27/1/12

madrobins: It's a meatloaf.  Dressed up like a bunny.  (Default)
Yesterday, in order to be on hand for some household stuff, I took the day off. Which meant I went up to the UCSF Medical Library and did research on syphilis and treatments therefor in 1810.

Let me simply say this: eeeeeew. The disease itself is awful. The cures? What on earth are "sugars of lead?" Goes off and Googles: Like other lead(II) salts, lead(II) acetate has a sweet taste, which has led to its use as a sugar substitute throughout history.

Makes high-fructose corn syrup sound positively enchanting.