Buzzkill

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Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild.

Our world is full of the unexplainable.

And if history is an open book, All of these amazing tales are right there on display, just waiting for us to explore.

Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities.

On July 2nd of 1881, the world-famous inventor, Alexander Grambell, was working at his lab in Washington, D.C.

when he received some shocking news.

President James A.

Garfield had just been shot in the back at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station while waiting for a train.

The assassin was a man named Charles Gatteau, a disgruntled office seeker furious that Garfield hadn't rewarded him with a cushy government job.

Gatteau was immediately arrested and Garfield was rushed to the White House for treatment.

Alexander Graham Bell, who lived just a stone's throw from the White House and had personally installed a telephone there a few years earlier, followed the story with rapid interest.

He was disturbed by reports that the president's doctors couldn't find the bullet lodged in his body.

Days after the shooting, they were still probing around in his wounds with their fingers, and if they didn't get the bullet out soon, the president would die of lead poisoning.

Lying awake one night, Bell had a realization, this wasn't just a medical problem, it was an engineering problem, and in a way, he had already solved it.

Flashback a few years to 1877, Bell had just patented the world's first practical telephone.

But as his team rolled out that technology to the world, they ran into a frustrating issue.

When telephone conductors were installed next to telegram wires, the signal became garbled with static.

It seems that the metal in the telegram wires was interfering with the electromagnetic fields that Bell's telephone system relied on, rendering them far less useful.

As a clever workaround, Bell and his team installed something called an induction balance device.

It equalized any interference from metal, cutting down on the static.

Now, as President Garfield lay dying in the White House, Bell realized that the same principle could actually work in reverse.

Rather than canceling out the interference from metal, he could amplify it.

And so he got to work cobbling together parts from his telephone and the induction balance device.

Early tests were promising too.

When the machine passed over metal, it emitted a distinct buzzing sound.

When no metal was present, there was silence.

Bell tested the machine by firing bullets into planks of wood and hiding them inside slabs of raw meat.

Each time the machine found the metal with ease.

Once he was satisfied, Bell contacted the White House and offered his help.

Dr.

Willard Bliss, the president's head physician, was skeptical, but Bell's reputation gave him enough credibility to warrant a try.

When he got to the White House, he found Garfield lying on his left side.

Bliss had already determined that the bullet was somewhere on the president's right and didn't want to move him.

So Bell was instructed to restrict his search area to that spot.

As he ran his machine over Garfield's body, it emitted a faint buzz, indicating the presence of metal.

But the signal was weak, and Bell couldn't pinpoint the exact location of the bullet.

Before he had the chance to troubleshoot, though, Dr.

Bliss hurried in, telling him to come back when the machine actually worked.

Bell, understandably, was frustrated, but he didn't give up.

Back at his lab, he made adjustments to reduce the machine's sensitivity to interference, and he ran more tests.

A Civil War veteran volunteered to be examined, and when Bell's machine pinpointed a bullet lodged inside him, Bell was convinced that it worked.

On August 2nd, 2nd, he returned to the White House and examined the president for the second time.

Only now, there was no buzz, just agonizing silence.

For Bell, this could only mean one thing.

The bullet wasn't where they were looking.

He suggested moving the president for a more comprehensive search, but Bliss was fed up.

He dismissed the inventor, indicating that his help was no longer needed.

A few weeks later, on September 19th, President Garfield died from the infection.

The autopsy revealed what Bell already suspected.

The bullet was lodged in his left side, exactly where Bell had been told not to look.

The buzzing in his first examination was probably triggered by the metal springs in Garfield's mattress.

If Bliss had just been willing to move the president, Bell would have been able to find the bullet.

Even if he had, though, it might not have changed anything, because the bullet isn't what killed Garfield.

The real culprit was infection, introduced by doctors poking around in his wounds with unwashed hands, years after antiseptic methods had become standard practice in Europe.

So, while he was shot by Charles Gatteau, many historians argue that he was actually killed by his doctors, chief among them, Dr.

Bliss.

Alexander Grambell was heartbroken, but he took solace in the fact that his invention worked.

It just needed a new name.

You see, induction balance phone didn't exactly roll off the tongue.

So it's remembered today instead as a metal detector.

banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet, with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees.

Just ask the Capital One Bank guy.

It's pretty much all he talks about.

In a good way, he'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast, too.

Oh, really?

Thanks, Capital One Bank Guy.

What's in your wallet?

Terms apply.

See capital1.com/slash bank.

Capital One NA member FDIC.

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Stories often have multiple entry points, like a big room with many entrances.

So for our second tale today, I want to revisit our first, only from a different angle.

But to do it, I'm going to need you to use your imagination.

Picture this.

It's July of 1881 and you're a naval engineer stationed in Washington, D.C.

One typical sticky afternoon, you're huddled over some blueprints when an urgent message arrives.

You're wanted at the White House immediately for a top-secret project involving matters of national security and

indoor cooling.

That makes you raise an eyebrow, but hey, it's July in Washington and the city is infamous for its brutal humidity.

Swampy doesn't even begin to cover it.

The Capitol becomes a human oven every summer, which is why so many presidents have historically fled town to escape the heat.

So maybe the current commander-in-chief is choosing a different tactic by bringing in the big guns, meaning you.

You press for more details, but all they tell you is that the request came straight from the top.

And the top is uncomfortably warm.

So you grab your team and your tools, and you head over to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, brainstorming ways to cool the president's quarters while he works.

Now, electric fans haven't been invented yet, but steam-powered ones do exist.

They're just annoyingly cumbersome and noisy, probably not something the president wants to hear during his meetings.

But the moment you enter the White House, it's clear that this is no comfort project.

A grim mood hangs over the building.

as stone-faced staffers rush about, barely even speaking.

You're escorted down a hall and into a room that smells faintly of alcohol and blood.

And there he is, President James A.

Garfield is lying on a mattress in the middle of the room, surrounded by a small army of doctors.

Briefly, they fill you in on the critical details.

The president was waiting for a train when he was shot from behind at point-blank range.

The bullet was still inside him, but the doctors haven't been able to find it yet.

They have, however, called for a specialist.

whose unique skills might be able to help.

But that's not your concern.

You just have to cool down the room enough to keep him comfortable and conscious.

Easier said than done, but the president is burning up from the heat and probably fever from an infection, so you get to work.

Over the next few days, your team assembles a contraption the likes of which the world has never seen.

The main component is a bulky iron chest holding dozens of screens with terry cloth stretched over them.

Above this, you rig a large tank holding a half ton of shaved ice, water, and salt.

As As the slush melts, it drips down onto those screens, freezing them within seconds.

And the final piece is a steam-powered fan, which blows air from the open window through the screens and out into the room.

When it's all up and running, you watch the temperature drop, first by five degrees, then 10, and then 20.

Soon the room is comfortably cool and a heck of a lot less humid.

On his sticky mattress, President Garfield breathes a sigh of relief, while his doctors silently applaud you.

It's a small victory, but everyone in the room can use a win at the moment.

And as you stand in the corner listening to your machine hum away, you can't help but think about its potential beyond the White House.

Imagine if hospitals, factories, or even ordinary homes could stay this cool in the summer.

But unfortunately, that's not happening anytime soon.

The system you just created is wildly inefficient, devouring four tons of ice each day just to cool a single room.

No expense is too great to save the life of a president.

but ordinary citizens, no, it'll never happen.

Unfortunately, it isn't enough to save the president.

Garfield dies in September after months of expensive cooling and prodding from the doctors.

After he passes, you return to the White House and quietly disassemble your machine, recalling the delightful sensation of chilled air sweeping through the room.

And you can't help but feel that for the briefest moment, you touched the future.

Today, historians look back on that crude contraption as an early precursor to modern air conditioning.

Almost half a century would pass before mechanical cooling began appearing in commercial buildings and decades more before it reached everyday homes.

But the seed had been planted.

So, the next time you're lying back in an air-conditioned room on a hot summer day, sipping a cold drink and appreciating the breeze from that vent, take a moment to toast President James A.

Garfield.

Not just for his service, but for sweating through one of the toughest moments in the history of indoor cooling.

It just goes to show that when history turns up the heat, necessity really is the mother of invention.

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 CuriositiesPodcast.com.

This show was created by me, Aaron Mankey, in partnership with How Stuff Works.

I make another award-winning show called Lore, which is a podcast, podcast, book series, and television show, and you can learn all about it over at theworldoflore.com.

And until next time, stay curious.

Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet, with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees.

Just ask the Capital One Bank Guy.

It's pretty much all he talks about.

In a good way, he'd also tell you that this podcast is his favorite podcast, too.

Oh, really?

Thanks, Capital One Bank Guy.

What's in your wallet?

Terms apply.

See capital One.com/slash bank.

Capital One NA member FDIC.

This is an iHeart podcast.