1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:30,080 Speaker 1: back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always 3 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:33,599 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in. Shout out to our super producer, 4 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:38,280 Speaker 1: the one and only Mr Max Williams. They called me Ben, 5 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:43,239 Speaker 1: and like a lot of human beings, I'm you know, 6 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: I'm I'm all about talking to people. That's funny because 7 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: it's not necessarily true sort of our job. I mean, 8 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: we'd sort of talk to people professionally, I guess you 9 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 1: could say, and in a weird bubble they don't talk back. 10 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: They do sometimes via email or you know me and 11 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 1: iTunes reviews, but in general we're professional communicators. Ben. Have 12 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:06,120 Speaker 1: you ever reading Escargo Dona? Yeah, I got some in 13 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 1: my kitchen right now. Actually in a can, isn't that cool. 14 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: It's the one canned food that I think is actually 15 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:14,720 Speaker 1: pretty gourmet. There are other gourmet can foods, but that's 16 00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:17,160 Speaker 1: really the only way to get snails is in a can. 17 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:19,960 Speaker 1: I grew up in Germany, and uh, it was just 18 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: like a thing that I grew up eating. And I 19 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:24,120 Speaker 1: think I took a friend of mine when I was 20 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 1: a little kid to a like a French restaurant and 21 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:29,800 Speaker 1: we got scar go and he tried one. I thought 22 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: it was the most disgusting thing in the world. He 23 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:35,759 Speaker 1: described it as like eating a chewy you know, ball 24 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: of snot or something like them. And your knowl And 25 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:43,040 Speaker 1: today we are talking about snails, but maybe not in 26 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,360 Speaker 1: the way you expect. Well, we'll touch on s cargo 27 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: here and there, but stales. Stales are a pretty common creature. 28 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: They're also fascinating. They gross some people out, you know, 29 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: some people think of them as moving boogers. They due 30 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:03,600 Speaker 1: to you know, the slime and the way the texture 31 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:06,880 Speaker 1: of their skin is and so on. But what Unearthed 32 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:11,760 Speaker 1: could snails have to do with the idea of communication? 33 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:15,920 Speaker 1: Because Max, Noel and us listening at home, and myself, 34 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:18,000 Speaker 1: we're all pretty lucky to be alive in a time 35 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:23,320 Speaker 1: where there are instantaneous means of communication across the world. 36 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,480 Speaker 1: But as we're gonna see today, the idea of a 37 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:32,000 Speaker 1: global communication network is much older than the Internet. In fact, 38 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:36,359 Speaker 1: there was a French occultists in the eighteen fifties who 39 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:41,160 Speaker 1: thought he could build a communication network with get this snails. 40 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:43,760 Speaker 1: M It's true, you knew we were going to get 41 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:47,799 Speaker 1: there somehow. Communications snails French occultists. What else do you want? 42 00:02:47,960 --> 00:02:49,679 Speaker 1: I want to be a French occultist. That sounds like 43 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:51,880 Speaker 1: a cool gig um. Now it's true. The guy in 44 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:57,799 Speaker 1: question is one Jacques tous Saint Benoit, whose experiments in 45 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:02,880 Speaker 1: the eighteen fifties with snails lead to something referred to 46 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:11,320 Speaker 1: as a snail telegraph yes or passiolytics sympathetic compass. It's 47 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:14,359 Speaker 1: a little less sexy, but definitely sounds fancy. What is it, 48 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:17,040 Speaker 1: ben What is it? So? Here's the idea in short, 49 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:21,680 Speaker 1: summed up by John Brownley writing for Wired, brown Lee 50 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:26,959 Speaker 1: says bin Wa is convinced that any two snails that 51 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:31,959 Speaker 1: have hooked up are forever in telepathic contact for the 52 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: rest of their life, regardless of the distance between them 53 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: and to him. This means that if you touch one, 54 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 1: then the other one the mate will move. And so, 55 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: based on this concept, and Wa makes some gadgets. Wired 56 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:50,480 Speaker 1: calls them contraptions. They're essentially like picture twenty four snails 57 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 1: glued to the bottom of a bowl, and each of 58 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:58,360 Speaker 1: them is in bas design representative of a letter of 59 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: the alphabet. And there, yes, you're right, folks, there are 60 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: two missing letters. We'll get to those in a bit. Wait, 61 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: so glued to the bottom of a bowl with letters 62 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: on the top, sort of like a weird snail typewriter. Yes, yeah, 63 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: and weird and weirdly incomplete snail typewriter. Sounds like some 64 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,839 Speaker 1: flint stones gadgetry right there. Yeah, And he was convinced 65 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:22,560 Speaker 1: that you could you know, touch letters, key in letters. 66 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: Let's just say on one set of snails and the 67 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:28,520 Speaker 1: other set of snails, however far away they might be, 68 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 1: would move so that the person on the other end 69 00:04:31,800 --> 00:04:35,360 Speaker 1: of the gadget could you know, decode whatever message you 70 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: were intending to send. Yeah, a stalelegraph, which is weird 71 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 1: because we call conventional mail snail mail now, but this 72 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:47,920 Speaker 1: snail legraph was if it worked, it would be much 73 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,520 Speaker 1: faster than a telegraph of the type. Right, So at 74 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:55,479 Speaker 1: this point Ben was trying to do the telegraph version 75 00:04:55,640 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 1: of building a better mouse trap. The telegraph is already around, 76 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:03,760 Speaker 1: and when we look at the modern day, what we 77 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:09,080 Speaker 1: see is is pretty amazing, Like, no matter where we 78 00:05:09,279 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 1: are now in the world, and we've learned this recording 79 00:05:12,080 --> 00:05:14,600 Speaker 1: this podcast on the road, and during a pandemic, no 80 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: matter where we are, we can use various platforms to 81 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 1: communicate with each other to even record our show. And 82 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 1: that's a really recent development in the you know, in 83 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: the history of humanity. But it's something that has its 84 00:05:29,880 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 1: origins in pretty basic scientific principles. And as Smithsonian mag 85 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:38,320 Speaker 1: points out, these were first manifests in the good old 86 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:42,600 Speaker 1: eighteenth century electric telegraph, you know, dits and dashes. We 87 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:45,480 Speaker 1: talked about this in the past. The story behind Morse 88 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:49,240 Speaker 1: code is really sad. Oh god man, it's been so long. 89 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:52,960 Speaker 1: I forget the sad part. Well, the the death of 90 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: Samuel Morse's wife was the real impetus or inspiration which 91 00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:00,920 Speaker 1: work of the telegraph got it? Well, thankfully. I don't 92 00:06:01,000 --> 00:06:05,280 Speaker 1: think any tragedy led into ben Wa coming up with this, uh, 93 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,200 Speaker 1: this snail legraph. I think it was more perseverance and 94 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:12,800 Speaker 1: cookie stick to itiveness. Really interesting. So he believed that 95 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: these snails could transmit like sympathetic current, isn't that right? 96 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:21,240 Speaker 1: I mean it was some form of like electrical transmission. 97 00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 1: I mean we would look at it is almost like telepathy, right, 98 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:27,360 Speaker 1: essentially is what he's describing. But you know, he tried 99 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 1: to describe it in more scientific terms. But again, the 100 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:32,800 Speaker 1: guy was like kind of a mystic. I mean occultist, 101 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 1: and apparently, I mean it makes sense. There's a really 102 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 1: great article in Gizmoto, the man who tried to have 103 00:06:37,040 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: been a telegraph made out of telepathic snails. It's a 104 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:44,360 Speaker 1: mouthful of the headline by Esther ingliss Arkle. The eighteen 105 00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:48,720 Speaker 1: hundreds were a really like golden time to be an occultist. Uh. 106 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:51,200 Speaker 1: It was sort of like the swing of the pendulum 107 00:06:51,240 --> 00:06:53,800 Speaker 1: in the other direction. After years and years of witch 108 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:57,839 Speaker 1: burning and fearing the devil and seeing his evil lurking 109 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:00,839 Speaker 1: around every corner, it became kind of a time where 110 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:05,760 Speaker 1: paranormal exploration and magic and kind of the combination of 111 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:09,520 Speaker 1: science and magic were very popular. Uh. And there was 112 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 1: a lot of belief even in just kind of regular 113 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: old folks in sciences and like the efficacy of sciences 114 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:19,680 Speaker 1: and um looking into things like fairies and gnomes and 115 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:23,080 Speaker 1: all of that. And ben Wah was squarely in this camp. 116 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:26,240 Speaker 1: So while he, you know, it does attempt to explain 117 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:31,600 Speaker 1: the snail phenomenon in relatively scientific terms, comparing it to 118 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:35,440 Speaker 1: the telegraph, he clearly was coming at it from a 119 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:39,280 Speaker 1: place of kind of you know, a weird ephemeral mysticism 120 00:07:39,320 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 1: as well. Yeah. Yeah. To be very clear about it, 121 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: ben Wah was not a scientist per se. But ben 122 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:58,440 Speaker 1: Wah also wasn't a wealthy eccentric. So this meant that 123 00:07:58,560 --> 00:08:00,840 Speaker 1: because he didn't have a ton of cash and he 124 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:05,640 Speaker 1: didn't have a ton of rigorous research, that he needed 125 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:09,680 Speaker 1: to convince other people to help him. He needed help 126 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:13,320 Speaker 1: funding this idea. But before you get to that, let's 127 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:17,640 Speaker 1: dive into what he thought was going on. So as 128 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:20,120 Speaker 1: you said, no, he believed there was some sort of 129 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 1: sympathetic bond or current between snails, like after they hooked up, 130 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: basically after they made it, and he believed, Ben, have 131 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:32,319 Speaker 1: you seen snails mating like our up close video, like 132 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:35,439 Speaker 1: in any nature documentaries of snails mating? I believe I 133 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:37,559 Speaker 1: have in the past, but it's it's not one of 134 00:08:37,640 --> 00:08:40,440 Speaker 1: my go to YouTube clips. It's it's it's not nor 135 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:41,839 Speaker 1: should it be, and it's something to be whole. The 136 00:08:41,920 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: owners never bring it up. Is because there's a really 137 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:47,640 Speaker 1: cool movie by our documentary by a French filmmaker whose 138 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 1: name is Escaping Me but also did the film Winged Migration, 139 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:54,760 Speaker 1: and it's called Microcosmos, and it's like all this amazing 140 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 1: kind of macro photography of like insects, and one of 141 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:02,719 Speaker 1: the scenes airs like these snails just going at it 142 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:05,959 Speaker 1: or they like to become one. They're like writhing together 143 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:10,480 Speaker 1: and make this weird Georgia O'Keefe looking array while this 144 00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:13,000 Speaker 1: like gorgeous opera music is playing in the background, and 145 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:16,720 Speaker 1: it's simultaneously kind of beautiful and kind of hilarious because 146 00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:20,800 Speaker 1: it looks ridiculous but also like very psychedelic and strange, 147 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:22,760 Speaker 1: and the music is really sets it off. But I'm sorry, 148 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:24,560 Speaker 1: I please you guys. Had to bring up snails mating. 149 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:26,679 Speaker 1: It's something to see. Check out that clip. It's on YouTube. 150 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:31,160 Speaker 1: So ben wal obviously was watching stales mate and as 151 00:09:31,200 --> 00:09:35,680 Speaker 1: I was saying, he believed that this mating process resulted 152 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:39,760 Speaker 1: in an exchange of what he called sympathetic fluids, and 153 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:44,360 Speaker 1: that the exchange of these fluids connected these snails in 154 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:49,199 Speaker 1: a way that made them mentally inseparable. He thought of 155 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:53,920 Speaker 1: it as an invisible an invisible string, something between a 156 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:57,880 Speaker 1: string and fluid that emanated from one snail to the other, 157 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:05,319 Speaker 1: a kind of natural telegraph cable. But this provided instant communication, 158 00:10:05,480 --> 00:10:08,599 Speaker 1: in his mind, regardless of the environment between them. So 159 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 1: you can put them on ocean away. It wouldn't matter. 160 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:13,160 Speaker 1: One could be on a mountain, one could be in 161 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 1: a deep cavern. They would still be able to have 162 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 1: that vibe with each other and the way you know, 163 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,520 Speaker 1: and these are snails, so we can't ask them to say, 164 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: guess a number or sing a song, right. Instead, he 165 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:30,800 Speaker 1: just has to physically stimulate them. Yeah, like either by 166 00:10:30,920 --> 00:10:33,679 Speaker 1: poking them like we said, like literally tapping them like 167 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:37,360 Speaker 1: a weird snail typewriter, or shooting them with a little 168 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:40,520 Speaker 1: electric current that to do it. And he referred to 169 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:44,959 Speaker 1: this phenomenon this kind of like sympathetic psychic connection with 170 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:48,560 Speaker 1: these fluids. I don't understand how fluids interact with each other, 171 00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:53,040 Speaker 1: that fluids caner would travel through. I guess that's true. 172 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:54,880 Speaker 1: It's true that we just don't understand. I can't wrap 173 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:59,199 Speaker 1: our heads around. He termed this phenomenon scar gotic commotion, 174 00:10:59,679 --> 00:11:02,319 Speaker 1: which I just love. I'm gonna start using that in 175 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:04,520 Speaker 1: uh in my regular conversation or maybe start a band 176 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:08,439 Speaker 1: called escargotic commotion. Either way, this was the basis of 177 00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:11,400 Speaker 1: this whole thing. He considered this to be against said 178 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:14,559 Speaker 1: this amazing obscure article. He considered this to be some 179 00:11:14,760 --> 00:11:19,800 Speaker 1: sort of evolutionary loophole, and he really believed in this phenomenon. 180 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:23,000 Speaker 1: He had a partner as well, an American, which is weird, 181 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:27,440 Speaker 1: who has a very French sounding name monsieur bia creti 182 00:11:28,520 --> 00:11:32,760 Speaker 1: um Americans somehow though, yeah, yeah, this is This is 183 00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:38,280 Speaker 1: interesting though, because some researchers believe that ben Wa made 184 00:11:38,360 --> 00:11:42,679 Speaker 1: this guy up like out of whole cloth. He never 185 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:46,880 Speaker 1: was another person for him to to communicate with, or 186 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:51,080 Speaker 1: maybe he was embellishing his story a little bit, but yes, 187 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 1: he said he had a partner. He also didn't just 188 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:59,480 Speaker 1: see some snails mating and thought I should try to 189 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:03,520 Speaker 1: turn these guys into the alphabet instead. He was building 190 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:06,959 Speaker 1: off this earlier concept that's very hr Geiger as a 191 00:12:07,040 --> 00:12:11,360 Speaker 1: phrase flesh telegraphs. This goes back to the fifteen hundreds, 192 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:14,800 Speaker 1: but then also earlier, just a few decades earlier. In 193 00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:19,520 Speaker 1: eighteen thirty nine, a guy named William O'Shaughnessy, an Irish 194 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:25,319 Speaker 1: doctor and a fan of marijuana, had experimented with the 195 00:12:25,440 --> 00:12:30,280 Speaker 1: idea of using human skin to transmit and receive electrical signals. 196 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 1: Which is interesting because we know that that is a thing. 197 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 1: I mean, that's the reason. For example, like touch lamps work, 198 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:40,079 Speaker 1: and like touch screens, you know, like there is some 199 00:12:40,559 --> 00:12:43,880 Speaker 1: connectivity between you know, we have a glove on, the 200 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:45,520 Speaker 1: screen is not gonna work. You have a glove on, 201 00:12:45,679 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: like you know, one of those touch lamps isn't gonna work. 202 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,120 Speaker 1: So it is about kind of using the human body 203 00:12:50,200 --> 00:12:52,600 Speaker 1: as a conduit for these types of signals. I mean, 204 00:12:52,640 --> 00:12:54,640 Speaker 1: it's like it's not like a current that's gonna shock you, 205 00:12:55,040 --> 00:12:58,120 Speaker 1: but we do know that the human body can transmit 206 00:12:58,200 --> 00:13:01,760 Speaker 1: these kinds of impulses. Yeah, vibes. It's not just an 207 00:13:01,760 --> 00:13:05,719 Speaker 1: amazing film. Uh sorry, Jeff Goldblum and one of our 208 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:09,439 Speaker 1: favorites here on Ridiculous History. It really is quite a banger. 209 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:12,880 Speaker 1: I highly recommend checking it out. You mentioned hundreds. But 210 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:16,000 Speaker 1: in the Dred the Flesh Telegraph, I guess that we're 211 00:13:16,160 --> 00:13:19,360 Speaker 1: kind of being kicked around then involved fish. Yeah, yeah, 212 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:24,120 Speaker 1: that's that is true. It's strange because everybody was trying 213 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:29,880 Speaker 1: to at various points create some communication device like this, 214 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:32,800 Speaker 1: and I think it tells us something illuminating about the 215 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:36,760 Speaker 1: human condition. Since before the dawn of recorded history, people 216 00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:39,640 Speaker 1: were obsessed with trying to talk with one another, you 217 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:42,080 Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like in general, So it makes 218 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:45,839 Speaker 1: sense that people would try to find novel solutions to 219 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:50,959 Speaker 1: the old problem of communication over distance, whether it's fish, 220 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:54,360 Speaker 1: whether it's snails, whether it's human flesh. They were just 221 00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:56,440 Speaker 1: we're saying, they were throwing a lot of stuff at 222 00:13:56,440 --> 00:13:59,160 Speaker 1: the wall. Here can we can we address the elephant 223 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:02,280 Speaker 1: in the room or the massive dead snail in the room. 224 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:07,120 Speaker 1: The longevity of this does not really compute for me, Like, 225 00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:11,320 Speaker 1: you know, how you gotta keep replacing snails. I mean, 226 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:12,800 Speaker 1: what do you used to if you feed them, it's 227 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:15,599 Speaker 1: like it's like having a pet, It's like maintaining an aquarium. 228 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:17,720 Speaker 1: I guess you can keep alive for a long time. 229 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:19,560 Speaker 1: But like, first of all, when I first heard this, 230 00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:22,280 Speaker 1: I'm picturing snails lined up back to back to back 231 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:24,760 Speaker 1: to back to back, like over a long, long distances, 232 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:27,760 Speaker 1: like literally a snail telegraph. But again, these were supposedly, 233 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:30,120 Speaker 1: you know, psychic snails, So I guess you only have 234 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 1: to have about twenty five of them on each end 235 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 1: for for the alphabet, so you know you have one died, 236 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:36,600 Speaker 1: but then you have to make them again. It just 237 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: seems like a whole homework assignment to me. Yeah, because 238 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:42,320 Speaker 1: you'd have to be based on the lifetime of the snails. 239 00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:46,120 Speaker 1: You'd have to be constantly ready to ship out a 240 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:50,520 Speaker 1: new receiver to whatever remote, remote location the other receiver 241 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:54,240 Speaker 1: was originally at, and that's every time a snail passes away. 242 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 1: It's also like, I guess people could, if this worked, 243 00:14:57,800 --> 00:15:03,160 Speaker 1: save money by just using these keyboards for as long 244 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:04,920 Speaker 1: as they could, but it be like typing with a 245 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:09,120 Speaker 1: broken typewriter. Eventually you'd start missing really important letters like 246 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:12,160 Speaker 1: E or some or some other vowel. Oh, you know, 247 00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:13,880 Speaker 1: the LFE cycle of a snail is actually longer than 248 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:16,520 Speaker 1: I thought. Apparently in the while they can live two 249 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:19,880 Speaker 1: to seven years, but in captivity they can actually live 250 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:23,800 Speaker 1: ten to fifteen years or even longer if they're like, 251 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:27,600 Speaker 1: you know, properly fed and watered. So okay, I retract 252 00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:29,920 Speaker 1: my my beef, but there are there are a copious 253 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 1: other beefs to be had with this situation. Yeah, but 254 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:36,280 Speaker 1: I I don't think you necessarily should, because you'd still 255 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:38,840 Speaker 1: the point remains, you'd still have to cycle it out, 256 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:44,360 Speaker 1: maybe just not as often as some might assume. But look, 257 00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:49,000 Speaker 1: they need help, they need credibility, and they need cash. 258 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 1: This pair of people represented by Ben Wah, so Ben 259 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 1: Wah starts putting the charm on this guy who manages 260 00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:02,480 Speaker 1: a gymnaisi him in Paris. His name is Monsieur try It, 261 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:07,720 Speaker 1: and he convinces this dude to let him live, like 262 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:11,080 Speaker 1: to pay for him to live somewhere and give him 263 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:15,600 Speaker 1: a stipend to work on his snail telegraph. He also 264 00:16:16,040 --> 00:16:21,520 Speaker 1: beguiles a journalist named Jules Alex from La Press and 265 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:26,240 Speaker 1: he gets him to like cover the unveiling of the staleygraph, 266 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:35,480 Speaker 1: and so he sort of stages an event, right, He 267 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:38,200 Speaker 1: does this sort of unveiling thing on October two of 268 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:41,560 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty. And this is all at the behest of Triat, 269 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:45,440 Speaker 1: who very much wants to I guess, get his money's 270 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:48,480 Speaker 1: worth from his investment. Um. So at this point the 271 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:53,640 Speaker 1: design of the snail agram consists of like a scaffold 272 00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:58,080 Speaker 1: situation using it was like a ten foot beam with 273 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 1: these zinc bowls. I don't know why I needed to 274 00:17:01,480 --> 00:17:04,320 Speaker 1: be zinc. Maybe because of don't he probably had his reasons. 275 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:06,960 Speaker 1: The zinc is, I know, very conductive. With the snails 276 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:10,480 Speaker 1: glued using copper sulfate, I can't and I think I 277 00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:12,359 Speaker 1: feel like we're burying the leads here. This doesn't seem 278 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:16,040 Speaker 1: very friendly to the snails, not that like you know snails. 279 00:17:16,080 --> 00:17:18,399 Speaker 1: I mean, if snails have feelings, right, I think this 280 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:21,040 Speaker 1: would be terrible. This reminds me of the way fleas 281 00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:24,119 Speaker 1: were treated in those really messed up maccab flea circus 282 00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:27,879 Speaker 1: as we talked about with with Gabe. Or turnspit dogs, 283 00:17:28,359 --> 00:17:30,680 Speaker 1: you know, I think would be another example. Yeah, the 284 00:17:30,840 --> 00:17:37,000 Speaker 1: snails well being isn't isn't really entering into Benwa's calculations, 285 00:17:37,280 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 1: and the contraption becomes increasingly complex and increasingly expensive as 286 00:17:43,359 --> 00:17:46,720 Speaker 1: they dive into it. Eventually they end up with, as 287 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:50,679 Speaker 1: we said, forty eight snails overall, twenty four separate couplings 288 00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:55,240 Speaker 1: into those zinc bowls. They're glued on this wooden board 289 00:17:55,359 --> 00:17:59,240 Speaker 1: next to these alphabet symbols. We said earlier there were 290 00:18:00,000 --> 00:18:03,480 Speaker 1: inte four snails, but not twinning six. That's because this 291 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:06,560 Speaker 1: is in French, and in French the letters W and 292 00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:10,480 Speaker 1: K are often only used for words that are loaned 293 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:14,639 Speaker 1: from other languages, and that's where the author of this 294 00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:20,080 Speaker 1: post on the Generalist Academy says, that's where the discrepancy 295 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:22,679 Speaker 1: comes from. Like they it would have been seen as 296 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:26,720 Speaker 1: somewhat extraneous to have that W and K. Also also 297 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:29,400 Speaker 1: patently less French, you know, because I mean the French 298 00:18:29,560 --> 00:18:32,000 Speaker 1: take their language very seriously, so they were not even 299 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:33,920 Speaker 1: they like, throw those letters out. We don't use those 300 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:37,119 Speaker 1: except for those trash American words. Who needs them? Get 301 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:40,520 Speaker 1: rid of them? Right. So there's another thing that I 302 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:43,800 Speaker 1: think stood out to a lot of folks who are 303 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:47,840 Speaker 1: listening along at home. It's this, how do you know 304 00:18:49,200 --> 00:18:53,080 Speaker 1: you have a positive connection? Right? Like if somebody pokes 305 00:18:53,720 --> 00:18:57,160 Speaker 1: the snail that represents the letter B, and then someone 306 00:18:57,240 --> 00:18:59,920 Speaker 1: else on the other board is looking at that snail, 307 00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:04,400 Speaker 1: what counts as a signal that someone mashed B? It's 308 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:07,359 Speaker 1: unfortunately it's kind of interpretive. I would assume it just 309 00:19:07,440 --> 00:19:10,400 Speaker 1: goes bing, you know, or a little green light lights 310 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:13,119 Speaker 1: up on the snail's head on its little tentacles. No, 311 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:14,720 Speaker 1: it does have to do with the tentacles. They're not 312 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:16,600 Speaker 1: what do you call those things there? And yeah, there 313 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: are tentacles. They're kind of antennae meet tentacles, the little 314 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:23,119 Speaker 1: you know, wiggly things on their heads. Uh. And that 315 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:25,480 Speaker 1: is how you gauged it, or at least how he 316 00:19:25,520 --> 00:19:28,000 Speaker 1: claimed you could gauge it. If you tap a snail 317 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:32,520 Speaker 1: on one of the ends, the corresponding mated snail on 318 00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:37,160 Speaker 1: the other end would wiggle its tentacles sympathetically. Yeah, before 319 00:19:37,200 --> 00:19:40,600 Speaker 1: it counts as a wiggle. How do you differentiate that from, 320 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:44,320 Speaker 1: you know, a regular stale wiggle, just like a stale 321 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:47,639 Speaker 1: can adjusting snails are always always pretty wiggly, if you 322 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:50,320 Speaker 1: ask me, Um, those little tentacles are always kind of 323 00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:53,920 Speaker 1: flopping around willy nilly. So that's the basic idea. And 324 00:19:53,960 --> 00:19:56,159 Speaker 1: he attempts to demonstrate this, like we said, of this, Uh, 325 00:19:56,359 --> 00:19:58,440 Speaker 1: I guess you'd call it like a press conference really, 326 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:01,080 Speaker 1: but it doesn't go very well. He's been kind of 327 00:20:01,200 --> 00:20:04,720 Speaker 1: stringing Tria along right this whole time. He claimed that 328 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:08,920 Speaker 1: he had been in communication with his maybe imaginary friend. 329 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:12,320 Speaker 1: I've got a research partner. You wouldn't know him. He 330 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:15,600 Speaker 1: goes to another wouldn't he go to He lives in Canada, uh, 331 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:17,920 Speaker 1: and goes to the school. So this is he was 332 00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:20,760 Speaker 1: He had never this guy had never actually seen it 333 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:24,280 Speaker 1: function correctly. So this trial is not only to maybe 334 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:27,720 Speaker 1: attract other investors and make a splash in the press, 335 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:30,920 Speaker 1: it's also literally at the insistence of this investor who's like, 336 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:33,399 Speaker 1: come on, you know, put your money where your mouth 337 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:37,239 Speaker 1: is or my money where your snails mouths are. Uh. 338 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:39,720 Speaker 1: And it didn't really go very well. Ben while was 339 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:43,320 Speaker 1: very kind of cag right, like he you know, he 340 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:48,359 Speaker 1: he would think Tria wanted to really push home this 341 00:20:48,480 --> 00:20:50,719 Speaker 1: thing worked, that there was no trickery at work, right, 342 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:52,600 Speaker 1: So he asked if he would put a curtain up 343 00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:55,560 Speaker 1: between him and his partner that he was communicating with, 344 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:57,159 Speaker 1: who wasn't be out by the way, right. It was 345 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:00,600 Speaker 1: just like some assistant. It was the journalist from earlier, 346 00:21:01,119 --> 00:21:03,800 Speaker 1: that's right, who was taken by this whole thing. We've 347 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:05,359 Speaker 1: got some quotes from him. We we'll give it if 348 00:21:05,400 --> 00:21:08,240 Speaker 1: it a few. That guy's name was Alex and he 349 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 1: didn't want to do that. He refused to put up 350 00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:14,000 Speaker 1: to put up the curtain, and he set the two 351 00:21:14,080 --> 00:21:16,520 Speaker 1: he called him compasses, set them up in the same room. 352 00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:21,159 Speaker 1: This was on October two, eighteen fifty. The experiment goes ahead. 353 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:25,280 Speaker 1: Remember the journalist is also under the spell of Ben 354 00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:28,879 Speaker 1: Wah because he's an occultist. I thought of that earlier. 355 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:33,880 Speaker 1: That's terrible anyhow, I think anyhow, the he's got Alex 356 00:21:34,000 --> 00:21:38,760 Speaker 1: here touching snails two letters on one device to talk 357 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:42,199 Speaker 1: to ben Wah through the other device, and ben wa 358 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:45,600 Speaker 1: is going back and forth between these two boards. His 359 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:50,560 Speaker 1: communication is not separate because he's quote unquote making sure 360 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:55,120 Speaker 1: everybody's reading the snails correctly and touching them the right way. 361 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:58,040 Speaker 1: But the transmission they do end up with is still 362 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,680 Speaker 1: woefully inaccurate. Yeah, believe that the word was supposed to 363 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:05,720 Speaker 1: be jim NAIs and it somehow ended up being like jemmote, 364 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:08,720 Speaker 1: which is I guess you could. You could. It's sort 365 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:12,400 Speaker 1: of the equivalent of like fat finger texting, you know, um, 366 00:22:12,920 --> 00:22:17,119 Speaker 1: but woefully inaccurate. But for some reason, Alex you know, 367 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:20,720 Speaker 1: being what you would think a clever guy as a journalist. 368 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:23,879 Speaker 1: And the skeptic was still really taken in by this, 369 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:27,080 Speaker 1: even the like pretty poor showing that they did, And 370 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:29,080 Speaker 1: he had this to say when he wrote about it 371 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:33,200 Speaker 1: on October sevent of eighteen fifty. He says, we cannot 372 00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 1: penetrate the decrees of providence. We must nevertheless hope that 373 00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:39,240 Speaker 1: this will not always be so. He basically goes on 374 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:41,239 Speaker 1: to kind of predict the internet here, which I love, 375 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:45,680 Speaker 1: and that thanks to the very discovery of messairs Benoit 376 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:49,119 Speaker 1: and bea. With men now able to better listen to 377 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:52,639 Speaker 1: and understand one another, the sacrifices of inventors will not 378 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:55,280 Speaker 1: have been in vain. That they will, on the contrary, 379 00:22:55,359 --> 00:22:58,000 Speaker 1: be able to enjoy during their lives the glory and 380 00:22:58,119 --> 00:23:01,639 Speaker 1: the honors that until now have only been accorded to 381 00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:08,360 Speaker 1: their memories. So yeah, the journalist Alex is still as 382 00:23:08,400 --> 00:23:12,680 Speaker 1: he said, taken in. However, the wealthy benefactor, the manager 383 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:16,960 Speaker 1: of this gymnasium triop, is not. He's an angel investor 384 00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:19,680 Speaker 1: who feels like his money has been squandered. He's not 385 00:23:19,800 --> 00:23:21,680 Speaker 1: quite ready to give up. He says, we need a 386 00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:25,639 Speaker 1: second test with some kind of scientific rigor so we 387 00:23:25,720 --> 00:23:30,520 Speaker 1: could actually prove something, and ben Wa agrees. But on 388 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:33,880 Speaker 1: the day they set for this second trial, he's vanished. 389 00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:36,920 Speaker 1: He's amos, he's left town, he's off the grid. He 390 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:43,320 Speaker 1: dies penniless in Paris in eighteen fifty two. And then 391 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:46,920 Speaker 1: we see like this, if we go back to the 392 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:51,040 Speaker 1: article you quoted Nol, that La Press article, it was 393 00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:55,440 Speaker 1: written before bin Wa disappeared, and it's got all the 394 00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:57,960 Speaker 1: bells and whistles, it's got all the flash, it's kind 395 00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:01,240 Speaker 1: of like what we would call advtar o real today's 396 00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:06,920 Speaker 1: advertising disguised as a piece of editorial content. Yeah, I mean, yes, 397 00:24:07,359 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 1: I completely agree. I just seemed like he was really 398 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:13,000 Speaker 1: enamored by this dude, and he's just like really big 399 00:24:13,119 --> 00:24:16,000 Speaker 1: upping his whole thing. And uh, you know, but again 400 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:18,000 Speaker 1: he he is, like I said, and that quote almost 401 00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:22,400 Speaker 1: predicting the uh how important you know, global communication would 402 00:24:22,480 --> 00:24:26,399 Speaker 1: would ultimately become um and network, like I said, somewhat 403 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:33,800 Speaker 1: resembling the Internet miniaturization. He predicted that. Um, so you're right, 404 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,919 Speaker 1: Ben pin Wise now dead surprise, that's sort of a twist. 405 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:41,119 Speaker 1: He you know, he no longer is the protagonist of 406 00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:44,440 Speaker 1: our story. In fact, Alex kind of becomes the one 407 00:24:44,520 --> 00:24:48,040 Speaker 1: who carries the torch of the snail telegraph. Um. He 408 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:50,879 Speaker 1: has become kind of a laughing stock over the years. 409 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 1: He's mocked in all these like satirical cartoons and Punch magazine, 410 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:57,679 Speaker 1: which is a really excellent satire magazine out of France. 411 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:01,320 Speaker 1: But he was undeterred. He's still held on to the 412 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:04,960 Speaker 1: hope that this snail telegraph could be a thing, despite 413 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:08,560 Speaker 1: it clearly being sort of the work of I don't know, 414 00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:11,040 Speaker 1: do you think Benwir really believed it, Ben, or do 415 00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:13,320 Speaker 1: you think he was just trying to build people? And 416 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:15,200 Speaker 1: he was a bit of a huckster. He certainly had, 417 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:17,480 Speaker 1: like you said, it was able to kind of charm 418 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:21,240 Speaker 1: and bewitch people with his occultist ways. But like, do 419 00:25:21,280 --> 00:25:22,920 Speaker 1: you think he believed or was he just trying to 420 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:26,520 Speaker 1: put one over on people? It's tough. It's tough to say. 421 00:25:26,680 --> 00:25:29,000 Speaker 1: So we know Alex Stephanie believe, but it's tough to 422 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:36,280 Speaker 1: you know, divine Ben was real, like his the level 423 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:40,119 Speaker 1: of his sincerity. He definitely went through with that first experiment, 424 00:25:40,359 --> 00:25:43,120 Speaker 1: like he built the thing and tried to make it work, 425 00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:47,240 Speaker 1: but he didn't. He didn't appear for that second experiment. Still, 426 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:51,480 Speaker 1: the journalist Alex doesn't give up. In fact, he like 427 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:55,760 Speaker 1: twenty years later, he tries to give it one more go. 428 00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:00,920 Speaker 1: In eighteen seventy one, on the barricades the Paris Commune 429 00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:04,240 Speaker 1: during the Uprising, people needed to figure out a way 430 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:09,480 Speaker 1: to communicate discreetly, the way that protesters would use things 431 00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:13,200 Speaker 1: like signal in the modern day. And so there's a 432 00:26:13,240 --> 00:26:16,320 Speaker 1: guy named Marquis Rochefort who is the president of the 433 00:26:16,400 --> 00:26:22,520 Speaker 1: Barricades Commission who thinks about Alex's story, and he says, well, 434 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:25,320 Speaker 1: maybe we can try this again. So they try this 435 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,320 Speaker 1: snail telegram again, and unfortunately, as Atlas Obscura puts it, 436 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:32,800 Speaker 1: the snie telegram proved to be no more effective in 437 00:26:32,920 --> 00:26:36,280 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy one than in eighteen fifty and it failed 438 00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:41,920 Speaker 1: to save the Communards from massacre and exile. So so yeah, 439 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:44,639 Speaker 1: at this point we've kind of ended the lifespan of 440 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,119 Speaker 1: the snail telegraph. And by now I think the original 441 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:49,359 Speaker 1: snails would have been long dead. I think, well it's 442 00:26:49,400 --> 00:26:51,280 Speaker 1: a fifteen years now. He would have been dead for 443 00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:53,840 Speaker 1: about five years at this point, the longest lasting of them. 444 00:26:54,080 --> 00:26:56,080 Speaker 1: And we see it replaced by you know, more science 445 00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:59,720 Speaker 1: e things, actual telegraphs that really worked and you know, 446 00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:04,800 Speaker 1: required infrastructure and not just vibes, though we do love vibes. 447 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:08,320 Speaker 1: It's just it's a it's a film for the whole family. 448 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:13,160 Speaker 1: You know, surely this is our advertorial for vibes. That's 449 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:16,200 Speaker 1: that's the way of the show. And you know, lest 450 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:20,119 Speaker 1: we be too harsh on Benoir, there is something to 451 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 1: be said for boldly going where no one's gone before 452 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:29,520 Speaker 1: in terms of invention, right, and trying something new. So 453 00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:36,560 Speaker 1: while I applaud the go get itiveness of it, right, 454 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:41,240 Speaker 1: I understand, you know, not all ideas are gonna make 455 00:27:41,280 --> 00:27:44,880 Speaker 1: it off the drawing board, and not all ideas should. Still, 456 00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:47,680 Speaker 1: if you're a fan of snails, then you're probably happy 457 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,359 Speaker 1: to hear that the snail telegraph never got off the 458 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:55,480 Speaker 1: ground because all those creatures that fascinate you are living 459 00:27:55,680 --> 00:27:59,840 Speaker 1: lives free of being glued to zinc bowls, thank god. 460 00:28:00,160 --> 00:28:03,280 Speaker 1: And you know, snales actually are much more fascinating creatures, 461 00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:05,680 Speaker 1: and I would have ever given them credit for like, 462 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:09,320 Speaker 1: for example, they are very closely related to slugs, but 463 00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:11,480 Speaker 1: I would argue slightly less gross. The slug is just 464 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:13,880 Speaker 1: like a snail with no shell. And they're also really 465 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:17,800 Speaker 1: closely related to shellfish. Um that you know, their their mollusks, 466 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,240 Speaker 1: you know they live their sea snails. You know, there 467 00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:23,119 Speaker 1: are a lot like oysters or clams or or muscles. Right, 468 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:26,440 Speaker 1: they have a lot of amazing medical uses. I think 469 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:29,919 Speaker 1: that's one of the biggest contributions they make to science. 470 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:35,480 Speaker 1: They inspired medical adhesives. UH studies find that snail mucus 471 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:41,000 Speaker 1: in fact might be helpful in assisting the healing process 472 00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 1: for wounds, like putting it on your skin may trigger 473 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:48,640 Speaker 1: an immune response that inspires those cells to regenerate. So cool, 474 00:28:48,720 --> 00:28:51,920 Speaker 1: and like we said before, pretty impressive lifespan on a 475 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,480 Speaker 1: snail two to seven years and in captivity again that 476 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 1: can be more like ten to fifteen. Who knew? You 477 00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:00,960 Speaker 1: probably already knew because we mentioned that one before. But 478 00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:04,720 Speaker 1: really cool creatures, really cool story bad. This was a 479 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:10,400 Speaker 1: fun conversation, agreed, agreed, And you know, like slugs, we 480 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:15,440 Speaker 1: hope that you enjoy finding this episode of Ridiculous History 481 00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,520 Speaker 1: anywhere on the Earth. We don't have a hundred and 482 00:29:18,640 --> 00:29:22,880 Speaker 1: fifty thousand episodes yet, that's the number of species of gastropods, 483 00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:25,760 Speaker 1: but we are going to try to get there, and 484 00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 1: we're gonna do so with the help of our super producers. 485 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:32,000 Speaker 1: So big thanks to Casey Pegram, big thanks to Max Williams, 486 00:29:32,080 --> 00:29:34,360 Speaker 1: and of course, no big, big thanks to you, oh Man. 487 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:37,719 Speaker 1: Thanks to Christopher Haciotes here in spirit, Alex Williams who 488 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:41,360 Speaker 1: composed this theme, Jonathan Strick aka the Quister that you 489 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:44,640 Speaker 1: will be seeing him darkening our our doorstep again one 490 00:29:44,680 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 1: of these days soon. But you know what I like. 491 00:29:46,040 --> 00:29:49,000 Speaker 1: I like a banana slug. That's my favorite species of slug. 492 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:51,080 Speaker 1: I like them all man. I used to have some 493 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:53,719 Speaker 1: pet slugs Jimmish salt slugs. Are you one of those 494 00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:55,720 Speaker 1: kids now? Of course you aren't. You're you're you're a 495 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:59,120 Speaker 1: lover of all all creatures, great and small. We'll see 496 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:08,040 Speaker 1: you next time. Books, m hmmm. For more podcasts from 497 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:10,760 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, 498 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:13,040 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.