1 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,640 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:11,040 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. Hi. My name is Joe McCormick. And 3 00:00:11,119 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: this is the Artifact, a short form series from Stuff 4 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:18,079 Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind, focusing on particular objects, ideas, and 5 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:25,760 Speaker 1: moments in time. In June of the international auction house 6 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: known as Bonham's put a rare artifact up forbidding. It 7 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: was an original manuscript of the English physicist and mathematician 8 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: Sir Isaac Newton, dating back to the seventeenth century, containing 9 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:41,839 Speaker 1: Newton's handwritten notes on a book he had read around 10 00:00:41,840 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: the time he went into quarantine to avoid the Bubonic plague. 11 00:00:46,840 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: The book was called The Tumulus Pestis or the Tomb 12 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 1: of the Plague by the Flemish alchemist and physician Yan 13 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 1: Baptista van Helmont. In this manuscript, Newton summarizes van Helmont's 14 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: for stand observations and warnings about the plague, which were 15 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: based on his time working as a doctor in Antwerp 16 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:09,440 Speaker 1: when it was struck by an outbreak in sixteen o five. 17 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: The Tumulus Pestis, of course, predates the germ theory of disease, 18 00:01:14,319 --> 00:01:17,560 Speaker 1: so the advice it gives is of limited scientific value. 19 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:22,000 Speaker 1: It does recommend avoiding areas crowded with infected people, which 20 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:25,759 Speaker 1: is sound though pretty obvious, but it also warns, for example, 21 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 1: that infection could be spread if you were to touch 22 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:33,560 Speaker 1: a pestilent read with your finger. Newton records Van Helmont's 23 00:01:33,560 --> 00:01:37,959 Speaker 1: prescriptions for treatments and prophylactics against infection as well. Some 24 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:40,640 Speaker 1: come in the form of amulets made of gems like 25 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:45,399 Speaker 1: sapphire or amber, but according to Newton's notes quote, the 26 00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:49,280 Speaker 1: best is a toad suspended by the legs in a 27 00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 1: chimney for three days, which at last vomited up earth 28 00:01:54,200 --> 00:01:58,200 Speaker 1: and various insects in it onto a dish of yellow wax, 29 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:03,320 Speaker 1: and shortly after die. Combining powdered toad with the excretions 30 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:07,559 Speaker 1: and serum made into lozenges and worn around the affected area, 31 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:18,680 Speaker 1: drove away the contagion and drew out the poison. Today 32 00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:21,799 Speaker 1: we know the plague is caused by a bacterium your 33 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:25,960 Speaker 1: Sinea pestis, and it can usually be treated with antibiotics. 34 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:29,840 Speaker 1: I really doubt the lozenge made out of powdered toad 35 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 1: vomit and toad corpse would be effective at staving off infection, 36 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 1: and I don't know what would have caused an early 37 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:39,240 Speaker 1: modern physician like Van Helmont to believe in it. But 38 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:42,920 Speaker 1: one thing that's absolutely impossible to ignore is that the 39 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:47,520 Speaker 1: vomiting behavior of frogs and toads, known technically as and 40 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:52,519 Speaker 1: urine emesis, is a surprising, memorable, and many splendored thing. 41 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 1: For example, if an untrained observer were to catch some 42 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:00,080 Speaker 1: species of frogs and toads at the right moment, it 43 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: would look like they were giving birth to live young 44 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:08,720 Speaker 1: by vomiting them up through the mouth. The species Rhinoderma darwinii, 45 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:12,640 Speaker 1: also known as the Darwin frog, is native to South America, 46 00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:17,080 Speaker 1: found primarily in the freshwater streams of Chile and Argentina. 47 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:21,360 Speaker 1: As part of their reproductive cycle, male Darwin frogs eat 48 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:24,400 Speaker 1: their young. This is not as grim as it sounds. 49 00:03:24,760 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: There's no chewing, no digestion. Instead, when a male Darwin 50 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: frog swallows his tadpoles, he stores them in a pouch 51 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: known as the vocal sack, where they brood safely until 52 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 1: metamorphosis occurs. After this, they can be vomited out of 53 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: their father's mouth as fully formed froglets. Other species of 54 00:03:46,200 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: nurins practice genuine gastric brooding, where a parent stores their 55 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:53,840 Speaker 1: young not just in a sack access through the mouth, 56 00:03:53,960 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: but literally in the stomach where the food usually goes. 57 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:00,720 Speaker 1: But there's a fact about a urine emesis that's even 58 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: more astounding, and it comes not during reproduction, but when 59 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:07,520 Speaker 1: frogs and toads need to vomit up whatever they just ate. 60 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: And urins have such a strong vomiting reflex that when 61 00:04:11,640 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: their bodies detect the presence of potentially toxic contents in 62 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:18,920 Speaker 1: the stomach, they will vomit not only the contents of 63 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: the digestive system, but the digestive system itself, with the 64 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:27,480 Speaker 1: stomach turning inside out, shooting out of the mouth, and 65 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:30,680 Speaker 1: hanging out from between the lips like a giant pink 66 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 1: balloon made of ham. This adaptation is known as gastric aversion. 67 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: Frogs and toads are not the only animals that do it. 68 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:42,040 Speaker 1: Sharks and rays are sometimes known to barf up their 69 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 1: own guts when they need to. In fact, this gastric 70 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:49,279 Speaker 1: aversion adaptation among and urins features in a strange letter 71 00:04:49,320 --> 00:04:51,800 Speaker 1: I found published in the journal Nature in the year 72 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:56,600 Speaker 1: nineteen six, but authors tomy O Nito and Richard wasser 73 00:04:56,640 --> 00:05:00,760 Speaker 1: Sug called why are toads right handed? In this letter, 74 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:03,719 Speaker 1: the authors are responding to previous research published in the 75 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 1: same journal reporting that most toads show a preference for 76 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:12,080 Speaker 1: using their right foreleg to wipe away material stuck to 77 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: their head or their face. There was a question that 78 00:05:15,240 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 1: lingered about this why the preference for right handed grooming behaviors. 79 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:25,919 Speaker 1: Nito and Wassersug suggested a possible answer rooted in gastric aversion. 80 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: You see, sometimes it's not enough to turn your own 81 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:33,400 Speaker 1: stomach inside out and dangle it out between your jaws. 82 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:36,400 Speaker 1: You have to make sure that when you swallow your 83 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:40,800 Speaker 1: stomach once again, you don't accidentally drag the noxious material 84 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 1: you were trying to get rid of back inside along 85 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 1: with your guts. So to prevent this, frogs and toads 86 00:05:47,920 --> 00:05:52,359 Speaker 1: have an instinctive wiping reflex. While the inverted stomach is 87 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: hanging out through the mouth, they will vigorously wipe off 88 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:59,839 Speaker 1: the inside of their stomach with their forelegs. What Nito 89 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:03,440 Speaker 1: and wasser Sug pointed out was that the urine digestive 90 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:08,360 Speaker 1: system is not symmetric because the tissue connecting the digestive 91 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:11,120 Speaker 1: system to the inside of the abdomen is shorter on 92 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,760 Speaker 1: the right side than on the left. The stomach, when inverted, 93 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,479 Speaker 1: tends to hang out the right side of the mouth, 94 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:21,600 Speaker 1: sometimes completely out of reach of the left hand. So 95 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 1: they argue there's a chance that when a toad grooms 96 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:28,240 Speaker 1: itself with its right hand, it's because that's the hand 97 00:06:28,320 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: that it can count on to reach the guts. Tune 98 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:37,120 Speaker 1: into new editions of the Artifact every Wednesday, hosted by 99 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:40,720 Speaker 1: either Robert or myself. As always, you can email us 100 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:51,960 Speaker 1: at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 101 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:54,599 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of I Heart Radio. 102 00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:57,240 Speaker 1: For more podcasts my Heart Radio, visit the i Heart 103 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:00,080 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to her 104 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:00,760 Speaker 1: favorite shows.