This is a fascinating and complicated dive into the history behind the first placebos and observations of their effects. We'll do our best not to lose our own minds trying to sort out the complexities of the placebo effect as we understood it simply in the past, and try to contrast that with all of the newer science on the topic. This gets weird.

Sources:

• Wikipedia: Placebo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo
• The Neuroscience of Placebo Effects, Nature Reviews (paywall), Wager and Atlas https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3976
• The Early History of the Placebo, Jutte (paywall) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965229912000866
• Attempts to Revive Antient Medical Doctrines, by Alex Sutherland (Google Books), https://www.google.com/books/edition/Attempts_to_Revive_Antient_Medical_Doctr/AntbAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PP26&printsec=frontcover
• Placebo etymology, https://www.etymonline.com/word/placebo
• Podcast: Skeptics with a K -Episode #386

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This episode was brought to you by our main source, the excellent book on the topic by Matthew C. Ehrlich entitled, The Krebiozan Hoax: How a mysterious Cancer Drug Shook Organized Medicine. Check it out via that link and show the author some love. It's a great addition to your medical history library.

This is the story of how a 22-year elaborate hoax was delivered to the American public of the 1940's-1960's in the form of a purported cancer cure. Preying on the hope of those suffering from terminal cancer, one unscrupulous doctor tricked so many others into pushing a fake cure for the disease. We'll dive into the story to figure out if, in fact, Krebiozen, the medication in question, really did exist.

Additional Sources:

-https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/what-is-cancer

-https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/cancer-death-rate-who-mdb

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krebiozen

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TGjm7wIyUk&t=62s&ab_channel=WilliamKronick

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This episode is a blend of true crime and criminal ineptitude. We'll walk through the story of how a gaggle of NYC barflys in the early 20th century U.S. Prohibition Era conspired (very badly) to murder an Irish immigrant who would later be nicknamed "The Irish Rasputin" for his incredible survival of multiple attempts on his life. How did this all transpire, medically speaking? Let's find out.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Malloy

https://medium.com/the-crime-historian/meet-the-man-who-survived-5-murder-attempts-to-the-frustration-of-his-killers-6469d0c1f7b

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol_toxicity

https://wikem.org/wiki/Methanol_toxicity

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6527027/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmacology_of_ethanol

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-man-who-wouldnt-die-89417903/

https://gizmodo.com/the-legend-of-mike-the-durable-malloy-historys-most-st-5918834

https://www.nydailynews.com/2007/10/14/the-durable-mike-malloy/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_lighting

https://www.mussenhealth.us/carbon-monoxide/autopsy-findings.html

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Death_record_of_Mike_Malloy_alias_Nicolas_Mellory.jpg/220px-Death_record_of_Mike_Malloy_alias_Nicolas_Mellory.jpg

https://www.unfortunatehistory.com/podcast/17-mike-the-durable-malloy-he-just-wont-die/

https://thisiscriminal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Episode-151-The-Many-Lives-of-Michael-Malloy.pdf

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