Unknown Narrator / Historian Deborah Blum

We're seeing the rise of industrial chemistry, and there's a deluge of new chemical compounds created by industries in the United States, which is, you know, one of the countries that really takes the forefront of the industrial manufacturing age. Chemists are figuring out that they can take all of these poisonous substances that occur in nature and recreate them in a laboratory.

We're seeing the rise of industrial chemistry, and there's a deluge of new chemical compounds created by industries in the United States, which is, you know, one of the countries that really takes the forefront of the industrial manufacturing age. Chemists are figuring out that they can take all of these poisonous substances that occur in nature and recreate them in a laboratory.

Unless you're rich, you're drinking whatever you can get your hands on. So one of the cocktails of the Bowery, which is a really poor neighborhood in New York, was called Smoke. And that was fuel, alcohol, and water.

Unless you're rich, you're drinking whatever you can get your hands on. So one of the cocktails of the Bowery, which is a really poor neighborhood in New York, was called Smoke. And that was fuel, alcohol, and water.

You see Ginger Jack, which was another formula ginned up by bootleggers that actually mimics the symptoms of Parkinson's. Or you see the cocktail called D-Rail, in which they were siphoning off some of the industrial alcohols from the railroads and serving it up in drinks.

You see Ginger Jack, which was another formula ginned up by bootleggers that actually mimics the symptoms of Parkinson's. Or you see the cocktail called D-Rail, in which they were siphoning off some of the industrial alcohols from the railroads and serving it up in drinks.

This acceptance of risk that came with Prohibition at these levels is kind of horrifying, but it was there and it was real.

This acceptance of risk that came with Prohibition at these levels is kind of horrifying, but it was there and it was real.

Gettler goes on to write the fundamental paper on cyanide and its toxicity and how we find it in a body. It's still cited today.

Gettler goes on to write the fundamental paper on cyanide and its toxicity and how we find it in a body. It's still cited today.

They made coroners out of anyone who needed a job, who the party machine owed them a favor.

They made coroners out of anyone who needed a job, who the party machine owed them a favor.

There were sign painters, there were milkmen, there were funeral home operators, there were lawyers, and there were notably doctors who were such terrible doctors that they had lost their practices.

There were sign painters, there were milkmen, there were funeral home operators, there were lawyers, and there were notably doctors who were such terrible doctors that they had lost their practices.

There are death certificates that literally say could be diabetes or possibly an auto accident, right? I mean, you're just going seriously?

There are death certificates that literally say could be diabetes or possibly an auto accident, right? I mean, you're just going seriously?

He was a really big guy, and he had one of those kind of classic spade-like beards. He had a big, booming voice and a Yale football player's presence, and he used it when he needed to.

He was a really big guy, and he had one of those kind of classic spade-like beards. He had a big, booming voice and a Yale football player's presence, and he used it when he needed to.

He was a descendant of the Norrises who founded Norristown, Pennsylvania. So they were a long-time, well-established, important American family.

He was a descendant of the Norrises who founded Norristown, Pennsylvania. So they were a long-time, well-established, important American family.