1 00:00:02,400 --> 00:00:06,480 Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. This week we talked about Ricketts and vitamin 2 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:09,960 Speaker 1: D and we mentioned that in sixteen sixty nine, hennig 3 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: Brand figured out what phosphorus was by boiling You're in 4 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 1: a lot of it. We have a whole episode about that. 5 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:20,479 Speaker 1: It came out on April twenty ninth, twenty nineteen, and 6 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:24,520 Speaker 1: it is today's Saturday Classic. At the beginning of this classic, 7 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 1: we talk about an event called Bawfest. It doesn't seem 8 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:30,480 Speaker 1: like there's been one of these in the past few years, 9 00:00:30,480 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: but there are still some videos from earlier ones available 10 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:36,320 Speaker 1: on YouTube if you want to check them out. So enjoy. 11 00:00:39,479 --> 00:00:42,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class a production 12 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 13 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. Every year, there's a thing 14 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 1: in Cambridge, Massachusetts called Bahfest. It's held another but the 15 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:03,160 Speaker 1: wedding Cambridge on the MIT campus is the one that 16 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:07,320 Speaker 1: I go to. It's the Festival of bad ad hoc Hypotheses. 17 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 1: It's a place where people present their scientific papers, except 18 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:16,080 Speaker 1: the scientific papers are fake and all so funny and 19 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 1: very rare, well argued and sometimes really plausible. On top 20 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: of being so hilarious. So like, for example, last time, 21 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 1: the winning talk was all about the role of noise 22 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:29,720 Speaker 1: in the spread of bubonic plague in the fourteenth century, 23 00:01:29,760 --> 00:01:31,760 Speaker 1: and it was accompanied by a whole lot of pictures 24 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:34,240 Speaker 1: from illuminated manuscripts. And I don't want to get into 25 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:36,480 Speaker 1: more detail than that, because they put videos of all 26 00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,200 Speaker 1: these things online and I want anybody who goes to 27 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 1: watch it to see all the hilarious reveals firsthand. It 28 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: is often a very cool blending of science and history 29 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 1: and fakery and hilarity altogether. And the reason I'm talking 30 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:55,200 Speaker 1: about this is that the winners of this very silly, 31 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:58,400 Speaker 1: nerdy thing used to get a three D printed representation 32 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: of Darwin looking doubtful, but now they get a trophy 33 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:08,959 Speaker 1: of hennig Brand discovering phosphorus. Hennig Brand discovered phosphorus by 34 00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:12,400 Speaker 1: boiling pea. So the first time I heard about this 35 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:15,880 Speaker 1: at Bohest, I was like, we gotta do a podcast 36 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 1: on that. It has just taken me a few years 37 00:02:17,880 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 1: to actually get to it. In case it was not clear, 38 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:22,880 Speaker 1: this episode is going to have a lot of your 39 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:30,359 Speaker 1: in in it. Hooray. I love a p joke They're 40 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:33,640 Speaker 1: very funny to me because I'm crass. One of my 41 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:36,280 Speaker 1: cousins has a daughter who's just at the age to 42 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:40,120 Speaker 1: be having sleepovers and at the age where mentioning of 43 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 1: any bodily function is just instantly hilarious. And I remember 44 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 1: as a kid, if somebody was like pee pee, it 45 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 1: would just send everyone into giggles forever. Yeah, it was 46 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:53,960 Speaker 1: very different as a child, you know. I was raised 47 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: with a lot of shame about your body and anything 48 00:02:56,200 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: it might do or pretty until I became a little 49 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: bit older and out in the world where I was like, you, guys, 50 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 1: urine is really funny. But as a child, if you 51 00:03:05,520 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: said something about p a sleepover, there would be mortification 52 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:14,440 Speaker 1: and like, oh no. A very different culture. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, 53 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: little Victorian at my house in that. Regard to the 54 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:22,240 Speaker 1: matter in hand, phosphorus is a chemical element, and if 55 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,320 Speaker 1: you need a quick chemistry refresher, elements are a basic 56 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:28,680 Speaker 1: building block of matter, and elements are made of atoms, 57 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:31,360 Speaker 1: and atoms are made of sub atomic particles, but you 58 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: cannot take those subatomic particles out of an atom by 59 00:03:35,080 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: ordinary chemical means. A pure piece of an element like 60 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: phosphorus is made of phosphorus atoms, and one atom of 61 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:47,280 Speaker 1: phosphorus is the smallest piece of phosphorus that you can get. Yeah, 62 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:52,040 Speaker 1: I'll take one phosphorus please. When I wrote that, I 63 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:55,559 Speaker 1: made it almost sound like all elements are made of phosphorus. 64 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:58,840 Speaker 1: That's not It's that all elements are made of atoms 65 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 1: of that type of elements. And so several chemical elements 66 00:04:02,440 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 1: were known to the ancient world. You'll see slightly different 67 00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: lists depending on where you look, but in general, humans 68 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:15,240 Speaker 1: have known about gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, ten zinc, arsenic, antimony, mercury, sulfur, 69 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,360 Speaker 1: and carbon for thousands of years. Pretty much any ancient 70 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:21,360 Speaker 1: culture that has written records names at least some of 71 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: these in those records. These elements have all been known 72 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: about for so long that we could not really say 73 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:30,720 Speaker 1: who discovered them or who first concluded that there was 74 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:34,440 Speaker 1: anything special about them. Phosphorus, on the other hand, is 75 00:04:34,480 --> 00:04:37,640 Speaker 1: the first element whose discoverer we can name, and that 76 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:41,400 Speaker 1: was hennig Brand in about sixteen sixty nine. But unlike 77 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:45,040 Speaker 1: most of the other elements we just listed, phosphorus doesn't 78 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:48,799 Speaker 1: exist in its pure elemental form out in the natural world. 79 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: It's extremely reactive, so instead, it's found in phosphate compounds. 80 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:57,320 Speaker 1: Those compounds are used to produce elemental phosphorus, which is 81 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:01,680 Speaker 1: called white or yellow phosphorus. White phosphorus can then be 82 00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:05,520 Speaker 1: used to make more stable allotropes, including red and black phosphorus. 83 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:09,919 Speaker 1: In casual use, the words phosphorus and phosphates are used 84 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:13,320 Speaker 1: almost interchangeably, sort of like how people say carbon to 85 00:05:13,360 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 1: mean carbon dioxide. Phosphates are fundamentally necessary to life on Earth. 86 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:21,400 Speaker 1: They're part of the structure of DNA and RNA. They're 87 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:25,239 Speaker 1: also a component and a denizene triphosphate or ATP, which 88 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:30,359 Speaker 1: carries energy within all living cells. Calcium phosphate helps provide 89 00:05:30,360 --> 00:05:32,920 Speaker 1: the strength in our bones and teeth, so I mean, 90 00:05:32,960 --> 00:05:35,159 Speaker 1: it's just not an exaggeration to say that we would 91 00:05:35,160 --> 00:05:40,640 Speaker 1: be dead without phosphorus. Are very squishy. People have also 92 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:45,040 Speaker 1: been intentionally using phosphorus for thousands of years before Brand 93 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:48,400 Speaker 1: discovered it, without knowing that that was what they were doing. 94 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,360 Speaker 1: In some parts of the world, the soil doesn't contain 95 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:53,719 Speaker 1: a lot of phosphorus, and even in places where the 96 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 1: soil starts out phosphate rich, it loses its phosphates and 97 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:01,040 Speaker 1: other nutrients over times. Through farming. For as long as 98 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:05,280 Speaker 1: people have deliberately cultivated crops, they've also understood that there 99 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,000 Speaker 1: was something about the soil that needed to be replenished 100 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:11,440 Speaker 1: in order for crops to continue to thrive. There a 101 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:13,480 Speaker 1: lot of the strategies people have used to try to 102 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: make their crops grow better have really been adding phosphorus, 103 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 1: along with the other essential nutrients of nitrogen and potassium, 104 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:24,800 Speaker 1: back into the soil. As examples, the practice of burning 105 00:06:24,839 --> 00:06:27,839 Speaker 1: off the stubble of last year's crop doesn't just clear 106 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:31,640 Speaker 1: the land for new planting. The ash also contains phosphorus, 107 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 1: which goes back into the soil. People have also fertilized 108 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:39,040 Speaker 1: their crops with things like manure, urine fish, and oyster shells, 109 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:43,000 Speaker 1: all of which contain phosphorus and other nutrients. Crop rotation 110 00:06:43,320 --> 00:06:48,520 Speaker 1: takes advantage of the differences in how different plants use nitrogen, potassium, 111 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: and phosphorus to try to keep all three of those 112 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: readily available in the soil. People did things like this 113 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 1: for centuries without knowing what phosphorus was or that the 114 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:01,440 Speaker 1: crops that they were growing needed it. Ancient people's use 115 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:05,560 Speaker 1: of phosphorus also wasn't limited to agriculture. As one example, 116 00:07:05,640 --> 00:07:08,400 Speaker 1: for thousands of years, people have used stale urine to 117 00:07:08,480 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 1: clean things. A big reason for this is that urine 118 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: contains urea, which decays into ammonia when it's left out 119 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:18,880 Speaker 1: for a long time. But urine also contains a lot 120 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:22,800 Speaker 1: of phosphates, and phosphates help make other cleaning agents more efficient. 121 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:28,200 Speaker 1: Please don't take this as any sort of household cleaning tip. 122 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:34,400 Speaker 1: When we were in San Francisco at the end of 123 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 1: our tour last year, I went to the Bookbinders Museum 124 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:44,160 Speaker 1: and that I had a guided tour of the Bookbinders Museum, 125 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:45,880 Speaker 1: and one of the things that I learned about is 126 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: how in one element or one part of the book 127 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:53,440 Speaker 1: binding printing process, there were these little ink daubers that 128 00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: were sort of leather covered things that you would daub 129 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: in the ink and you would put that on the 130 00:07:56,960 --> 00:08:00,880 Speaker 1: plate that you were going to print, and if that 131 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: dried out, your apprentice had to go and clean them 132 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:06,440 Speaker 1: and start completely over. So part of the apprentice's job 133 00:08:06,560 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 1: was to keep that nice and moist. And the tour 134 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:12,560 Speaker 1: guide said, do you have any ideas of what they 135 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: might have used to clean these things? And I was like, 136 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:17,280 Speaker 1: I bet it's urine, because that was the thing that 137 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: I could think of. It would be, you know, in 138 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: the early days of bookbinding, would probably use to be 139 00:08:24,680 --> 00:08:28,160 Speaker 1: clean to clean something, and she's specified that it was 140 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:31,080 Speaker 1: stale urine, and that is for the reason that we 141 00:08:31,240 --> 00:08:35,840 Speaker 1: just said. So. Of course, when Hennebrand was alive, people 142 00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:38,320 Speaker 1: did not know what phosphorus was or that it was 143 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:40,680 Speaker 1: connected to all of this, and even after he made 144 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:44,199 Speaker 1: his discovery, people didn't really understand what it was he 145 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:49,079 Speaker 1: had found. At the time, European scientists still understood the 146 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:52,480 Speaker 1: world in terms of not the chemical elements that we 147 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:56,040 Speaker 1: think about today, but the four elements of earth, air, fire, 148 00:08:56,160 --> 00:09:00,080 Speaker 1: and water. The field of alchemy was just starting to 149 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:02,800 Speaker 1: evolve into the field of chemistry when he lived, and 150 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:06,880 Speaker 1: the definition of elements was just starting to evolve from 151 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:11,679 Speaker 1: those four elements into more like today's definition. And there's 152 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:14,480 Speaker 1: more about the shift from alchemy to chemistry in our 153 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 1: most recent Saturday classic, but as it relates to hennig Brand. 154 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:21,600 Speaker 1: By the sixteen sixties, there were still a few alchemists 155 00:09:21,600 --> 00:09:24,960 Speaker 1: searching for the fabled Philosopher's Stone, which was believed to 156 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:28,040 Speaker 1: turn base metals into gold and produce an elixir that 157 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: could cure diseases in prolonged life, and Brand was one 158 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 1: of them. Hennigbrand's discovery of phosphorus came about because he 159 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:39,040 Speaker 1: thought the secret to the Philosopher's Stone might be found 160 00:09:39,200 --> 00:09:42,040 Speaker 1: in urine, and we'll get to why he thought that 161 00:09:42,400 --> 00:09:45,200 Speaker 1: on how he made his discovery after a sponsor break. 162 00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:57,680 Speaker 1: We do not know all that much about Hennig Brand 163 00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:02,640 Speaker 1: as a person. Sometimes as is spelled Hennig instead of Hennig. 164 00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:06,080 Speaker 1: Sometimes his last name is br a and T or 165 00:10:06,200 --> 00:10:10,640 Speaker 1: brn d T instead of br and D. He was 166 00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:14,079 Speaker 1: probably born in Hamburg and what's now Germany sometime around 167 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:17,040 Speaker 1: sixteen thirty. He seems to have spent some time as 168 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:20,080 Speaker 1: a low level army officer during the Thirty Years War, 169 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:22,720 Speaker 1: and that suggests that he was from a middle class 170 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:25,400 Speaker 1: family because he was an officer, so probably they were 171 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:28,240 Speaker 1: not very poor, but also he was not of a 172 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:31,880 Speaker 1: very high rank, so they probably weren't all that prominent either. 173 00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:35,000 Speaker 1: In addition to his army service, Brand seems to have 174 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:37,840 Speaker 1: done at least part of an apprenticeship with a glass 175 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:41,240 Speaker 1: blower before turning his attention to alchemy. This would have 176 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: given him the skills to make some of the glass 177 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:46,560 Speaker 1: vessels used in alchemy, and a glass blower's furnace would 178 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:50,040 Speaker 1: have been useful to his alchemical pursuits as well. At 179 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:51,959 Speaker 1: some point in all of this, he married a woman 180 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:55,640 Speaker 1: whose dowry was large enough to fund his research. After 181 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:59,199 Speaker 1: Brand's first wife died, he remarried a woman named Margaretta, 182 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:03,040 Speaker 1: who had also been married before. Her son became Brand's 183 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:06,360 Speaker 1: assistant in his workshop, and her family's money continued to 184 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:09,400 Speaker 1: pay for all of his experiments. He may have also 185 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:13,120 Speaker 1: presented himself as a physician, although according to a nineteenth 186 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:17,200 Speaker 1: century history of chemistry, he was quote an uncouth physician 187 00:11:17,320 --> 00:11:20,120 Speaker 1: who knew not a word of Latin. As we said 188 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:23,240 Speaker 1: before the break, Brand was looking for the Philosopher's Stone, 189 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:25,680 Speaker 1: which was believed to turn base metals into gold and 190 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:29,840 Speaker 1: produce the elixir of life. Many alchemists believed that the 191 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:33,679 Speaker 1: key to the Philosopher's Stone was somewhere in human bodily fluids, 192 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:37,600 Speaker 1: and the fluid the Brand focused on was p Not 193 00:11:37,679 --> 00:11:40,520 Speaker 1: only is urine a bodily fluid, but it is also yellow, 194 00:11:40,679 --> 00:11:43,679 Speaker 1: you know, like gold to be clear. Bread was not 195 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:46,760 Speaker 1: the only person who thought that maybe urine had something 196 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:50,440 Speaker 1: to do with gold. Urine was pretty mysterious at the time. 197 00:11:50,559 --> 00:11:53,679 Speaker 1: Nobody knew how the body produced it or why it 198 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:56,360 Speaker 1: was yellow, but they did know that it did all 199 00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:59,720 Speaker 1: kinds of fascinating and seemingly magical things. We talked about. 200 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:02,720 Speaker 1: It uses a cleaning agent before the break, but it 201 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:06,040 Speaker 1: was also used in tanning leather and dying fabric, and 202 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:10,559 Speaker 1: in all kinds of alchemical recipes. Urine was also used 203 00:12:10,600 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: in some methods of making saltpeter, and then the saltpeter 204 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:17,840 Speaker 1: was used to make gunpowder, so part of gunpowder was 205 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:20,360 Speaker 1: from urine. With all of those things going on, it 206 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:22,560 Speaker 1: wasn't really that much of a stretch for people to 207 00:12:22,559 --> 00:12:28,040 Speaker 1: suspect that this strange, potent, seemingly slightly magical liquid might 208 00:12:28,080 --> 00:12:31,920 Speaker 1: be yellow because it contained gold. Today, though, we know 209 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:36,199 Speaker 1: that the yellow color mostly comes from a substance called urobilin, 210 00:12:36,400 --> 00:12:38,760 Speaker 1: which is one of the end products of the bodies 211 00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:43,040 Speaker 1: breaking down the iron containing molecule. Heame brands experiments with 212 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:46,400 Speaker 1: urine involved boiling it over and over in a vessel 213 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:49,840 Speaker 1: called a retort. A retort is a spherical vessel with 214 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:53,240 Speaker 1: a long, downward pointing spout. If you heat up something 215 00:12:53,240 --> 00:12:56,320 Speaker 1: in a retort. The vapor rises then condenses in that 216 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,240 Speaker 1: long spout, so you can use it to distill things. 217 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:03,960 Speaker 1: As Brand was distilling urine in his retort, the fluid 218 00:13:04,080 --> 00:13:07,520 Speaker 1: dripping out of the spout started spontaneously bursting into flame. 219 00:13:07,559 --> 00:13:10,680 Speaker 1: And it also smelled very strongly of garlic. And he 220 00:13:10,760 --> 00:13:12,840 Speaker 1: found if he caught it in a vessel and then 221 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:16,040 Speaker 1: stoppered the vessel up, it would glow regardless of whether 222 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:22,480 Speaker 1: it had been exposed to any light. I'm sorry to laugh, Brand, 223 00:13:22,559 --> 00:13:28,280 Speaker 1: it's funny, though. It's like my fiery garlic glopie. I 224 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:31,880 Speaker 1: don't The whole thing is very funny. Brand thought that 225 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:35,440 Speaker 1: he was onto something, perhaps even the Philosopher's stone, so 226 00:13:35,520 --> 00:13:40,000 Speaker 1: he kept refining his process, producing this whitish waxy substance 227 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 1: that was very volatile if exposed to air, and it 228 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:45,360 Speaker 1: had a bluish glow if it was kept away from air. 229 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:49,520 Speaker 1: Here is his recipe for making phosphorus, as published in 230 00:13:49,559 --> 00:13:54,000 Speaker 1: Philosophical Experiments and Observations of the late eminent doctor Robert Hook, 231 00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:58,080 Speaker 1: which was published in London in seventeen twenty six. Since 232 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:01,880 Speaker 1: this was almost sixty years after Brand's discovery and recorded 233 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,920 Speaker 1: by a different person, It is likely that various steps 234 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:07,880 Speaker 1: have been changed or added, but this definitely will give 235 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:10,160 Speaker 1: you a sense of what all was involved in this. 236 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:16,160 Speaker 1: So under the heading Phosphorose Elementaris by doctor Brandt of Hamburg, 237 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:21,280 Speaker 1: it reads quote, take a quantity of urine, not less 238 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:25,640 Speaker 1: for one experiment than fifty or sixty pails full. Let 239 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:28,840 Speaker 1: it lie steeping in one or more tubs or an 240 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:33,280 Speaker 1: hogshead of oaken wood, till it putrefy and breed worms, 241 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:36,640 Speaker 1: as it will do in fourteen or fifteen days. Then 242 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 1: in a large kettle, let some of it boil on 243 00:14:39,960 --> 00:14:43,960 Speaker 1: a strong fire, and as it consumes and evaporates, pour 244 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:47,160 Speaker 1: in more and so on, till at last the whole 245 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:50,520 Speaker 1: quantity be reduced to a paste, or rather a hard 246 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,040 Speaker 1: coal or crust, which it will resemble. And this may 247 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:56,280 Speaker 1: be done in two or three days, if the fire 248 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:59,760 Speaker 1: well tended, but else it may be doing a fortnight 249 00:15:00,160 --> 00:15:04,960 Speaker 1: or more. So for one batch of phosphorus, brand was 250 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:07,640 Speaker 1: leaving urineo out in pails for about two weeks and 251 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:11,240 Speaker 1: then boiling it for between two and fourteen days, and 252 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:14,000 Speaker 1: that is not the end of the process. From there 253 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:17,680 Speaker 1: you powder the previously made coal or crust end quote, 254 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:21,400 Speaker 1: add there to some fair water about fifteen fingers high 255 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:24,480 Speaker 1: or four times as high as the powder, and boil 256 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 1: them together for one quarter of an hour. Then strain 257 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:31,120 Speaker 1: the liquor and all through a woolen cloth. That which 258 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:33,960 Speaker 1: sticks behind may be thrown away, but the liquor that 259 00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:36,640 Speaker 1: passes must be taken and boiled till it come to 260 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:39,880 Speaker 1: a salt, which will be in a few hours. This 261 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:43,720 Speaker 1: recipe continues on with adding more ingredients and steeping them 262 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:46,960 Speaker 1: together until the substance became sort of a pap which 263 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:50,760 Speaker 1: left behind a red or reddish salt after being evaporated 264 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:53,960 Speaker 1: in sand. And then that went into a retort and 265 00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:57,000 Speaker 1: quote for the first hour began with a small fire, 266 00:15:57,480 --> 00:16:00,680 Speaker 1: more the next, a greater, the third and the fourth, 267 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:03,120 Speaker 1: and then continue it as high as you can for 268 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:07,440 Speaker 1: twenty four hours, sometimes by the force of fire. Twelve 269 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:10,920 Speaker 1: hours proves enough for when you free the recipient white 270 00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 1: and shining with the fire, and there are no more 271 00:16:13,400 --> 00:16:16,720 Speaker 1: flashes or as it were, blasts of wind coming from 272 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:19,760 Speaker 1: time to time from the retort, then the work is finished, 273 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:22,560 Speaker 1: and you may with a feather gather the fire together 274 00:16:22,800 --> 00:16:25,000 Speaker 1: or scrape it off with a knife where it sticks. 275 00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:28,280 Speaker 1: This recipe goes on to stress the need to preserve 276 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:31,200 Speaker 1: this fire in an airtight container, and how if you 277 00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: put it in the sun it might quote kindle gunpowder. 278 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:42,520 Speaker 1: I think that might just mean explode. Uh. This. This 279 00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:46,440 Speaker 1: recipe also contains a cautionary tale quote. My author says 280 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: he had once wrapped a knob in wax at Hanover, 281 00:16:49,480 --> 00:16:51,880 Speaker 1: and it being in his pocket, and he busy near 282 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:55,200 Speaker 1: the fire, the very heat of it let inflame and 283 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: burned all his clothes and his fingers also, for though 284 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:01,120 Speaker 1: he rubbed them in the dirt, nothing would quench it 285 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:04,400 Speaker 1: unless he had water. He was ill for fifteen days 286 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:09,399 Speaker 1: and the skin came off. So don't do that. We 287 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:12,480 Speaker 1: should note that it's possible that Paracelsus used a similar 288 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:15,959 Speaker 1: process to produce phosphorus. In the sixteenth century, more than 289 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:19,560 Speaker 1: one hundred years before Brand's discovery, he wrote about a 290 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 1: process for repeatedly distilling urine, which would cause what he 291 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,680 Speaker 1: described as the earth, air, and water to rise while 292 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:29,760 Speaker 1: the fire fell out of it. After doing this several times, 293 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 1: he said there would be quote congealed certain icicles, which 294 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 1: are the element of fire. That sounds close enough to 295 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:40,240 Speaker 1: what Brand was doing that these icicles could have been phosphorus, 296 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:43,640 Speaker 1: but we also really don't know. It just merits mentioning 297 00:17:43,720 --> 00:17:48,560 Speaker 1: as a potential comparative. Paracelsus has been on my episode 298 00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:52,520 Speaker 1: list for a very long time, long enough that I 299 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:54,439 Speaker 1: was getting ready to do it, and then saw Bones 300 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:55,959 Speaker 1: did it, and I didn't want to feel like I 301 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:58,800 Speaker 1: was copying saw Bones, even though not everybody listens to 302 00:17:58,840 --> 00:18:02,199 Speaker 1: both shows. But now it's been long enough, maybe he 303 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:06,240 Speaker 1: will creep farther up the list. There are also other 304 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:09,399 Speaker 1: accounts that describe Brand's process a little differently than that 305 00:18:09,520 --> 00:18:12,359 Speaker 1: recipe that we just went through, and in one of them, 306 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:14,919 Speaker 1: the salts that are produced after the first round of 307 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:18,640 Speaker 1: distilling the urine are discarded. That is actually where most 308 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:20,720 Speaker 1: of the phosphorus would have been at that point in 309 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:23,000 Speaker 1: the process, So if Brand was doing it that way, 310 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:24,879 Speaker 1: he would have been throwing away most of what he 311 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:29,960 Speaker 1: was trying to get. Regardless, though this was a long, involved, complicated, 312 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:34,520 Speaker 1: and frankly gross process, a seventeen sixty seven Dictionary of 313 00:18:34,560 --> 00:18:38,439 Speaker 1: Chemistry described it as more curious than useful, along with 314 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:43,000 Speaker 1: being quote both costly and embarrassing. But Brand was very 315 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:47,400 Speaker 1: fond of his costly embarrassing discovery. He named it cold 316 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:51,280 Speaker 1: fire or sometimes just my fire. It's not clear who 317 00:18:51,359 --> 00:18:53,919 Speaker 1: was the first person to call it phosphorus, which is 318 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:57,560 Speaker 1: from Latin words that mean bringer of light or light bringer. 319 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:00,920 Speaker 1: That same term has also been used to describe a 320 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:06,440 Speaker 1: variety of other glowing substances. Brand kept his discovery secret 321 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:09,280 Speaker 1: for about six years, and we'll get to what happened 322 00:19:09,320 --> 00:19:11,879 Speaker 1: when knowledge spread about it after we first have a 323 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:24,760 Speaker 1: little sponsor break. Henig Brand's discovery became public knowledge through 324 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:27,960 Speaker 1: a murky series of events involving two other men named 325 00:19:28,080 --> 00:19:32,080 Speaker 1: Johann Kunkel and Johann Daniel Kraft, who, like a lot 326 00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 1: of other people in the story, worked in both chemistry 327 00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:38,600 Speaker 1: and alchemy. It seems as though Kunkle had a piece 328 00:19:38,640 --> 00:19:41,159 Speaker 1: of Bologna's Stone, and this was a rock that was 329 00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:45,239 Speaker 1: first described in sixteen oh three by Vincenzo Casciolo, and 330 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:49,440 Speaker 1: this stone glowed in the dark. Casciolo was a shoemaker, 331 00:19:49,600 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 1: and like so many other people, he was hoping to 332 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:55,280 Speaker 1: find gold. He had collected a bunch of interesting rocks 333 00:19:55,280 --> 00:19:57,480 Speaker 1: from the mountains near his home in Bologna in what 334 00:19:57,600 --> 00:19:59,919 Speaker 1: is now Italy, and he discovered that if you ba 335 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:02,080 Speaker 1: them and then left them out in the sun. They 336 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:05,880 Speaker 1: would glow in the dark. Bologna stone became a curiosity 337 00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:08,879 Speaker 1: and a source of fascination, as people wondered whether there 338 00:20:08,920 --> 00:20:11,119 Speaker 1: was something magical about it and whether it might have 339 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:15,159 Speaker 1: something to do with the Philosopher's Stone. Galileo described it 340 00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:18,600 Speaker 1: this way in sixteen twelve quote, it must be explained 341 00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:21,119 Speaker 1: how it happens that the light is conceived into the 342 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:24,960 Speaker 1: stone and is given back after some time, as in childbirth. 343 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:29,160 Speaker 1: Today we know that Bologna stone was in fact burium sulfide. 344 00:20:29,600 --> 00:20:31,640 Speaker 1: I love how so many elements of this story are 345 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:34,800 Speaker 1: like what if I baked some rocks? What if I 346 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:39,760 Speaker 1: had distilled pee? Over and over? So Kunkle was intrigued 347 00:20:39,800 --> 00:20:42,680 Speaker 1: not only by Bologna stone, but also by all kinds 348 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:45,840 Speaker 1: of other luminescent substances. And so when he heard that 349 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 1: somebody in Hamburg had created something that glowed indefinitely, he 350 00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:52,920 Speaker 1: got really excited, and he wrote a letter to Kraft 351 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:55,560 Speaker 1: about going to Hamburg to see what this was all about. 352 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:58,600 Speaker 1: In some versions of this story, Kunkle and Kraft went 353 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:01,600 Speaker 1: together and Bram taught them both how to make phosphorus. 354 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:04,320 Speaker 1: After Kraft paid him to do it, But in other 355 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,119 Speaker 1: versions of the story, Kraft swooped in ahead of Kunkle 356 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:09,720 Speaker 1: and paid Brand not only to show him how to 357 00:21:09,720 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 1: make phosphorus, but also to keep that information from Kraft. Yeah, 358 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:16,800 Speaker 1: then that version of Storycraft had to work it out 359 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,880 Speaker 1: for himself, and regardless of which of these is more accurate, 360 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:22,840 Speaker 1: both Kunkle and Craft did wind up knowing how to 361 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:27,280 Speaker 1: make phosphorus. Kraft started traveling around Europe with phosphorus and 362 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:30,679 Speaker 1: other glowing substances, and he did experiments with them before 363 00:21:30,760 --> 00:21:36,520 Speaker 1: nobles and dignitaries. This included Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke Elector of Brandenburg, Prussia, 364 00:21:36,600 --> 00:21:39,719 Speaker 1: on April twenty fourth of sixteen seventy six, and then 365 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:41,960 Speaker 1: a year later Kraft did the same at the court 366 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:46,920 Speaker 1: of Johann Friedrich, Duke of Brunswick, Luneburg and Hanover. Kraft's 367 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:52,199 Speaker 1: friend Gottfried Vilhelm Leibnitz, was, among other things, the Duke's librarian, 368 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:55,760 Speaker 1: and Leibniz suggested that maybe phosphorus could be used to 369 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 1: light a whole room, but Kraft said production of that 370 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:02,000 Speaker 1: much of it would be just way too difficult. Even so, 371 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:04,879 Speaker 1: the Duke became intrigued with the idea of setting up 372 00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:09,000 Speaker 1: a mass production facility out in the Hartz Mountains, presumably 373 00:22:09,080 --> 00:22:12,960 Speaker 1: so the smell of it wouldn't bother people. Leibnitz negotiated 374 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 1: with Brand to come to Hanover to work on the project, 375 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,919 Speaker 1: and he recruited a workforce and started stockpiling lots of 376 00:22:18,960 --> 00:22:23,640 Speaker 1: firewood and barrels full of urine. It's not a hundred 377 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:26,199 Speaker 1: percent clear where all of this urine came from in 378 00:22:26,280 --> 00:22:29,919 Speaker 1: these stories, Like there's one account that says that Brand 379 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:33,400 Speaker 1: had a relationship with a tavern keeper or a brewer 380 00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:37,280 Speaker 1: or some other person who would have a clientele that 381 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:45,880 Speaker 1: peeded a lot, but it's a little vague. Meanwhile, Gustav Adolf, 382 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:50,000 Speaker 1: the Duke of Mecklenburg Gustrau, also heard about phosphorus and 383 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:52,960 Speaker 1: decided that he also wanted to start a phosphorus factory 384 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:58,119 Speaker 1: as well, and this duce representative, Johad Wachi Becher, started 385 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:01,439 Speaker 1: trying to recruit Brand away from Hanover. It seems as 386 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:05,000 Speaker 1: though Brand tried to use Betcher's offer to negotiate for 387 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:08,320 Speaker 1: more money from Hanover, but he wasn't really savvy enough 388 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:10,800 Speaker 1: to do this, and instead he just came off as 389 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:13,359 Speaker 1: kind of cranky and obstinate, and in the middle of 390 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:16,119 Speaker 1: all of this, Kraft started writing to Hanover as well, 391 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,040 Speaker 1: suggesting that he might actually be a better manager than 392 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:23,879 Speaker 1: Brand for this whole phosphorus production project. Leibniz persuaded the 393 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:26,200 Speaker 1: Duke to keep working with Brand, and it appears that 394 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:29,680 Speaker 1: during all of this Brand did finally document his methods 395 00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:35,400 Speaker 1: for making phosphorus. He apparently ran a mass production facility 396 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:38,439 Speaker 1: out in the mountains for a few months. Then in 397 00:23:38,440 --> 00:23:41,640 Speaker 1: the late sixteen seventies, phosphorus and the knowledge of how 398 00:23:41,680 --> 00:23:44,879 Speaker 1: to make it reached England. Robert Boyle, who was one 399 00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:48,360 Speaker 1: of the founders of modern chemistry, heard about Brand's production 400 00:23:48,520 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 1: of phosphorus from urine and he independently worked out his 401 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:53,960 Speaker 1: own way to do the same thing. About ten years later, 402 00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:59,200 Speaker 1: Boyle then worked to establish a phosphorus production facility in London. 403 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:03,320 Speaker 1: As fo this first became more available, demand for its skyrocketed. 404 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:06,320 Speaker 1: It went from being a curiosity that people thought may 405 00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:09,440 Speaker 1: or may not be the philosopher's stone to something that had, 406 00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: at least in theory practical uses. Johann Kunkel figured out 407 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:17,199 Speaker 1: how to cast phosphorus into molds underwater and wrote a 408 00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,640 Speaker 1: treatise on the use of phosphorus in medicine called Treatise 409 00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:25,240 Speaker 1: of the Phosphorus Mirabilis and its Wonderful Shining Pills. Soon, 410 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,119 Speaker 1: phosphorus was being marketed as a cure, all prepared in 411 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:31,720 Speaker 1: a variety of pills and oils and liniments. It was 412 00:24:31,760 --> 00:24:42,840 Speaker 1: recommended for alcoholism, apoplexy, asthma, cataracts, choleracolic depression, epilepsy, fever, glaucoma, gout, impotence, migraines, paralysis, scrophula, tetanus, toothaches, 413 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,640 Speaker 1: and tuberculosis. And that is only to name a few. 414 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:49,399 Speaker 1: Although phosphates have some medical uses, pure phosphorus does not 415 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:51,679 Speaker 1: treat any of these things, and is in fact highly 416 00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:54,960 Speaker 1: toxic and can be used as a poison. Hennigbrand died 417 00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:58,760 Speaker 1: around seventeen ten, and about thirty years later Andrea Sigismund 418 00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:03,320 Speaker 1: Margraf discovered phosphorus in edible seeds. He concluded that people 419 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:06,520 Speaker 1: were consuming phosphorus in their food and then excreting it 420 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:09,199 Speaker 1: in their urine, and this was the first step in 421 00:25:09,240 --> 00:25:13,000 Speaker 1: the scientific communities understanding of phosphorus as a chemical element 422 00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:16,119 Speaker 1: and of its movement through the world in the phosphorus cycle. 423 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:19,680 Speaker 1: This is a cycle that begins with phosphate rich rock 424 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:23,200 Speaker 1: and moves through water and soil into plants and animals, 425 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:26,160 Speaker 1: then back into the water and soil, and then into 426 00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:30,359 Speaker 1: sedimentary rock. By the early nineteenth century, phosphorus was seeing 427 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:33,840 Speaker 1: large scale industrial production thanks to the discovery that it 428 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:39,000 Speaker 1: could be extracted from bone ash. Most notably, white phosphorus 429 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:41,240 Speaker 1: was used to make matches, which is something that we 430 00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:43,920 Speaker 1: talked about in a prior episode on the London Match 431 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:47,840 Speaker 1: Girls Strike. White phosphorus was really dangerous though it caused 432 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:51,199 Speaker 1: a serious medical condition known as phossy jaw, and in 433 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:54,520 Speaker 1: eighteen forty nine, red phosphorus was introduced as a less 434 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:58,880 Speaker 1: dangerous substitute. By eighteen fifty one, phosphorus was seeing more 435 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:03,720 Speaker 1: practical uses, including in manufactured fertilizers. This actually led to 436 00:26:03,720 --> 00:26:06,360 Speaker 1: a supply and demand problem, which led people to look 437 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:10,440 Speaker 1: for new sources of phosphorus. One of these was guano. 438 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:14,360 Speaker 1: Guano itself is rich in phosphates, nitrogen, and potassium, making 439 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 1: it an excellent fertilizer. The sedimentary rocks that form in 440 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:21,400 Speaker 1: places with lots of guano are also rich in phosphates 441 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:24,480 Speaker 1: and This led to a land gram for islands and 442 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:27,960 Speaker 1: caves with lots of guano. In eighteen fifty six, US 443 00:26:28,040 --> 00:26:31,320 Speaker 1: Congress passed the Guano Islands Act, which allowed the United 444 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:35,160 Speaker 1: States to claim uninhabited islands to mine the guano on them. 445 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:38,720 Speaker 1: They were uninhabited by people, they were inhabited by lots 446 00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:43,359 Speaker 1: and lots of birds. Today, the vast majority of phosphorus 447 00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:46,639 Speaker 1: is mined from rocks that are rich in calcium phosphate, 448 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,840 Speaker 1: and about ninety percent of that mind phosphorus is put 449 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:53,240 Speaker 1: to one use and that is back to fertilizer. Phosphorus 450 00:26:53,280 --> 00:26:56,720 Speaker 1: is still used for other applications as well, including plastics, 451 00:26:56,840 --> 00:27:00,560 Speaker 1: fuel additives, fireworks, rat poison, air, and of course it 452 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:03,240 Speaker 1: is still used to make matches. It used to be 453 00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:06,200 Speaker 1: in a lot of detergents because, like we said earlier, 454 00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:09,440 Speaker 1: it helps detergents clean better. But too much phosphate in 455 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:12,520 Speaker 1: bodies of water leads to algae overgrowth and so a 456 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:15,720 Speaker 1: lot of nations to be either banned or strictly limited 457 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:20,280 Speaker 1: the use of phosphates indetergent Phosphorus is also used in weapons, 458 00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:24,000 Speaker 1: including organophosphates which are chemical weapons known as nerve gas, 459 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:28,880 Speaker 1: as well as incendiary devices and smoke screens. Ironically, Hamburg, 460 00:27:28,920 --> 00:27:32,600 Speaker 1: where phosphorus was discovered, was hit with thousands of phosphorus 461 00:27:32,600 --> 00:27:37,360 Speaker 1: containing incendiary bombs during Operation Gomorrah in World War Two. Yeah, 462 00:27:37,400 --> 00:27:40,560 Speaker 1: the use of phosphorus in weapons is pretty controversial today, 463 00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:45,520 Speaker 1: but it still is used. Phosphate rock is not a 464 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:50,120 Speaker 1: renewable resource. Even though the phosphate cycle does eventually put 465 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:54,720 Speaker 1: phosphates back into rocks, it takes a really long time, 466 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:56,879 Speaker 1: and over the past few years there has been some 467 00:27:56,960 --> 00:28:00,200 Speaker 1: discussion about whether the world is running out of phosphorus. 468 00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:04,040 Speaker 1: Phosphorus itself is not in very short supply. It's one 469 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:07,320 Speaker 1: of the most common elements on the planet, but there's 470 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:09,879 Speaker 1: not that much of it that can be mined without 471 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:14,400 Speaker 1: huge environmental damage. Like there's a lot of phosphorus everywhere, 472 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:17,280 Speaker 1: but only a very few places with phosphorus in a 473 00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:21,400 Speaker 1: high enough concentration to be able to efficiently mine it. 474 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:25,120 Speaker 1: It's not totally clear exactly how much available phosphate there 475 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:28,080 Speaker 1: is in rocks that can reasonably be mined, or when 476 00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:32,480 Speaker 1: we might reach peak phosphorus. Predictions run anywhere from decades 477 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:36,440 Speaker 1: to centuries. Because the vast majority of phosphorus is used 478 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,800 Speaker 1: as fertilizer for plants that directly or indirectly become food. 479 00:28:40,480 --> 00:28:43,480 Speaker 1: This shortage has the potential to be a global catastrophe, 480 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:47,480 Speaker 1: and one of the proposed alternatives is urine recycling or 481 00:28:47,600 --> 00:28:50,920 Speaker 1: all the way back to just boiling some urine until 482 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: and explode. I'm glad I got this whole Hennig brand 483 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:02,120 Speaker 1: thing out of my system after like three years of 484 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:04,360 Speaker 1: saying I should do a podcast on that guy and 485 00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:12,800 Speaker 1: his weird urine boiling. Thanks so much for joining us 486 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:15,560 Speaker 1: on this Saturday. If you'd like to send us a note, 487 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:20,360 Speaker 1: our email addresses History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com, and 488 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,080 Speaker 1: you can subscribe to the show on the iHeartRadio app, 489 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:28,520 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.