Amazing Facts archive

It is an interesting fact that in olden times, people were so superstitious and gullible that animals were often used to cure ailments and fix problems:

• after a fall, one had to drink the blood from a cat’s tail that had been chopped off
• a bad chest was cured by drinking blood from a cat’s ear mixed with red wine
• A field full of weed could be fixed by burying a dead cat in it
• in the middle ages, quacks believed that animals spoke in Latin and that their cries had significance
• a person with scarlet fever was cured by taking hair from the patient and feeding it to an ass, which was to contract the fever and thus curing the patient
• children with measles were treated by plucking hair from the nape of their necks and feeding it to dogs
• patients with rickets would be passed over the back and under the belly of an ass (donkey) nine times without uttering the word by successive numbers
• if you had fits, every morning you will need to chew on some grass and feed it to a jay. Once the bird died, you would be cured
• In Europe, epilepsy was cured by cutting the nose off a mole and letting 9 drops of blood fall on a cube of sugar which was then eaten by the patient
• In Shropshire, a toothache was treated by simply applying the amputated foot of a poor mole
• a person bitten by a dog was to eat the hair from the same dog
• eels were placed in the ears of deaf people to cure them

• The eath wastes enough paper every day to cover the netherlands every 5 minutes
• Using a normal piece of letter-sized (8.5″ x 11″, 216 mm × 279 mm) copy paper, you can fold it 8 times by folding it 4 times in one direction, then 4 times in the other as shown in mythbusters

• On a Roman numeral clock face, the number 4 is written as ‘IIII’ instead of ‘IV’ as it should be. The reasons for this include:

In the olden times, ‘IV’ was the sign of Jupiter, so the Romans wrote  “IIII” so that the time wouldn’t show as “1 2 3 GOD 5…”

The ‘IIII’ numeral is to balance out the weight of the clock. The heavier numbers on the left side of the clocks needed to be balanced by the heavier ‘IIII’ rather than the light ‘IV’

There is a story that a famous clockmaker had constructed a clock for Louis XIV, king of France. The clockmaker had naturally used IV for four. When the clock was shown to the king, he remarked that IIII should have been used instead of IV. When it was explained to him that IV was correct, he still insisted, so that there was nothing to do but change the clock dial. This introduced the custom of using IIII for four. This is probably only a story, however, as IIII occurs long before the time of Louis XIV. And this same story is also told in connection with other monarchs. (Time & Timekeepers, W. I. Milham, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1947, p. 196)

• Scientists postulate that there is another planet beyond pluto, known as Planet X
• The search for planet X is done via the space telescope called SIRTF (Space Infrared Telescope Facility) that is kept below freezing temperatures
• Ancient Sumerian texts write about a race of Anunnaki living on Nibiru (Planet X) and that Nibiru is on a 3600 year eliptical orbit, unlike the rest of the planets in our solar system

• The original zodiac consisted of 18 signs, not twelve

• Scandinavian berserkers went into “fury” or “berserkergang” not only in battle, but also during laborious work. Source: Fabing, p. 234

• The serpent dragons were believed to be the first “dragons”
• There are 3 kinds of dragons, serpent dragons, western dragons, eastern dragons. (ok, i know they don’t exist, but hey… its still interesting)

• Gorillas were once considered a mythical creature, like big foot
• Gorillas have stomachs that are larger than their chests to fit their enlarged intestines, which digest the bulky fibrous vegetation they consume. True for humans?
• A gorilla’s upper body strength is 6 times that of a human
• Gorillas’ nose have different shape and wrinkles and are used by researchers to distinguish individual animals in the field
• Adult male gorillas have large scent glands in their armpits that produce a pungent odor when excited or stressed. =D

• Windmills always turn counter-clockwise except in Ireland. This is of course widely disputed because it should be based on the design of the blades

• It is impossible to get water out of a rimless tyre. (If any of you are acutally that free.., try confirming this one.)Thanx Nat