Night Gallery

Persistent Guest

Candiru (Vandellia cirrhosa)

Candiru (Vandellia cirrhosa)

A tiny parasitic fish that is native to the Amazon

• Normally preys on Catfish

  • imbeds itself into the gills

• First documented in 1829 by C. F. P. von Martius

  • Never actually observed fish

  • Learned about from stories told by native people groups

  • Believed to be attracted to the “odor“ of urine

How do they say the Candiru would be attracted to a human?

parasite could infect humans through the urethra due to urinating in the water

• they say the parasite is attracted to the ammonia odor of the urine as it exits the urethra 

Alleged Attack of the Candiru in 1997:

• Happened in Brazil

• Victim was a 23-year-old male

• Candiru “jumped” from the water and lodged itself in his urethra while he was urinating above the water

• Received treatment 170 miles east to remove fish from urethra

What did Marine Biologist Stephen Spotte find suspicious about this story?

• Diameter of preserved fish was larger than average male urethra

• Fluid mechanics would prohibit a fish from entering a urethra while a stream of urine is being released.

• A study in 2001 found that the Candiru hunts catfish using sight, not smell

Glowing Growth

The use of radium

Radium

all naturally occurring isotopesof radium are radioactive (meaning they emit a particle)

• alpha particles are the least dangerous, gamma particles are the most dangerous

• alpha particles are basically helium atoms (2p, 2e)

• this radium naturally glowed at all time

• was used to make a paint that glowed green

  • Used for dials, signage, and makeup

Radium Girls

• Pay was very high for women employed in factories to paint with radium

• Were instructed to, “Lip, dip, and paint.”

• would get radium in mouth, but that was seen as a good thing

• Radium water was created because radium was seen as a cure for all

How radium destroyed bone tissue:

• their body was taking radium ions and swapping it with calcium, so their bones were becoming decalcified

• once radium is sitting in bone tissue, its gonna sit there and release alpha particles (like a molecular BB gun)

• these particles would smash into other molecules and destroy them

• DNA, collagen fibers, connective tissues, were being destroyed in their body by the alpha particles

• it would start with a toothache, then teeth would begin falling out

• eventually the lower mandible would deteriorate as well

The main symptoms of radium poisoning:

• Toothache

• Teeth falling out

• Tissue break down near jaw and neck

• Dizziness

Window Unto Darkness

Story of Physician William Beaumont and Alexis Bidagan St. Martin

Role of Physician William Beaumont

• Became a licensed doctor in the 1800s

• gained lots of practice during the War of 1812

• Retired in Fort Mackinaw in MI, where he met Alexis Bidagan

Role of Alexis Bidagan St. Martin

• was an Illiterate French-Canadian in Mackinaw island

• was taken advantage of bc he was illiterate

• was working as an indentured servant (using finances to keep someone stuck and they cannot leave employment)

• Was shot at the local trading post with a musket

Connection between Dr. Beaumont and Alexis St. Martin:

• Dr. Beaumont arrived shorter after St. Martin was shot

• St. Martin was treated and survived with a gastric fistula

• Had a hole left in his stomach

• Beaumont offered housing and food with the opportunity to experience with the wound on his side

• Began experimentation with the gastric fistula

Identify the two primary findings of Dr. Beaumont’s studies.

• HCl is required for digestion

• Protein is digested in stomach