The Bizarre Truth: How the Vaseline Inventor Distracted Doubters by Eating it Daily!
Imagine that the inventor of Vaseline used to eat a teaspoonful of it daily in front of people to prove it was completely safe!
In 1859, American chemist Robert Chesebrough visited the oil fields in Titusville, Pennsylvania. There, he noticed a strange waxy substance that workers were applying to wounds and burns to speed up healing. Chesebrough didn't ignore this; he took the oil residue to his laboratory and began purifying it until he invented Vaseline, which later became one of the most famous medical and cosmetic products in the world.
To convince the public of its effectiveness, he would demonstrate Vaseline to crowds in a shocking way. He would burn his skin with fire and then apply the substance to it to show its protective effect. According to popular accounts, he believed in his product so much that he ate a teaspoonful of it daily for many years, believing it helped maintain his health.
When he contracted pleurisy in middle age, he asked his nurse to cover his entire body with petroleum jelly, convinced that this substance contributed to his recovery and allowed him to live to the age of 96 in 1933.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica
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