Bottle of "Radium" Buxton crystal salts, by Radium Ltd., 1930-1960 [Note: this material is not radioactive, despite its name of "Radium"].

The radioactive element radium was discovered by Pierre and Marie Curie in 1898, and was soon heralded as a cure-all and general health boost. Its reputation as a wonder-fix led to a public craze for radium therapies, including filters to make radioactive drinking water, face creams, toothpastes, even radium cigarettes. Some products just used the name radium, but had no radioactive component. The label says it is 'highly recommended by Medical Faculty for general Family use, and in all cases of rheumatis,, gout, lumbago, sciatica, constipation, indigestion and all other disorders arising from the liver and kidneys. Every day, half a teaspoon in tea or water was advised.

Enthusiasm for radium was soon tempered by the deaths of prominent radium researchers in the late 1920s.