Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Pain, Pus and Poison.'

Cheddar Reveals

The Wild Science Behind Some Modern Medicine

So even in the more traditional areas of medicine, there are some fascinating and sometimes wild stories about how modern treatment came about in particular. The search to prevent pain, curiosity stream, finds out more in its series Pain plus and poison. Take a look. In 1815 with Europe at War IV, young Germans decided to do a particularly Foolhardy Experiment, one which would transform their lives and ours as well. One of them, a pharmacist, had created some intriguing crystals which he carefully measured out. He was keen to see what effects they would have on his body. He dissolved them in alcohol and then diluted it with water since the crystals had recently been made and only previously tested on dogs, they had very little idea of what was going to happen. The answer was not much. So they do it again. Okay, provost, yeah, this time there was a pounding headache, nausea and extreme flushing. So naturally they decided to go even more extreme. They put the crystals directly on their tongues and wash them down with another shot of alcohol. Their leader, Friedrich Zechner, describes falling to the ground, semiconscious in terrible pain and fingers twitching with every heartbeat. Somehow he managed to crawl his way over to a bottle of really strong vinegar. He swallowed it down and the rest he poured into the mouth of his unconscious assistance. They were all violently sick. Xernona had saved their lives by making them vomit, but he noted that for the next few days they continued feeling ill, aches, sickness and constipation, swallowing the crystals had produced classic symptoms of opium overdose. Xernona was thrilled. He was the first person ever to extract the essence of opium white powder that he called morphy. Um He had given birth to a whole new science and opened a pandora's box of good and evil. Mhm. This series tells the extraordinary story of what Zeb unleashed the remarkable medicines which today protect us against devastating disease. Just over there is a monster of biblical proportions, the smallpox virus and the agonies of mortal life. I have here a big lump of raw opium. You almost want to lick it. Drugs that can be terrifyingly lethal. This is the most poisonous substance known to man. Mm hmm. Or incredibly pleasurable. I have here my favorite drug of abuse. It's a story of two centuries of greed, Luck and genius. Oh yes. Blimey, wow, mm hmm. The series, pain pus and poison is available to watch. Now, everywhere you get curiosity stream, one more top tier content on science, nature, history and of course the environment will stay curious and head over to curiosity stream dot com to sign up today