Cruel Organic Chemistry

Abstract

“I will pin your ears back, Johnny, unless you eat your soup”, the angry nanny kept saying. This humorous threat in the nursery might be the relic of some very unpleasant form of torture. A relic of barbarous ages our civilized world has no direct experience of—we hope. Because torturing meant the disfiguring of the body by disturbing its natural order, compelling it into some shape which was very different from the one it usually takes at rest or in unmolested motion. The aim, however, was neither killing nor maiming. The disfigured body was kept intact, and when torturing was over, it could regain its original shape, at least to a certain extent. Let the technical details be skipped now; the interested reader can find ample material together with the most modern achievements of the field.