"....The production of iron jewelery reached its peak between 1813 and 1815, when the Prussian royal family urged all citizens to contribute their gold and silver jewelery towards funding the uprising against Napoleon during the War of Liberation. In return the people were given iron jewelery such as brooches and finger rings, often with the inscription Gold gab ich für Eisen (I gave gold for iron), or Far das Wahl des Vaterlands (For the welfare of our country / motherland), or with a portrait of Frederick William III of Prussia on the back. Until then iron jewelery had only been worn as a symbol of mourning (because of its black color) and was worth too little to be alluring, but suddenly it became a symbol of patriotism and loyalty and with its obvious aesthetic appeal, became popular overnight...."
"....Freud was going through a bad patch. He desperately wanted to marry the fetching Martha, but her parents were rich and skeptical of this young upstart who presumed to ask for their daughter's hand. He'd started studying a variety of sea creatures in the hope of making great leaps forward in the new science of neurology and had the honor of being the first person to find the genitals of an eel (how he found the genitals while looking for the brain is a bit of a mystery). But it wasn't enough. Poking around in the nether regions of fish wasn't going to impress anybody[3], not least Martha's snooty parents.
So when the cocaine came along, he had high hopes. How could a highly addictive stimulant not impress one's presumptive in-laws? Not only did this new drug cure hunger, thirst and melancholy, it made him feel fantastic. Like totally groovy, man. He couldn't wait to announce this new wonder drug to the scientific community, publishing "On Coca" in June 1884. Considering Freud was the father of psychoanalysis and spurred an entire new realm of intellectual discourse, the article was a complete mess. Rife with misspellings and inaccuracies, he managed to even get the comparatively simple chemical formula of cocaine incorrect. Why? Let's just say he was extremely thorough in his research...."