dot com. And until next time, stay curious.