1 00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:06,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, the production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind. My 3 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: name is Robert Lamb, and I'm Joe McCormick, and we're 4 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,160 Speaker 1: back with the fourth and final part of our series 5 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: on the healing waters, the belief held by many throughout 6 00:00:25,440 --> 00:00:28,960 Speaker 1: history that you could cure your illnesses and improve your 7 00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:33,480 Speaker 1: health by bathing or immersing yourself in water, often water 8 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:37,839 Speaker 1: with special properties, maybe water of a certain temperature like 9 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 1: hot baths or cold baths, or water from a special 10 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:45,879 Speaker 1: source such as a particular warm mineral spring. Now. In 11 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:50,360 Speaker 1: previous episodes, as a brief refresher, we talked about the 12 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:55,400 Speaker 1: prehistoric emergence of bathing culture and the ancient religious associations 13 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: between bathing and spiritual purity in the realm of healing. 14 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: We talked about ancient Greek and Roman theories of medicine, 15 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:06,319 Speaker 1: such as humoral theory, which sometimes had the consequence of 16 00:01:06,319 --> 00:01:10,040 Speaker 1: recommending bathing as a cure for all sorts of health problems, 17 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 1: and we also talked about the importance of baths and 18 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,960 Speaker 1: spas in the culture and civic infrastructure of the Roman Empire. 19 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 1: We discussed some interesting and strange examples of spas with 20 00:01:21,319 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: alleged healing powers that contain living organisms such as bloodworms 21 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: or fish, that are themselves thought to in some way 22 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:32,399 Speaker 1: be a mechanism of healing. And in the episode just 23 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 1: previous to this one, we discussed an I thought fascinating 24 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: medical history paper from a few decades back, analyzing records 25 00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:45,479 Speaker 1: of treatment that made use of the thermal waters of Bath, England, 26 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: and this paper argued that while yeah, most of the 27 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:51,560 Speaker 1: conditions people thought could be cured by bathing in hot 28 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:55,520 Speaker 1: springs throughout history, we're probably just benefiting from the placebo effect. 29 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: There is pretty decent evidence for thinking that the immersion 30 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: treatments at Bath were genuinely directly effective at curing paralysis 31 00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:09,080 Speaker 1: caused by chronic lead poisoning, because, according to the author, 32 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: sitting up to your neck in warm water increases the 33 00:02:12,360 --> 00:02:16,920 Speaker 1: rate in which your body purges lead content through urine. Anyway, 34 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:19,520 Speaker 1: after all that, we're back today to finish off this 35 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:23,840 Speaker 1: series with a few more interesting tidbits. Now, one of 36 00:02:23,880 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: the things I did want to briefly talk about is 37 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: that a lot of the mineral springs with alleged healing 38 00:02:29,040 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: powers that we've mentioned so far have been in places 39 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 1: that were formerly part of the Roman Empire, and I 40 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,320 Speaker 1: think this should not be surprising, given the importance of 41 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:43,919 Speaker 1: bathing in Roman culture in general, but especially in the 42 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:46,880 Speaker 1: Greek and Roman theories of medicine we discussed in the 43 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: previous parts of the series, and in fact you can 44 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,240 Speaker 1: still see like the lingering effects of this. There are 45 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:55,960 Speaker 1: alleged healing spas all throughout Europe that go way way 46 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:59,560 Speaker 1: back that can be traced back to Roman times. But 47 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:03,440 Speaker 1: I don't think we should assume that the association of 48 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:06,680 Speaker 1: some forms of bathing with healing is just like an odd, 49 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:11,280 Speaker 1: unique belief contingent on some amount of Roman cultural heritage, 50 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: because I think it seems that people in many places 51 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:18,600 Speaker 1: around the world, at various times have come to think 52 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: that they can be healed by bathing, by bathing in general, 53 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:26,920 Speaker 1: or through the specific waters of some particular mineral spring. 54 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,280 Speaker 1: And so you can find examples of this from around 55 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:32,280 Speaker 1: the world. There was one that I ended up doing 56 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,400 Speaker 1: kind of a deep dive on. I was reading about 57 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:39,760 Speaker 1: the Kittagada Hot Springs of Uganda. So the Kittagada Hot 58 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: Springs are they're a system of geothermal springs in southwest Uganda. 59 00:03:44,720 --> 00:03:48,880 Speaker 1: I've seen the name Kittigada translated as both warm water 60 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:53,760 Speaker 1: and as warm place or good place. And there's a 61 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: town of the same name located about two kilometers northwest 62 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:01,280 Speaker 1: of the springs. And these waters are said to collect 63 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: in two side by side pools, and they are believed 64 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: by many to have healing properties, so much so that 65 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:11,080 Speaker 1: they are or at least they were, as of the 66 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:15,040 Speaker 1: sources I was reading, which were some Uganda newspaper articles 67 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:18,000 Speaker 1: from roughly ten years ago or so. At that time, 68 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:21,360 Speaker 1: they were being visited by hundreds of people every day, 69 00:04:21,400 --> 00:04:26,680 Speaker 1: both locals and tourists, tourists from within Uganda and tourists internationally. 70 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 1: And I was reading about the springs in a series 71 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 1: of articles from a Ugandan English language newspaper called New Vision, 72 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 1: which is based out of Kampala. So one of the 73 00:04:37,200 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 1: articles is called the Healing Hot Springs. It was published 74 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:44,960 Speaker 1: in February twenty fourteen by Chris Mugasha. And in this 75 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:48,240 Speaker 1: article the author actually describes a visit he had to 76 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 1: the springs and describes some basic facts about them and 77 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:55,119 Speaker 1: sort of how they're used by the people. So Rabbi 78 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:57,839 Speaker 1: attached some pictures of the Kitagada Springs. You can see 79 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:02,440 Speaker 1: that they are surrounded by some very interesting rock formations. 80 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:05,600 Speaker 1: I don't know exactly what sort of geology forms the 81 00:05:06,120 --> 00:05:08,159 Speaker 1: rocks like this, but you can see that all around 82 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:12,320 Speaker 1: the pools there are these strange, beautiful, interesting kind of 83 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:16,920 Speaker 1: like crags poking up in all directions. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, 84 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:20,719 Speaker 1: this sense of the rocks being burst out by swelling 85 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:24,360 Speaker 1: from beneath. Yeah. So, according to Mugosha's article here, the 86 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: springs are divided into a section that's used by men, 87 00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:30,480 Speaker 1: and then a section used by women and children. And 88 00:05:31,040 --> 00:05:33,160 Speaker 1: then also there are some people who don't actually want 89 00:05:33,160 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: to stay in bathe in person with everybody else, and 90 00:05:36,200 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: he says they bring jerry cans and fill them up 91 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:42,480 Speaker 1: with hot spring water to carry back home. And the 92 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 1: thermal pools also vary by temperature. There's one area that 93 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,839 Speaker 1: apparently as comfortably warm water, while the other has water 94 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: that the author describes as hot enough to prepare porridge 95 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:55,839 Speaker 1: or cook an egg. Yeah. This is a feature of 96 00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: various hot springs that I was reading about. You know, 97 00:05:58,839 --> 00:06:00,560 Speaker 1: just because it's a hot spring, does I mean you 98 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:03,440 Speaker 1: can or should get into it. There are some very 99 00:06:03,520 --> 00:06:07,039 Speaker 1: dangerous hot springs out there in the world, and you 100 00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:11,360 Speaker 1: should definitely obey any signage or rules and regulations surrounding them. 101 00:06:11,520 --> 00:06:14,560 Speaker 1: But then there are also plenty of complexes where if 102 00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:18,799 Speaker 1: you know the right place to go in a spring complex, 103 00:06:18,839 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: then you'll be all right because that's where the water 104 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:24,640 Speaker 1: will be warm and not hot enough to cook eggs. Right. 105 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:26,279 Speaker 1: And it seemed from what I was reading that the 106 00:06:26,320 --> 00:06:28,640 Speaker 1: area with water hot enough to cook an egg may 107 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:31,160 Speaker 1: still be used for some things. But I doubt people 108 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:33,840 Speaker 1: are like getting in that water and hanging out there 109 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:35,479 Speaker 1: for a long time because you don't want to be 110 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:39,359 Speaker 1: the egg. So this is this topic. This is not 111 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 1: something I research, but this might be something we might 112 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:43,400 Speaker 1: have to put a pin in to come back to 113 00:06:43,960 --> 00:06:46,960 Speaker 1: in discussing like the history of cooking, you know, because 114 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:50,400 Speaker 1: we've talked about the importance of natural springs, both hot 115 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:55,200 Speaker 1: and cold, to ancient peoples. I wonder how this factors 116 00:06:55,279 --> 00:06:59,560 Speaker 1: or doesn't factor into the history of boiling as a 117 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:03,120 Speaker 1: cooking method. I have no idea, but that is an 118 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 1: interesting question. Yeah, maybe before we had fire, did anybody 119 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: ever try to like boil their food in a hot spring. 120 00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 1: I don't know what evidence of that there would be 121 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: left over if they did. Yeah, that would be the 122 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:17,760 Speaker 1: thing right anyway. So the author here says that people 123 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: visit the springs for multiple reasons. So some people it 124 00:07:20,720 --> 00:07:23,760 Speaker 1: seems to be just recreational. People come for pleasure and 125 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: relaxation and the hot waters. Maybe they come after work 126 00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:29,840 Speaker 1: to chill out, or they come to admire the area's 127 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:33,520 Speaker 1: natural beauty. But he says that the majority of people 128 00:07:33,560 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 1: there are looking for healing of some kind. And an 129 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:40,800 Speaker 1: earlier article in the same newspaper I read in New Vision. 130 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: This article was by Ali Wasaswa from August twenty thirteen, 131 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:48,440 Speaker 1: mentions people coming to the springs hoping for cures to 132 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:51,679 Speaker 1: a wide range of health issues, both minor and severe. 133 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: So this includes everything from acne to cancer. And while 134 00:07:56,600 --> 00:08:00,840 Speaker 1: many people claim to have experienced improvements after bathing in 135 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:04,640 Speaker 1: the water, was was article sites some doubts about the 136 00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:09,040 Speaker 1: efficacy of these cures from a researcher named Moses Kakaya 137 00:08:09,240 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 1: who was affiliated with an organization called Save for Health 138 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:16,240 Speaker 1: Uganda that appears to be a Ugandan public health in 139 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:20,480 Speaker 1: geo and the article says that this team investigated the 140 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:22,840 Speaker 1: springs and said they found the waters had no special 141 00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:28,000 Speaker 1: healing properties. Mugosha's article mentions that to the extent the 142 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 1: waters do have any healing properties. If they do, those 143 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:35,040 Speaker 1: could possibly be based in specific mineral contents of the water. 144 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:39,080 Speaker 1: We've discussed some possibilities of those kinds with other springs, 145 00:08:39,360 --> 00:08:41,880 Speaker 1: but also that the claims of healing could simply be 146 00:08:42,040 --> 00:08:45,360 Speaker 1: from the heat of the water, feeling good, alleviating pain 147 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: and swollen joints and things like that, or just from 148 00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:52,200 Speaker 1: easing stress, you know, helping people relax and other quote 149 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:57,600 Speaker 1: psychotherapeutic effects. Now, this article and another article also by 150 00:08:57,679 --> 00:09:02,400 Speaker 1: Mugasha from the month before mentioned threats to the springs, 151 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:05,360 Speaker 1: which is something I think we haven't really thought about 152 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 1: that much yet, but that hot springs are not necessarily 153 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:13,520 Speaker 1: an eternal phenomenon, or even a semi eternal phenomenon, because 154 00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:15,959 Speaker 1: even though they are heated by you know, the rocks 155 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:20,000 Speaker 1: from deep down below they you know, they still are 156 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:24,040 Speaker 1: subject to hydrodynamic effects and so like changes of what's 157 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:27,240 Speaker 1: going on where water drains, where water goes can affect 158 00:09:27,240 --> 00:09:30,120 Speaker 1: how a hot spring works. And so these two articles 159 00:09:30,160 --> 00:09:34,720 Speaker 1: mentioned some threats to the springs. So the article from 160 00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:38,640 Speaker 1: a month before by the same author reports complaints from 161 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:43,040 Speaker 1: locals that construction from a nearby highway has had negative 162 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:46,640 Speaker 1: effects on the springs. Basically, it seems that they're claiming 163 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 1: water from a nearby wetland system was diverted because of 164 00:09:51,120 --> 00:09:54,360 Speaker 1: roadwork and this has led to flooding of the spring. 165 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:57,040 Speaker 1: And of course, flooding of the spring is like mixing 166 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:00,440 Speaker 1: water from other sources, which causes the water to become tepid. 167 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 1: Nobody wants to travel to a tepid spring. Yeah, And 168 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:09,200 Speaker 1: the later article by Mgosha also mentions changes in weather 169 00:10:09,240 --> 00:10:12,240 Speaker 1: patterns suit a climate change possibly having an effect, because 170 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:17,360 Speaker 1: changing rain patterns mean that the increased flooding of the 171 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:21,960 Speaker 1: nearby river also means that it runs over into the 172 00:10:22,000 --> 00:10:25,000 Speaker 1: spring and this results, I think, if I'm understanding right 173 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:27,880 Speaker 1: once again with the river water coming into the spring 174 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:31,240 Speaker 1: water and you know, kind of like diluting it. Yeah, 175 00:10:31,280 --> 00:10:33,319 Speaker 1: absolutely to your point. I mean, these springs like this 176 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:37,679 Speaker 1: are environmental conditions and they can be altered either intentionally 177 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:41,600 Speaker 1: or accidentally exactly. And so this article describes people who 178 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:44,120 Speaker 1: were local people who are trying to protect the spring 179 00:10:44,160 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 1: having to like stack up essentially sort of sandbags like 180 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:51,160 Speaker 1: bags of gravel to try to block the flow, the 181 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:54,760 Speaker 1: inflow of water from other sources into the spring. Oh wow. 182 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:59,080 Speaker 1: Now I was trying to find a scientific paper directly 183 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:02,680 Speaker 1: testing the leedged healing properties of this spring in particular 184 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:05,160 Speaker 1: because again, you know, one of the articles mentions an 185 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:11,319 Speaker 1: investigation by that Ugandan Public Health NGEO about its medical properties. 186 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:14,400 Speaker 1: I didn't come across anything, so I can't comment with 187 00:11:14,440 --> 00:11:19,600 Speaker 1: any confidence about whether these springs would have any health 188 00:11:19,600 --> 00:11:23,120 Speaker 1: effects other than placebo. But especially since that paper we 189 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:26,079 Speaker 1: read in the last episode arguing that that spot therapy 190 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:29,679 Speaker 1: could have actual effects on chronic lead poisoning in particular, 191 00:11:30,440 --> 00:11:33,240 Speaker 1: and again that was the argument, was that it worked 192 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:35,800 Speaker 1: by increasing the rate at which lad is purge from 193 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:39,240 Speaker 1: the body through urine. I wonder, you know, I wonder 194 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 1: if there are other conditions where people might be getting 195 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:47,360 Speaker 1: some health improvements through a surprising mechanism other than just maybe, say, 196 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:50,360 Speaker 1: you know, the very real effects of relaxing in nice 197 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:53,120 Speaker 1: warm water. Yeah, you always have to at least keep 198 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:56,520 Speaker 1: keep the door open to such a possibility, even if 199 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,880 Speaker 1: in many cases it seems perhaps unlikely based on what 200 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,760 Speaker 1: we understand currently. Now, as long as we're speaking about 201 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:08,840 Speaker 1: you know, other international examples of healing waters. I felt 202 00:12:08,880 --> 00:12:11,199 Speaker 1: like we should at least acknowledge that the River Ganges 203 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:14,800 Speaker 1: in India and Bangladesh has long been held as a 204 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:19,280 Speaker 1: traditional place of healing via immersion. Again, not a natural 205 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:22,120 Speaker 1: you know, spring, hot spring and cold spring, etc. But 206 00:12:22,120 --> 00:12:25,320 Speaker 1: but a great river. Yeah, this is actually a subtopic 207 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:28,200 Speaker 1: that I became very interested in when we first started 208 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:31,240 Speaker 1: looking at the series, But then I got kind of 209 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:33,200 Speaker 1: overwhelmed and I was like, Oh, it seems like the 210 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:38,000 Speaker 1: Ganges would have to be an entire series on its own. Yeah. Absolutely, 211 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:41,439 Speaker 1: there's just so much to it. You've you've got glacier 212 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:46,000 Speaker 1: snow and perma frost melt. You've got discussions of supposedly 213 00:12:46,080 --> 00:12:50,679 Speaker 1: beneficial bacteria, phages, antibiotic resistant bacteria that are that are 214 00:12:50,679 --> 00:12:53,559 Speaker 1: not beneficial. Then you have you have to deal with 215 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:57,080 Speaker 1: topics such as pollution as well as all of this 216 00:12:57,200 --> 00:13:01,240 Speaker 1: on top of a rich tradition of religious significance. So yeah, 217 00:13:01,280 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 1: I think it's it's something we'd have to come back 218 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:06,440 Speaker 1: to and cover in more depth in the future. But 219 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 1: at the same time, we didn't want to give the 220 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:11,480 Speaker 1: impression that we were just overlooking it. Right now, another 221 00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:15,560 Speaker 1: example of spring and spa culture. I wanted to bring 222 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:18,760 Speaker 1: up just briefly, is, of course Japan. Japan has a 223 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:22,240 Speaker 1: very rich tradition of spas and thermal springs, and I 224 00:13:22,280 --> 00:13:26,800 Speaker 1: believe we previously alluded to the Japanese macaques who famously 225 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:31,040 Speaker 1: immersed themselves in hot springs and also do so communally. 226 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 1: So that's a great example of non human primates engaging 227 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:37,320 Speaker 1: in this very activity that humans have enjoyed for so long. 228 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:41,000 Speaker 1: So I've read that they're somewhere in the neighborhood of 229 00:13:41,040 --> 00:13:44,920 Speaker 1: twenty five thousand hot spring sources or on sin throughout Japan. 230 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:49,160 Speaker 1: I got an email recently about a tour of hot 231 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:54,720 Speaker 1: springs in Japan eighteen days long. Looked amazing, but just 232 00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:56,559 Speaker 1: you know, it basically shows that, yeah, you can travel 233 00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:59,600 Speaker 1: to Japan and largely just do hot springs and it'll 234 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:03,800 Speaker 1: be enough to fill eighteen days worth of travel. Now, 235 00:14:03,960 --> 00:14:07,240 Speaker 1: one in particular that I thought was pretty interesting, and 236 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:08,920 Speaker 1: I have to I have to stress this is not 237 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:12,800 Speaker 1: actually an example of a spring system where you can 238 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:18,520 Speaker 1: do much or really any bathing. But it's called Chinoki Jigokku, 239 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:23,080 Speaker 1: and it's in Beppoo, Japan, and here you'll find the 240 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: eight hells of Beppoo. I think I've sometimes seen the 241 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:29,800 Speaker 1: count of seven, but I believe eight is the right count. 242 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:32,760 Speaker 1: There's and these are translated, of course from the Japanese. 243 00:14:32,760 --> 00:14:37,120 Speaker 1: There's sea hell, white pond Hell, devil mountain Hell, mountain Hell, 244 00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:41,720 Speaker 1: alligator Hell, cooking pot hell, which this is actually the 245 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:45,080 Speaker 1: case cooking pot hell. These are all thermal springs, and 246 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:47,040 Speaker 1: as the name implies, many of them are really hot. 247 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: Cooking pot hell is where you can actually cook food, 248 00:14:50,160 --> 00:14:52,880 Speaker 1: and there there's a long standing tradition of cooking food 249 00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:56,440 Speaker 1: in this particular thermal spring. There's tornado Hell, and then 250 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:00,320 Speaker 1: there is blood pond Hell or bloody hell pond. Is 251 00:15:00,360 --> 00:15:02,480 Speaker 1: it red? It is very red. Yeah, you can look 252 00:15:02,560 --> 00:15:05,960 Speaker 1: up pictures of this. It's it's all. It's too hot 253 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 1: to get into it. It's basically hot enough to cook 254 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:13,040 Speaker 1: food in itself. It has a deep red color that 255 00:15:13,080 --> 00:15:15,400 Speaker 1: I believe is due to both like clay content and 256 00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:19,600 Speaker 1: iron oxide. I would have assumed red bacteria. All of 257 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:23,840 Speaker 1: these hells, all these ponds, these are tourist destinations. You 258 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:25,320 Speaker 1: can go and visit them, and I think they have 259 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:28,360 Speaker 1: if I'm understanding correctly from the information I was looking 260 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,000 Speaker 1: at they have smaller pools for like soaking your feet 261 00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:33,760 Speaker 1: in as a visitor. So even though you can't stick 262 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:36,000 Speaker 1: your feet directly into many of these hells, and I 263 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:40,760 Speaker 1: think Alligator hell As actually has alligators in it, and 264 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:42,200 Speaker 1: you don't want to stick your feet in there either, 265 00:15:42,560 --> 00:15:46,600 Speaker 1: But at any rate, they do have some smaller pools 266 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:49,000 Speaker 1: that I guess are fed or partially fed by the 267 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:52,520 Speaker 1: actual spring waters that you can get your feet wet in. 268 00:15:53,160 --> 00:15:55,760 Speaker 1: I had no idea there were alligators in Japan. They 269 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:58,920 Speaker 1: might be imported. I'm not sure what their their status is. 270 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:02,320 Speaker 1: Oh interesting, they're definitely alligators here, no matter where they 271 00:16:02,320 --> 00:16:05,359 Speaker 1: came from. I don't care where your alligators come from. 272 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:07,560 Speaker 1: I just want them to be alligators. They've got to 273 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:10,160 Speaker 1: be alligators in Alligator hell Yes, the end to the end. 274 00:16:10,320 --> 00:16:22,920 Speaker 1: I believe they come through on that front. All right, Well, 275 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: let's get back into the healing waters, though, away from 276 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:30,040 Speaker 1: the alligator waters and the egg boiling waters. So we've 277 00:16:30,200 --> 00:16:34,200 Speaker 1: we've already talked a bit in these episodes about traditional 278 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: healing waters potentially having something specific in them, something in 279 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:44,120 Speaker 1: the contents of the waters that enable healing in human bathers, 280 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:48,400 Speaker 1: and in some cases these springs end up having something 281 00:16:48,440 --> 00:16:53,000 Speaker 1: in them that some cases where a particular element in 282 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:57,080 Speaker 1: the water is also utilized in modern medical treatments one 283 00:16:57,120 --> 00:16:59,880 Speaker 1: way or the other. So it's tempting to wonder, well, 284 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:04,880 Speaker 1: if these springs maybe offer the same benefits for those 285 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:08,119 Speaker 1: who simply immerse themselves in the water or drink of 286 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: the waters. Okay, so not that this would happen, but 287 00:17:11,920 --> 00:17:15,360 Speaker 1: for example, it would be like, you know, a set 288 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:19,080 Speaker 1: of menifin is the is the active ingredient in tile 289 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:22,159 Speaker 1: and all, and then maybe we discover, oh, there is 290 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:25,040 Speaker 1: a spring that naturally has a seed a minifen content 291 00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:28,120 Speaker 1: in it, and you wonder if we're people like getting 292 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:30,920 Speaker 1: their their pre tile and all tile and all from 293 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:33,680 Speaker 1: this spring. Oh, well, that would that would be a 294 00:17:33,760 --> 00:17:37,720 Speaker 1: bad idea for a number of obvious reasons there, thinking 295 00:17:37,800 --> 00:17:41,200 Speaker 1: about you know, controlled dosages of something in a general 296 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:45,200 Speaker 1: medication versus how much are you getting out of the water, 297 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:48,480 Speaker 1: how much are you if you're drinking it or potentially 298 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:52,000 Speaker 1: absorbing it through your skin. Yes, calibration of dosage would 299 00:17:52,040 --> 00:17:55,239 Speaker 1: would seem to be a big problem with this, so 300 00:17:55,359 --> 00:17:57,199 Speaker 1: so definitely something to keep in mind as we go 301 00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:00,199 Speaker 1: into a couple of specific examples, and I think both 302 00:18:00,200 --> 00:18:03,399 Speaker 1: pretty fun specific examples too, in that they both have 303 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:06,000 Speaker 1: connections to our home state of Georgia. Here in the 304 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:10,240 Speaker 1: United States, we don't often get to cover things that 305 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:13,240 Speaker 1: are that are present in Georgia or Georgia history. So 306 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:16,200 Speaker 1: we're going to start with lithia water. This is mineral 307 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:20,359 Speaker 1: water marked by the presence of lithium salts. Now, to 308 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:22,920 Speaker 1: be clear, most of what we're talking about with lithia 309 00:18:23,080 --> 00:18:28,160 Speaker 1: water concerns its consumption, though I have read that Sweetwater 310 00:18:28,280 --> 00:18:31,560 Speaker 1: Park Hotel this is a luxury resort which operated in 311 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:36,600 Speaker 1: Lithia Springs, Georgia during the heyday of lithium water tourism 312 00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:41,440 Speaker 1: in Georgia's Douglas County also offered lithia vapor baths, which 313 00:18:41,480 --> 00:18:45,040 Speaker 1: were said to be very popular. I included an old 314 00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:47,960 Speaker 1: illustration of what this, I guess may have consisted for 315 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:50,199 Speaker 1: you here, Joe. Okay, So what we're looking at here 316 00:18:50,240 --> 00:18:54,760 Speaker 1: appear to be wooden boxes in which men are situated 317 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:56,600 Speaker 1: with their heads poking out of a hole in a 318 00:18:56,600 --> 00:19:00,159 Speaker 1: wooden plank, so it's like they're in a pillory. But 319 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:02,520 Speaker 1: there well, I guess without the wrists poking out so 320 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:04,760 Speaker 1: it's just the head poking out of the pillory and 321 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:08,080 Speaker 1: then there is steam shooting out of the edges of 322 00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:10,160 Speaker 1: the box, so you can you can tell it must 323 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:13,639 Speaker 1: be quite warm and moist on the inside. Yes, now 324 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:17,199 Speaker 1: none of this is going on today, But um, I 325 00:19:17,200 --> 00:19:18,640 Speaker 1: don't know. Do you ever make it up to Sweetwater 326 00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:22,200 Speaker 1: Creek State Park, Joe, this is the same Yeah, yeah, yeah, 327 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:26,639 Speaker 1: it's a great place. Yeah, beautiful, beautiful place. But back 328 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:30,280 Speaker 1: in the day, uh, back at the like the the 329 00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:33,520 Speaker 1: the end of the eighteen hundreds beginning of the nineteen hundreds, 330 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:36,520 Speaker 1: this was a very popular destination for well to do 331 00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:40,680 Speaker 1: folks such as the Vanderbilts such as Mark Twain. This 332 00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:45,160 Speaker 1: particular Sweetwater Park Hotel was again luxury resort. People came 333 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:49,199 Speaker 1: from all over to partake of the of the healing 334 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,800 Speaker 1: powers of Lithia waters. The hotel burned down in nineteen twelve, 335 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:55,879 Speaker 1: so you know, it's not even there is an historical 336 00:19:55,960 --> 00:19:59,119 Speaker 1: location anymore. This is funny that you mentioned Mark Twain 337 00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:01,439 Speaker 1: because he also came up in a in a research 338 00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:04,320 Speaker 1: tangent that I ended up not including. But he he 339 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:07,879 Speaker 1: wrote a piece about a place like a spa. He 340 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:10,200 Speaker 1: went to somewhere in Europe. I think it was in France, 341 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:12,760 Speaker 1: and it's called I don't even know how to pronounce 342 00:20:12,800 --> 00:20:14,480 Speaker 1: the name of this place. The name it was called 343 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:17,399 Speaker 1: ai X. Do you know how you say that? I 344 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:21,520 Speaker 1: do not. Let's call it I. He went to he 345 00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:25,919 Speaker 1: went to I in I think it's France, and he 346 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:28,800 Speaker 1: wrote a piece about it called I Paradise of the 347 00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:32,879 Speaker 1: Room Attics. So I guess Twain was into various kinds 348 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:35,800 Speaker 1: of like hot wet healing. Yeah. Well, and he was, 349 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:38,400 Speaker 1: he was very well traveled for the day. Yeah. So 350 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:40,439 Speaker 1: I was reading a little bit more about this, uh, 351 00:20:40,720 --> 00:20:45,360 Speaker 1: this whole fad around lithia waters, and I was reading 352 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:49,600 Speaker 1: a paper titled Lithium Treatment in Clinical Medicine History, Current 353 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:52,080 Speaker 1: Status in Future Use, published in the Journal of Sell 354 00:20:52,160 --> 00:20:56,520 Speaker 1: Science and Therapy in twenty seventeen by Duval and Galachio. 355 00:20:57,359 --> 00:21:01,199 Speaker 1: And this was interesting point that lithia water became a 356 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:05,520 Speaker 1: health fad around eighteen fifty and was especially big and 357 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:10,480 Speaker 1: again the late eighteen hundreds. In early nineteen hundreds, it 358 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:15,560 Speaker 1: was thought to treat gout, anxiety, various nervous conditions, and 359 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:18,159 Speaker 1: a whole slew of other ailments. So similar situation that 360 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:20,920 Speaker 1: we found, you know, discussing any of these hate healing waters, 361 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:24,680 Speaker 1: what does it treat well? What you got going on? Right, 362 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:27,240 Speaker 1: A lot of things. So it's interesting they mentioned gout 363 00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:30,600 Speaker 1: because that did come up in the paper about Bath, 364 00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:36,720 Speaker 1: specifically as one of the lead poisoning associated conditions that 365 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: the physicians at Bath thought could be cured by long 366 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:44,160 Speaker 1: periods of immersion. But another thing about gout at Bath 367 00:21:44,400 --> 00:21:48,320 Speaker 1: was one of the purposes of like recording all this 368 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:52,439 Speaker 1: data at the charity hospital there to say, you know, 369 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:56,520 Speaker 1: we really can prove that these waters are providing a benefit, 370 00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:03,120 Speaker 1: was to try to attract rich patients who had gout. Well. 371 00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: It is often referred to as the disease of kings, right, 372 00:22:06,440 --> 00:22:10,959 Speaker 1: disease of the upper class clientele. Yeah. Now, the author's 373 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:12,840 Speaker 1: note here that though even though there was you know, 374 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:16,000 Speaker 1: this boom in lithia water and the healing powers of lithium, 375 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:18,439 Speaker 1: the authors know that there was almost no mention of 376 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:23,600 Speaker 1: lithium in psychiatry papers of the time. So bottling lithia 377 00:22:23,600 --> 00:22:26,800 Speaker 1: waters became big business, but it took a serious dive 378 00:22:26,840 --> 00:22:29,040 Speaker 1: in the US when the US government got involved. So 379 00:22:29,119 --> 00:22:31,760 Speaker 1: the US Bureau of Chemistry this was a precursor to 380 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:34,639 Speaker 1: the FDA. They examined the waters on the market and 381 00:22:34,680 --> 00:22:36,960 Speaker 1: the lithia waters and there and there was lithia waters 382 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:39,400 Speaker 1: coming from lithia springs in Georgia but also from other places. 383 00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:43,520 Speaker 1: And they they tested these waters out and they found 384 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:46,480 Speaker 1: that they contained little to know lithium, and it was 385 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:50,440 Speaker 1: concluded that whatever results people were experiencing were mainly due 386 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:55,080 Speaker 1: to just drinking water. Oh that's interesting and yeah, which 387 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:56,800 Speaker 1: kind of goes back to what we were talking about earlier, 388 00:22:56,800 --> 00:22:59,320 Speaker 1: like earlier in the last episode, Like even if the 389 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:02,399 Speaker 1: treatment itself was doing nothing else, then perhaps you're drinking 390 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:05,679 Speaker 1: more water than usual, you're drinking less beer or what 391 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:09,280 Speaker 1: have you. Yeah. Yeah, So when this happened, when the 392 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:12,960 Speaker 1: US Bureau Chemistry chimed in well lithium proponents, they pivoted 393 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,919 Speaker 1: more to the use of lithium tablets, which the authors 394 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:18,960 Speaker 1: here point out could be properly measured, you know, you 395 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:21,400 Speaker 1: could be a little more certain about how much lithium 396 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:24,359 Speaker 1: you're giving people. But then there was kind of like 397 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:29,200 Speaker 1: a power creep with the lithium tablets. The concentrations increased 398 00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:33,080 Speaker 1: and the dangers of lithium toxicity became more apparent, all 399 00:23:33,119 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 1: while the actual therapeutic properties of lithium consumption seemed just unverifiable, 400 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:41,840 Speaker 1: So therapeutic use of lithium eventually just went out of fashion. 401 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:44,840 Speaker 1: I found a couple of the original scathing reviews of 402 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 1: lithiu water from the time period collected in the Checkered 403 00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:52,000 Speaker 1: History of Lithium in Medicine by Stroebush and Jefferson in 404 00:23:52,119 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties Pharmacy in History, Volume twenty two, number two. 405 00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:58,760 Speaker 1: Let's hear these reviews. Oh yeah, they're good, so the 406 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:01,320 Speaker 1: US Bureau of Chemistry said at the time, in a 407 00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 1: review by Charles Harrington, MD. Quote, this water claims to 408 00:24:05,960 --> 00:24:09,200 Speaker 1: be a cure for almost all ills to which flesh 409 00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:12,720 Speaker 1: is air and to contain over fourteen grains of lithium 410 00:24:12,720 --> 00:24:16,399 Speaker 1: salts per gallon. It proves to be an exceedingly hard water, 411 00:24:16,760 --> 00:24:21,359 Speaker 1: practically free from organic matter, absolutely free from lithia, but 412 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:28,800 Speaker 1: rich and undesirable lime salts priceless. Yeah, it really brings 413 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:31,920 Speaker 1: the hammer down. And then there's another case. The Supreme 414 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:35,160 Speaker 1: Court of the District of Columbia had this to say 415 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:40,000 Speaker 1: concerning waters from Buffalo Lithia Springs, Virginia. At the time quote, 416 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:43,240 Speaker 1: for a person to obtain a therapeutic dose of lithium 417 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:46,359 Speaker 1: by drinking Buffalo lithia water, he would have to drink 418 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:48,720 Speaker 1: from one hundred and fifty thousand to two hundred and 419 00:24:48,760 --> 00:24:52,320 Speaker 1: twenty five thousand gallons of water per day. It was 420 00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:56,800 Speaker 1: further testified without contradiction that Potomac River water contains five 421 00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:00,800 Speaker 1: times as much lithium per gallon as the water controversy. 422 00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:04,399 Speaker 1: Oh amazing. So, like, the one thing you can be 423 00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:07,280 Speaker 1: sure about with lithium water is that it doesn't really 424 00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:10,200 Speaker 1: have any lithium. Yeah, yeah, I again, these were this 425 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:13,480 Speaker 1: is these were the findings at the time. Now, it's 426 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:16,560 Speaker 1: interesting that you mentioned lithium went out of fashion as 427 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:20,280 Speaker 1: a as a health treatment or a mood treatment, because 428 00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:25,439 Speaker 1: while I'm certainly not on the cutting edge of a psychopharmacology, 429 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:30,000 Speaker 1: I do believe that lithium has been used in the 430 00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:33,040 Speaker 1: modern era as a as a psychiatric treatment, hasn't it. 431 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:35,120 Speaker 1: Yeah Yeah, And that's the thing that I guess can 432 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:38,240 Speaker 1: for us, like retroactively, can be kind of confusing about 433 00:25:38,280 --> 00:25:43,120 Speaker 1: all this because because lithium does become an important treatment, 434 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:48,400 Speaker 1: specifically for bipolar disorder, this wasn't discovered until nineteen forty nine. 435 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:51,880 Speaker 1: That's when American psychiatrist John Kade discovered that it could 436 00:25:51,880 --> 00:25:55,680 Speaker 1: be used as a mood stabilizer for bipolar disorder as 437 00:25:55,680 --> 00:26:00,240 Speaker 1: opposed to resorting to lobotomy or electro convulsive therapy were 438 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,399 Speaker 1: kind of the standards of the day. So that was 439 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:06,120 Speaker 1: nineteen forty nine. The treatment became more prominent and more 440 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 1: covered by I believe nineteen fifty two, and it was 441 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:15,560 Speaker 1: approved by the FDA in the nineteen seventies. And I've 442 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:18,240 Speaker 1: read that it remains an effective treatment, though the authors 443 00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:22,320 Speaker 1: of this particular paper about the history of lithium as 444 00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:25,159 Speaker 1: a treatment, they point out that it still remains in 445 00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:29,680 Speaker 1: some circles somewhat controversial due to toxicity and side effects. So, 446 00:26:30,680 --> 00:26:32,680 Speaker 1: you know, it's I guess with it's a similar case 447 00:26:32,680 --> 00:26:34,560 Speaker 1: with a lot of medications. You know, it's like there's 448 00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:37,639 Speaker 1: it has a definite usage, but you also have to 449 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:40,639 Speaker 1: be aware of the potential side effects to it, and 450 00:26:40,840 --> 00:26:44,560 Speaker 1: some discussion still remains. Yeah, So to come back to 451 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:48,679 Speaker 1: wondering if lithia water springs could have offered relief to 452 00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:53,960 Speaker 1: individuals suffering from specific neurological maladies, I don't know again, 453 00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:56,040 Speaker 1: I you know, no expert on any of this, but 454 00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:59,400 Speaker 1: it seems iffy based on what we've looked at, mainly 455 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:03,199 Speaker 1: because of concentration issues with the water itself and the 456 00:27:03,280 --> 00:27:07,800 Speaker 1: risk of toxicity and side effects if higher quantities were 457 00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:10,480 Speaker 1: obtained from the water, which it doesn't seem like is 458 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:13,080 Speaker 1: necessarily the case with any of these naturally occurring lithia 459 00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:15,720 Speaker 1: spring waters. I mean, it seems like from what you've 460 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:20,119 Speaker 1: been talking about that carefully managing dosage of lithium is 461 00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:23,600 Speaker 1: one of the crucial factors in modern prescriptions, and so like, 462 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:27,400 Speaker 1: if you're just gulping down water that has some questionable 463 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:30,320 Speaker 1: amount of lithium content, that seems like you're either maybe 464 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:33,120 Speaker 1: not getting enough for it to make much of a difference, 465 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:37,040 Speaker 1: or you risk getting too much and that is highly toxic. Yeah, 466 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:41,479 Speaker 1: And I just I don't think the concentrations in just 467 00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:44,240 Speaker 1: out there in the natural occurring spring waters would be 468 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:56,720 Speaker 1: high enough to even relically register for you. Now, you 469 00:27:56,720 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 1: can still buy and drink lithia waters from from different springs, 470 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:02,000 Speaker 1: though it's not held up as I think the miracle 471 00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:05,320 Speaker 1: cure at once was. Though I don't know. It kind 472 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:08,040 Speaker 1: of depends on branding and fads. I guess from what 473 00:28:08,119 --> 00:28:11,600 Speaker 1: I can tell, it contains lithium by the micrograms, though, 474 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,640 Speaker 1: rather than the milligrams which would be involved in therapeutic doses. 475 00:28:15,680 --> 00:28:18,159 Speaker 1: So I think you'd find yourself, even with you know, 476 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:21,520 Speaker 1: definite lithia water that you might purchase, you'd still have 477 00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:25,120 Speaker 1: to drink those gallons of it, those hundreds of thousands 478 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:27,560 Speaker 1: of gallons of it per day to get the levels 479 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:31,159 Speaker 1: that would reach anything like a therapeutic dosage. Now, on 480 00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:34,600 Speaker 1: this account of concerning lithia spring water, thanks to our 481 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:38,320 Speaker 1: listener Sean for writing in on this concerning a particular 482 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:43,640 Speaker 1: Irish well, the well at glenn Nanealt. I've read that 483 00:28:43,640 --> 00:28:46,200 Speaker 1: this area is also called Valley of the Mad and 484 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:49,200 Speaker 1: made date back to the twelfth century. I don't know 485 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:51,240 Speaker 1: what the lithium levels are at this well. I couldn't 486 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:53,240 Speaker 1: find any data on that, but I don't know. Based 487 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:54,600 Speaker 1: on what we've looked at, I think it's a safe 488 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:57,880 Speaker 1: bet that it did not contain or does not contain 489 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:01,120 Speaker 1: therapeutic amounts of lithium, and that the connection here is 490 00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:06,000 Speaker 1: just a coincidence. And also worth noting that lithium springs 491 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:09,240 Speaker 1: in North America likewise, tend to predate any modern medical 492 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:13,680 Speaker 1: or scientific understanding, and were utilized by indigenous peoples long 493 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:17,400 Speaker 1: before the arrival of westerners. Well that's very interesting digression. 494 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:19,520 Speaker 1: What else have you got for me? Oh well, we 495 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:24,400 Speaker 1: should also talk about about potentially radioactive spring waters. Nothing 496 00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:28,640 Speaker 1: better for your gout than radioactive spring waters. Yeah, specifically 497 00:29:28,840 --> 00:29:32,200 Speaker 1: radium springs. So Tarifa, We've talked about radium on the 498 00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:35,360 Speaker 1: show before. But radium is a highly radioactive alkaline earth 499 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:39,000 Speaker 1: metal discovered in eighteen ninety eight by Pierre and Marie Curie. 500 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:43,200 Speaker 1: They discovered it by noting the radioactivity in pitch blend 501 00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:48,560 Speaker 1: radioactive uranium rich mineral relative to the uranium it actually contains. 502 00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:52,920 Speaker 1: They refine several tons of the stuff of residues down 503 00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:55,600 Speaker 1: to zero point one grams of pure radium by nineteen 504 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:59,480 Speaker 1: o two, and they isolated radium in nineteen ten. Now, 505 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:03,560 Speaker 1: radium is important historically, you know, tying into the work 506 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:07,280 Speaker 1: of the curious here, but its commercial uses have long 507 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,080 Speaker 1: been very limited. So formally it was used in the 508 00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:14,960 Speaker 1: creation of radio luminescent devices, and it was also formally 509 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,000 Speaker 1: used in the medical treatment of cancer, but has largely 510 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:23,400 Speaker 1: been replaced by stronger and less costly artificial radioisotopes. One 511 00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:28,880 Speaker 1: particular example of the radioluminescent topic here there was a 512 00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:32,200 Speaker 1: luminous paint known as Undark, created by the United States 513 00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:35,680 Speaker 1: Radium Corporation, noted for its connection to the so called 514 00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:40,440 Speaker 1: radium girls factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting 515 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:43,160 Speaker 1: with the stuff. Yes, and that is a ghastly story 516 00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:45,160 Speaker 1: if you want to go read more about it. The 517 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:50,000 Speaker 1: luminescent radium paints were used to like maybe illuminate the 518 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:54,120 Speaker 1: watch hands, you know, the dials on little clocks and 519 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:57,680 Speaker 1: watches and stuff, and further glow in the dark purposes. 520 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:00,920 Speaker 1: And it was glowing because the phosphorescent elements in the 521 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:05,640 Speaker 1: paint were being bombarded by radiation from the radium content. 522 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:10,360 Speaker 1: So yeah, obviously that was not good for humans. Yeah, 523 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:13,600 Speaker 1: but at the time this was we have to put 524 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:16,920 Speaker 1: things in context. In the early twentieth century, there was 525 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:20,280 Speaker 1: a great deal of radium fever going on, and there 526 00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:23,000 Speaker 1: was also not much in the way of regulation of 527 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:25,959 Speaker 1: the stuff. So there were more than a few medical 528 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:28,800 Speaker 1: quacks out there, you know, jumping in to make some 529 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:31,880 Speaker 1: money off of the radium craze, so you saw products 530 00:31:31,920 --> 00:31:37,840 Speaker 1: like radithor salts for supposed medicinal use, or the radium 531 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:43,280 Speaker 1: or revigatur This was a radium aligned water vessel for 532 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:47,040 Speaker 1: your drinking water. But then on the simcount you also 533 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:53,360 Speaker 1: saw various products that either couldn't or just didn't actually 534 00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:56,880 Speaker 1: put radium into the product, but really wanted a slice 535 00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:00,320 Speaker 1: of the pie, so they included radium in the brand names, 536 00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:04,920 Speaker 1: such as Radium Brand Creamery butter. This is an actual 537 00:32:05,120 --> 00:32:08,800 Speaker 1: nineteen thirties product included the label here for you, Joe, 538 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:13,080 Speaker 1: with this beautiful image of these these these cattle drinking 539 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:17,280 Speaker 1: from some sort of a pond or perhaps naturally occurring spring. 540 00:32:18,040 --> 00:32:20,720 Speaker 1: The sun is rising or setting in the background, and 541 00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 1: it says Radium Brand Creamery Butter. Now, can I hope 542 00:32:25,200 --> 00:32:28,800 Speaker 1: that this butter had just as much radium content as 543 00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:34,280 Speaker 1: the bottled lithia water actually had lithium content meaning none? Right? Right, Yeah, 544 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:37,000 Speaker 1: this apparently had no actual radium in it, but it 545 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:40,280 Speaker 1: was just getting in on the excitement, like radium equals health, 546 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 1: and therefore, you know, there was nobody to say you 547 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:48,240 Speaker 1: couldn't have shouldn't do this, And there are numerous examples 548 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:52,000 Speaker 1: of this sort of marketing, including the non radioactive radium 549 00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:56,760 Speaker 1: new Tex condoms of the day, but again not actually 550 00:32:56,760 --> 00:33:00,560 Speaker 1: made with radium. Right, And there there are are examples 551 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:04,200 Speaker 1: of actually radioactive quack products from the twentieth century, including 552 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:09,240 Speaker 1: the German dor Mud radioactive toothpaste that was made using thorium. 553 00:33:09,920 --> 00:33:11,800 Speaker 1: This was an actual product and you can see some 554 00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:17,960 Speaker 1: alarming looking like poster promotional art for this product as well. Now, 555 00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:20,960 Speaker 1: all of these quackery uses of radium or bad ideas 556 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,120 Speaker 1: because it has no beneficial role in the human body. 557 00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:28,360 Speaker 1: It's radioactive, it's toxic. You don't need to be consuming 558 00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:32,800 Speaker 1: radium salts. Right, There's not like a hidden upside. Right. 559 00:33:33,360 --> 00:33:36,080 Speaker 1: But again, given the enthusiasm for radium during the first 560 00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:37,760 Speaker 1: half of the twentieth century, it should also come as 561 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:40,680 Speaker 1: no surprise that people were also game to bathe in 562 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:44,800 Speaker 1: the stuff. So the big one here is not in Georgia. 563 00:33:44,880 --> 00:33:48,120 Speaker 1: It is in what is now the Czech Republic Radium Palace, 564 00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:52,160 Speaker 1: which opened in nineteen twelve. It replaced a smaller spa 565 00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:56,160 Speaker 1: on the property and cashed in hard on radium enthusiasm. 566 00:33:56,720 --> 00:34:00,440 Speaker 1: Atlas Obscura refers to the palace as the birthplace of 567 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:05,320 Speaker 1: radio balmeology. It ignited a fad in spas around the world, 568 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:08,800 Speaker 1: anywhere where they were already naturally occurring springs. If you 569 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:11,239 Speaker 1: found that there was any kind of radium content to 570 00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:14,040 Speaker 1: the waters, well low and behold, you have a new 571 00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:17,040 Speaker 1: way to market your spa, a new way to market 572 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:19,960 Speaker 1: your spring water. Radium palace and its waters fell out 573 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:22,520 Speaker 1: of fashion after the Second World War, but the hotel 574 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:26,440 Speaker 1: was apparently refurbished in the nineteen nineties and it's rather 575 00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:30,040 Speaker 1: stunning looking building, and it still offers radium based treatments, 576 00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:34,920 Speaker 1: though they're apparently limited by contemporary maximum permitted levels of 577 00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:38,160 Speaker 1: radiation doses. But on the same level, this looks like 578 00:34:38,160 --> 00:34:41,239 Speaker 1: a very attractive resort, So we kind of have to 579 00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:43,680 Speaker 1: take It's kind of like going back to their discussion 580 00:34:43,719 --> 00:34:46,720 Speaker 1: of bath, like is it, you know, the communal factors, 581 00:34:46,719 --> 00:34:50,880 Speaker 1: the placidibo factors of everything a fella scenario, So I 582 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:53,640 Speaker 1: don't know. But coming back to our home state of Georgia, 583 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:57,440 Speaker 1: Georgia also got in on the action with radium springs. 584 00:34:58,000 --> 00:35:03,080 Speaker 1: Radium is still called radium springs Georgia. The spa here 585 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:07,200 Speaker 1: was already a retreat destination in the early twentieth century 586 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:11,239 Speaker 1: offering gambling and naturally occurring hot spring waters. So you 587 00:35:11,239 --> 00:35:13,440 Speaker 1: had a lot of folks that would come down from 588 00:35:13,480 --> 00:35:16,319 Speaker 1: the cold or northern states during the winter and they'd 589 00:35:16,400 --> 00:35:20,680 Speaker 1: enjoy like the pleasant temperatures of just southern Georgia during 590 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:23,319 Speaker 1: the winter, but also these hot springs. It was known 591 00:35:23,560 --> 00:35:26,040 Speaker 1: as blue springs at the time, but then in nineteen 592 00:35:26,120 --> 00:35:28,960 Speaker 1: twenty five they discovered radium in the water and they 593 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:33,600 Speaker 1: rebranded thus radium Springs. Wow, and you can still visit it. 594 00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:36,200 Speaker 1: I actually looked it up and I was thinking, well, 595 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:37,839 Speaker 1: maybe I could go down there for then a rows. 596 00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:40,040 Speaker 1: It was like a four hour drive one way, and 597 00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:42,919 Speaker 1: so maybe maybe it wouldn't fit into the workweek all 598 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:45,040 Speaker 1: that well, but you can still visit the grounds here 599 00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:49,120 Speaker 1: and it it looks rather beautiful. So the supposed health 600 00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:54,200 Speaker 1: benefits of radium spring soaking of radium springs spa water, 601 00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:57,600 Speaker 1: I think in general is pretty dubious, though I suppose 602 00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:01,360 Speaker 1: it's conceivably safe if one is still low the maximal 603 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:04,880 Speaker 1: permissible level of exposure. But yeah, otherwise I don't suppose 604 00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:07,439 Speaker 1: you'd really get much out of the experience, again, other 605 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:08,960 Speaker 1: than just sort of the set and setting of the 606 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:12,239 Speaker 1: whole thing. It's worth noting that, of course, there are 607 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:17,840 Speaker 1: multiple springs at Ramsar in around containing radium and thorium, 608 00:36:18,560 --> 00:36:22,200 Speaker 1: and this area is known as the most naturally radioactive 609 00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:27,200 Speaker 1: place on Earth. The springs here are also used as spas, 610 00:36:27,239 --> 00:36:29,239 Speaker 1: and I think we again have to put them in 611 00:36:29,320 --> 00:36:32,560 Speaker 1: a larger historic context. People have been coming here for 612 00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:35,960 Speaker 1: a very long time and continue to come to Ramsar 613 00:36:36,719 --> 00:36:40,480 Speaker 1: in order to enjoy these spring waters. So yeah, they're uh, 614 00:36:41,800 --> 00:36:44,680 Speaker 1: these are these are places that were special and important 615 00:36:44,920 --> 00:36:48,719 Speaker 1: again before modern science came along to determine exactly what 616 00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:52,000 Speaker 1: was going on in the contents of the water. I'd 617 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:53,879 Speaker 1: be very interested to hear from anyone out there who's 618 00:36:53,880 --> 00:36:58,600 Speaker 1: had experiences in a in a radium spring what you 619 00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:01,440 Speaker 1: thought of it, what the sort of salon it was 620 00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:04,920 Speaker 1: with the grounds were, Like, I think it's it's fascinating. 621 00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:08,279 Speaker 1: I've not had the experience myself. Yes, uh, same here, 622 00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:11,120 Speaker 1: but it's interesting. This has just kind of like opened 623 00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:13,640 Speaker 1: up a door into this world of all the strange, 624 00:37:13,680 --> 00:37:19,600 Speaker 1: little quirky local thermal springs all all over the world. 625 00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:22,040 Speaker 1: So it makes me think we're maybe gonna get some 626 00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:25,160 Speaker 1: really good listener mail about this series. Oh yeah, I 627 00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:28,680 Speaker 1: want to hear about your your strange local thermal springs 628 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:33,720 Speaker 1: and spas and what's the backstory what goes on there? Yeah, yeah, yeah, 629 00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:36,120 Speaker 1: because a lot of them have some very rich traditions 630 00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:40,080 Speaker 1: behind them, um of perhaps some some quirky history in places, 631 00:37:40,160 --> 00:37:44,400 Speaker 1: and and some alleged healing properties. So yeah, we've already 632 00:37:44,400 --> 00:37:47,799 Speaker 1: heard from at least a few listeners, so certainly keep 633 00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:50,399 Speaker 1: it coming. We've we'd love to to dive into these 634 00:37:50,760 --> 00:37:53,759 Speaker 1: over the next several listener mail episodes. All right, Well, 635 00:37:53,760 --> 00:37:55,120 Speaker 1: on that note, we're going to go and close it 636 00:37:55,120 --> 00:37:56,880 Speaker 1: out for today, but we'd love to hear from everyone 637 00:37:56,880 --> 00:38:00,040 Speaker 1: out there, so you know, definitely right in. Just a 638 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:02,960 Speaker 1: reminder that Stuff to Blow your Mind publishes its core 639 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:05,800 Speaker 1: episodes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have short form artifact 640 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:08,480 Speaker 1: or monster fact episode on Wednesdays. On Mondays we do 641 00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:10,759 Speaker 1: the listener mail, and on Fridays we set aside most 642 00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:13,320 Speaker 1: serious concerns to just talk about a weird film on 643 00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:17,680 Speaker 1: Weird House Cinema. Huge thanks to our audio producer JJ Pauseway. 644 00:38:17,719 --> 00:38:19,480 Speaker 1: If you would like to get in touch with us 645 00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:22,240 Speaker 1: with feedback on this episode or any other to suggest 646 00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:24,839 Speaker 1: topic for the future, or just to say hello. You 647 00:38:24,840 --> 00:38:27,560 Speaker 1: can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your 648 00:38:27,560 --> 00:38:38,040 Speaker 1: Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production 649 00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:41,239 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit 650 00:38:41,280 --> 00:38:44,320 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to 651 00:38:44,360 --> 00:39:01,080 Speaker 1: your favorite shows. Times