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Stuff of Progress: Iron
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SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
Uranium was first used as a coloring agent in the manufacture of pottery. As early as 79 CE, naturally-occurring uranium oxide was ground up into a yellow powder and applied as a pottery glaze.
...Chemical disinfection has helped to improve life expectancy and considerably changed our collective standard of living.
It is inexpensive and always available, and is used ...
Basic chemical disinfection was employed since at least 3,000 BC, using alcohol, elemental copper and Sulfur, salt, sodium carbonate, and mild organic acids.
Sulfur fumigation was used widely throughout Europe through the Middle Ages, especially during outbreaks of plague. But disinfectants such as compounds of Sulfur, mercury, and copper were only moderately effective and highly toxic, resulting in health problems.
The first notable effective deployment of disinfectants came in 1675 when a Dutch scientist noticed through the glass of his microscope that strong vinegar killed microorganisms.
In 1887, a British surgeon researched the effects of carbolic acid as a disinfectant in the operating theater. The results drastically reduced infection rates among patients.