Falling Down

dig deep enough. For example, deep deep below the streets of modern London, there's something called the Buddhica Destruction Layer. This small layer of red in the earth is a physical reminder of Queen Boudica's spectacularly deadly revolt against the wrong An Empire. The city as old as London have plenty of layers. They're usually all that remains of the land's extensive past, from old Roman roads to long lost defeated kings buried under parking lots. They've slowly been built

up and become the London we know today. Unfortunately, many of those layers, most in fact, were created by fire. Fires were a common part of life, especially in a world before hydrants and organized fire departments. Instead, residents had to organize rapidly to take water from the nearest source, usually a well or a river, and form a bucket brigade to try and put the blaze out as quickly as possible. Sometimes they even succeeded before too much damage

was done. London, like most old cities, was no stranger to fires. Budica and her revenge was just one of the first recorded examples. In the year sixty CE, she and other tribe leaders banded together and burned cities like Londinium to the ground, creating her destruction layer of red, brown oxidized ash. London has been built and rebuilt several times over the centuries, often flourishing in between those destructive fires. But not even a century after Boudica's revenge, Londinium was

destroyed again. No one knows what caused the Hadriatic fire, or really even when it happened. Experts estimate sometime after Emperor Hadrian's visit in the early one twenties. London managed to stay intact for a few more centuries, although admittedly Saint Paul's Cathedral seems to have had terrible luck, burning down nine times before the next fire. In eleven thirty five, the Pentecost fire broke out near London Bridge, reportedly in

the Sheriff's home, and then spread out from there. One chronicler said Saint Paul's burned to the ground again, but another disagrees. Given the building's history, I wouldn't be shocked if it had. Though. The Great Pentecost Fire destroyed London Bridge, made of wood, of course, as well as the homes, ships and other properties within two miles of the Thames. Despite the devastation of the blaze, though this wasn't London's deadly fire. That dubious honor happened years down the line.

Like so many fires, the causes unknown. We can speculate about the unattended ovens, dropped pipes, or careless trash fires until the cows come home, but no one knows how this great blaze began. Some people, though, suspect the weather. You see, it was July tenth, and England, like many other places in the North Atlantic, was going through a bit of a warm spell. The roller coaster of climate change means that we might be able to imagine what

it was like a hot day in July. Maybe it was sunny and bright or rainy and muggie, although given what happened next, I'm inclined to think it was very, very dry. Someone would have taken up the call to warn the neighbors that a fire had broken out from there. The news would have spread like well fire pun intended people would have scrambled for buckets, basins and washtubs to fill them and stand in line while the others evacuated children, animals,

and valuables. The fire started south of the River Thames in Suffolk, so maybe they used river water, but they probably used whatever they could get their hands on. Still, it was no use. Between July tenth and July twelfth, they fought and fled from the fire as it burned through Suffolx Cathedral known as Our Lady of the Cannons or Saint mary Ovary, then most of Borough High Streets, a major street that connected the south bank of the Thames to London, and then it spread to London Bridge.

Now the wind had picked up, carrying blazing cinders across the river to the Hugh guessed it. Wooden houses and their straw roofs near the northern end of the Bridge. From there, the fire jumped to the city of London itself. As people fled the inferno from Suffolk, they came crashing into people running from the fire that had broken out on the northern side. They were trapped in the middle of two terrible fires, and the wooden shops and houses

on the bridge became ticking time bombs. It was only a matter of time before those went up as well. Some people jumped into the river trying to save themselves, but either drowned or were crushed by boats trying to rescue those who were stranded. Some of the rescuers themselves were pulled in and crushed desperate people trying to haul

themselves on board. It was a terrible sight. The idea of putting wooden buildings on London Bridge had been the idea of King John of Magna Carta and Robin Hood fame, although at this point in time the bridge itself was built of stone. Many of the survivors must have been wondering if they should have listened to the mayor when he strongly recommended using stone over wood as a building material. As you can tell by now, and the mention of

King John of the Magna Carta. This fire was not the Great Fire of sixteen sixty six that everyone talks about today. All told, an initial estimate put the death toll for the Great Fire of twelve twelve at three thousand people. Many historians disagree, as the population of London was just fifty thousand people at the time, and that number of dead would have been devastating. The city, though

was soon rebuilt. As for London Bridge, it may not have fallen down this time, but it's luck would eventually run out. After all, how could we sing the song if it didn't. Going to the eye doctor isn't the most fun experience, although it sure beats sitting in a dentist chair. At some point during your exam, the optometrist might squeeze a few drops of liquid into your eyes in order to dilate them. This allows the doctor to see your optic nerve and diagnose potential underlying conditions, such

as cataracts or macular degeneration. Today's eye drops may be uncomfortable, but they're a lot better than the ones made hundreds of years ago, because if you go back far enough, you might find that the people were putting very similar drops into their eyes to look more attractive, but at great cost. They were derived from a plant called belladonna or literally translated beautiful woman. Its full scientific name as Atropa belladonna or atropine, but most people know it by

its more common money her deadly nightshade. The genus Atropa comes from Greek mythology. It was named for one of the three fates, Atropos, who would put the thread of life that had been measured and drawn by her other two sisters. And there was a reason for this name, given to the plant by Swedish botanist Carlinaeus in the seventeen hundreds, because those who consumed it would find their

own threads cut short. Records of its use go back as far as the fourth century BC, although Cleopatra was known to drop extracts of other night shades into her eyes in order to dilate her pupils. But why it's not like optometrist was a profession in ancient Egypt because belladonna extract helped make women more beautiful in their minds, at least that's how it was marketed. History is riddled

with instances of poisons being used in cosmetics. Ancient Egyptians and Greeks darkened their eyelashes with antimony, a toxic chemical element full of sulfur, lead, copper, and silver. Thallium acetate was used in the late nineteenth century as a cure for scalp ringworm, but it didn't actually kill the ringworm. It just caused the user to lose their hair so

the ring worm would be easier to treat. Afterward, it was marketed as a body hair removal cream, which poisoned women who applied it to their skin, and of course, arsenic was incorporated into everything from makeup to edible wafers as recently as the eighteen nineties. Belladonna drops did back then what they do now. They dilate pupils. The resulting effect is a glassy look in the woman's eye, making

them appear lustrous and hopefully desirable. They were quite popular in the Renaissance era Italy, as a woman's eyes were believed to be the most beautiful part of her body. In fact, the sixteenth century painting Woman with a Mirror by the artist Titian was believed to depict a woman with big, dark eyes dilated by belladonna, though in order to achieve such an effect, the plant extract used did

do something harsh to the eyes. For one, they paralyzed the nerve endings, which worked well for pain relief and stopping bad coughs in asthmetics, But if someone dropped too much into their eyes or worse, ingested a significant amount of it, other symptoms would start to appear. Dry mouth, an increase in body temperature, excitement, and an inability to swallow were just some of the side effects that doctors

saw as a result of atropine poisoning. Long term use of belladonna drops had also been known to cause blindness. Poisoners have seen belladonna or Deadly nightshade as a tool in their arsenal as well. In nineteen ninety four, an Edinburgh biologist named Paul Agater was convicted of attempted murder after dosing his wife's tonic water along with a dozen other bottles in a local supermarket with the toxic chemical.

The good news is that today optometrists use an alternative to belladonna when dilating their patient's pupils, especially where children are concerned, but the plant is still incorporated into a variety of medicinal products, including eyedrops. Just a much more reasonable level than before, because a doctor doesn't care if your eyes are sultry or seductive. They just want to see if you can see. I hope you've enjoyed today's

guided tour of the Cabinet of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. The show was created by me Aaron Manky in partnership with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at the World of Loore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.