Stuff You Missed in History Class

Tracy talks about amusing old illustrations of babies in utero. Holly shares anecdotes about George Stephenson's life that rarely make it into discussions of his life.
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This 2019 episode shares how Hennig Brand discovered phosphorous by boiling pee. But he was really thought the secret to the philosopher’s stone might be found in urine.
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George Stephenson started life in extremely humble circumstances, but his ingenuity and pursuit of education led him to an impressive legacy. He invented a miner’s lamp, but is most well known for his work on locomotives and railways.
Research:
“George Stephenson (1781-1848).” https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/stephenson_george.shtml#:~:text=In%201814%2C%20Stephenson%20constructed%20his%20first%20locomotive%2C,construction%20of%20the%20Stockton%20and%20Darlington%20railway.\
Bellis, Mary. “George Stephenson and the Invention of the Steam Locomotive Engine.” ThoughtCo. May 13, 2025. https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-railroad-1992457
Bellis, Mary. “Biography of James Watt, Inventor of the Modern Steam Engine.” ThoughtCo. April 27, 2020. https://www.thoughtco.com/james-watt-inventor-of-the-modern-steam-engine-1992685
Bellis, Mary. “Biography of Thomas Newcomen, Inventor of the Steam Engine.” July 15, 2019. https://www.thoughtco.com/thomas-newcomen-profile-1992201
Bibby, Miriam. “Rainhill Trials.” Historic UK. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Rainhill-Trials/
Burton, Ken. “Local History: John Blenkinsop 1783-1831.” South Leeds Life. April 29, 2023. https://southleedslife.com/local-history-john-blenkinsop-1783-1831/
Cavendish, Richard. “George Stephenson's First Steam Locomotive.” History Today. July 7, 2014. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/george-stephensons-first-steam-locomotive
Institution of Civil Engineers. “George Stephenson.” https://www.ice.org.uk/what-is-civil-engineering/meet-the-engineers/george-stephenson
Network Rail. “George Stephenson (1781–1848).” https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/our-history/eminent-engineers/george-stephenson-1781-1848/
Rolt, L.T.C. “George and Robert Stephenson.” Amberley Publishing. 2016.
“Safety Lamps.” Smithsonian. https://www.si.edu/spotlight/mining-lights-and-hats/safety-lamps
Smiles, Samuel. “Lives of Engineers. The Locomotive. GEORGE AND ROBERT STEPHENSON.” LONDON. JOHN MURRAY. 1879. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/27710/27710-h/27710-h.htm#footnote129
Stephenson Steam Railway Museum. https://www.northeastmuseums.org.uk/stephensonsteamrailway
Stephenson, George. “A description of the safety lamp, invented by George Stephenson. To which is added, an account of the lamp constructed by sir H. Davy. [With] A collection of all the letters which have appeared in the Newcastle papers, with other documents, relating to the safety lamps.” London. Baldwin, Craddock and Joy. January 1817. Accessed online: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=SYkIAAAAQAAJ&rdid=book-SYkIAAAAQAAJ&rdot=1
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Nutritional rickets is caused by a vitamin D deficiency, and people figured out two ways to treat it before we even knew what vitamin D was.
Research:
“Oldest UK case of rickets in Neolithic Tiree skeleton.” 9/10/2015. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-34208976
Carpenter, Kenneth J. “Harriette Chick and the Problem of Rickets.” The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 138, Issue 5, 827 – 832
Chesney, Russell W. “New thoughts concerning the epidemic of rickets: was the role of alum overlooked?.” Pediatric Nephrology. (2012) 27:3–6. DOI 10.1007/s00467-011-2004-9.
Craig, Wallace and Morris Belkin. “The Prevention and Cure of Rickets.” The Scientific Monthly , May, 1925, Vol. 20, No. 5 (May, 1925). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/7260
Davidson, Tish. "Rickets." The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, edited by Jacqueline L. Longe, 6th ed., vol. 7, Gale, 2020, pp. 4485-4487. Gale OneFile: Health and Medicine, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CX7986601644/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=811f7e02. Accessed 7 Jan. 2026.
Friedman, Aaron. “A brief history of rickets.” Pediatric Nephrology (2020) 35:1835–1841. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00467-019-04366-9
Hawkes, Colin P, and Michael A Levine. “A painting of the Christ Child with bowed legs: Rickets in the Renaissance.” American journal of medical genetics. Part C, Seminars in medical genetics vol. 187,2 (2021): 216-218. doi:10.1002/ajmg.c.31894
Ihde, Aaron J. “Studies on the History of Rickets. I: Recognition of Rickets as a Deficiency Disease.” Pharmacy in History, 1974, Vol. 16, No. 3 (1974). https://www.jstor.org/stable/41108858
Ihde, Aaron J. “Studies on the History of Rickets. II : The Roles of Cod Liver Oil and Light.” Pharmacy in History, 1975, Vol. 17, No. 1 (1975). https://www.jstor.org/stable/41108885
Newton, Gil. “Diagnosing Rickets in Early Modern England: Statistical Evidence and Social Response.” Social History of Medicine Vol. 35, No. 2 pp. 566–588. https://academic.oup.com/shm/article/35/2/566/6381535
O'Riordan, Jeffrey L H, and Olav L M Bijvoet. “Rickets before the discovery of vitamin D.” BoneKEy reports vol. 3 478. 8 Jan. 2014, doi:10.1038/bonekey.2013.212.
Palm, T. “Etiology of Rickets.” Br Med J 1888; 2 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.2.1457.1247 (Published 01 December 1888)
Rajakumar, Kumaravel and Stephen B. Thomas. “Reemerging Nutritional Rickets: A Historical Perspective.” Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. Published Online: April 2005 2005;159;(4):335-341. doi:10.1001/archpedi.159.4.335
Swinburne, Layinka M. “Rickets and the Fairfax family receipt books.” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. Vol. 99. August 2006.
Tait, H. P.. “Daniel Whistler and His Contribution to Pædiatrics.” Edinburgh Medical Journal vol. 53,6 (1946): 325–330.
Warren, Christian. “No Magic Bolus: What the History of Rickets and Vitamin D Can Teach Us About Setting Standards.” Journal of Adolescent Health. 66 (2020) 379e380. https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(20)30038-0/pdf
Wheeler, Benjamin J et al. “A Brief History of Nutritional Rickets.” Frontiers in endocrinology vol. 10 795. 14 Nov. 2019, doi:10.3389/fendo.2019.00795
World Health Organization. “The Magnitude and Distribution of Nutritoinal Rickets: Disease Burden in Infants, Children, and Adolescents.” 2019. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep27899.7
Zhang, M., Shen, F., Petryk, A., Tang, J., Chen, X., & Sergi, C. (2016). “English Disease”: Historical Notes on Rickets, the Bone–Lung Link and Child Neglect Issues. Nutrients, 8(11), 722. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu8110722
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This 2021 episode covers three prank stories, including a joke that became a living legend, a large-scale prank that created havoc, and a televised hoax that reminds us all of the importance of critical thinking.
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