5 Bizarre Historical Attempts at Immortality

Toxic Elixirs and Ancient Quackery

• ⚠️ Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang, obsessed with immortality, died from consuming a mercury-filled elixir, a neurotoxin that damages multiple bodily systems.
• 🧪 French courtier Diane de Poitiers regularly consumed a toxic mixture called "Aurum potabile" (drinkable gold), which may have contributed to her death.
• 🛢️ Philosopher Francis Bacon believed in tending to bodily "spirits" by slathering in oils and ointments, likening it to varnishing wood, and citing a man who allegedly lived to 300 by using "oil without and honey within."

Blood, Transfusions, and Youthful Vitality

• 🩸 The legend of Countess Elizabeth Báthory, accused of bathing in peasant girls' blood for youth, and Pope Innocent VIII's alleged blood transfusion from youths, highlight historical fascinations with blood.
• 🔬 Robert Boyle pioneered early blood transfusion studies, including a controversial sheep-to-human transfusion, and sought the mythical "elixir of life."
• 💉 Soviet physician Alexander Bogdanov, who founded Russia's Institute for Blood Transfusion, died after a transfusion to a student, but his work spurred interest in rejuvenation.
• 🧑‍⚕️ Modern tech figure Bryan Johnson engaged in unregulated plasma transfusions with his father and son, though the FDA does not recommend it and he reported no benefits.

Questionable Glandular Experiments

• 🐶 Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard injected himself with fluids from animal testicles, believing it would restore strength, sparking interest in sex hormone research.
• 🐒 Serge Voronoff grafted slices of baboon testicles onto thousands of aging men, believing it could reverse aging and extend life significantly, though subjects never reached such longevity.
• 💡 Eugen Steinach pioneered the "Steinach operation," a partial vasectomy intended to increase sexual potency and restore youth, which was even adopted by Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats.