October 28, 2003
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THE WORST JOBS IN SCIENCE
Pre-med student Stubbins Ffirth (1784–1820) ate, drank, and breathed the blood, urine and vomit of yellow-fever victims (he also dropped the fluids into his eyes and worked them into cuts on his skin). He didn’t get sick—the patients were in a late, uncontagious stage—so he erroneously decided the disease’s cause lurked elsewhere.
Comments (5)
haha, well, that’s what scientists did in those days, you know! but sadly, even modern-day people essentially do the same thing when they share IV drug needles and then contract hepatitis or HIV. sad how things work out. anyway, thank you so much for the lyrics! you always know exactly what to say, dingus. (for better or for worse). thank you.
what an idiot.
An idiot but a lucky one apparently, considering how many people died trying out ludicrous but necessary experiments..
makes fear factor look like child’s play
i heard an engineering lecturer talk about a ‘mercury basement’ in canada, where there was liquid mercury dripping off the walls. scientists and lab technicians alike happily put their lunch in the same fridge as the ones that contain radioactive (or potentially toxic) specimens, and eat it in the basement too.
like this dude who consumed other people’s body fluids, they didn’t seem to get too sick either.