In 1918, you could buy radioactive golf balls for $1 a pop [Retro Future]

Back in the day, you could shove all sorts of goods containing that miracle chemical radium in your body. There were radium-infused beers, chocolate, and suppositories. But radium-mania didn't stop with quack remedies.

An advertisement in the May 17, 1918 edition of the New York Observer touted the benefits of radium-infused golf balls. Was this just hogwash by hucksters looking to ride the radium wave?

According to the radium-good archivers at Oak Ridge Associated Universities, "An analysis by gamma spectroscopy clearly shows that it does indeed contain radium: approximately 150 Bq (4 nCi)."

It's not entirely clear if the radium was enough to harm old-timey golfers looking to improve their range, but hey, at least no one was shoving them up their rectums. Presumably, at least.

[Via Improbable Research]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/io9/full/~3/1ns6ye1xxkw/in-1918-you-could-buy-radioactive-golf-balls-for-1-a-pop

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