In 1817 the Linnaean Society of New England published a thrilling report: they had investigated reports of a new sea creature, and after scrupulous examination they could declare that they had discovered not just a new species, but an entirely new genus native to the shores of the United States. They had identified and scientifically described, they claimed, a great sea monster.
The appeal of one strange object, which achieved dizzying popularity in my lifetime, and today lives on mostly for nostalgia, is not so difficult to explain. All you need to do is turn one on and wait.
During the civil war, the manufacture of powder and explosives was often handled by the most vulnerable, young women and children, whose labor was needed when so many men had been sent off to war. On March 13, 1863, the confederacy experienced a munitions disaster, in the confederate capitol of Richmond.