Mercury Was The Primary Treatment For Syphilis For 400 Years

追加: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Mercury was the primary treatment for syphilis for 400 years, and physicians administered it as pills, as ointments rubbed into the skin, and as vapor inhaled directly into the lungs. And the popular saying was, "A night with Venus and a lifetime with Mercury." Because the side effects of the treatment included tooth loss, neurological damage, and organ failure. And historians now believe that Mercury killed as many syphilis patients as the disease itself did, making it one of the longest running medical disasters in history.