Stuff You Missed in History Class

E. Virgil Neal’s career started out with writing successful textbooks, but then took a turn into being a stage hypnotist and then a series of dicey mail-order businesses.
Research:
“Can’t Find E. Virgil Neal.” New York Times. January 15, 1906. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/01/15/100496816.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
“Claimed to Raise the Dead.” Kansas City Star. Jan. 13, 1906. https://www.newspapers.com/image/653825670/?match=1&terms=%22Claimed%20to%20raise%20the%20dead%22
Conroy, Mary Schaeffer. “The Cosmetics Baron You’ve Never Heard Of: E. Virgil Neal and Tokalon.” Third Edition. Altus History Publishing. 2014.
“E. Virgil Neal Passes Away at Geneva June 30.” The Sedalia Democrat. July 3, 1949. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sedalia-democrat-e-virgil-neal-obit/185827307/
“False Advertising Chief ‘Stimulant’ in Nixated Iron.” New York Tribune. Dec. 16,1917. https://www.newspapers.com/image/894241833/?terms=%22e.%20virgil%20neal%22
“Force of Life Charges Dismissed.” Buffalo News. April 24, 1906. https://www.newspapers.com/image/329115069/
“FORCE OF LIFE'S WIND-UP.; E. Virgil Neal Still Missing, but Offices Are Being Dismantled.” New York Times. Jan. 17, 1906. https://www.nytimes.com/1906/01/17/archives/force-of-lifes-windup-e-virgil-neal-still-missing-but-offices-are.html
“Force of Lifers Sent Many Decoy Letters.” New York Times. February 7, 1906. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/02/07/101765677.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
“Here’s a Hyopnotic Bank.” New York Sun. March 3, 1903. https://www.newspapers.com/image/207217198/?match=1&terms=Columbia%20Scientific%20academy
“How Force of Lifers Did a Rush Business.” New York Times. Jan. 15, 1906. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/01/15/100496815.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
“James R. O’Beirne.” Fordham University. Office of the President. https://www.fordham.edu/about/leadership-and-administration/administrative-offices/office-of-the-president/about/hall-of-honor/james-r-obeirne/
“Jury Disagrees Cartilage Case.” Buffalo Courier Express. May 5, 1918. https://www.newspapers.com/image/352806300/?match=1&terms=%22e.%20virgil%20neal%22
“Medical Mail-order Frauds.” American Medical Association. 1915. Accessed online: https://books.google.com/books?id=Cyq6AAAAIAAJ&vq=neal&source=gbs_navlinks_s
“Medicine: From Sedalia.” Time Magazine. Dec. 25, 1933. https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,746617-1,00.html
“A Message to the Sick.” Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Feb. 9, 1900. https://www.newspapers.com/image/135238292/?match=1&terms=vitaopathy
“Most Beautiful Woman in Paris.” The Times-Union. October 6, 1909. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1278623430/?match=6&terms=To-Kalon
Neal, E. Virgil and John H. Moore. “Modern Illustrative Banking.” American Book Company. 1904. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/modernillustrati00neal/modernillustrati00neal/
Neal, E. Virgil and C.T. Craig. “Modern Illustrative Bookkeeping.” American Book Company 1901. Accessed online: https://archive.org/details/illustratimodern00nealrich/page/16/mode/2up
“Neal, of ‘Nuxated Iron’ Fame, Held on Fraud Charge.” Times-Transcript. April 15, 1918. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1106273916/?match=1&terms=%22Neal%20of%20Nuxated%20Iron%22
“Neal Returns for Business.” Post-Standard. April 30, 1906. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1091107180/
Bennet, James. “Tokalon.” Cosmetics and Skin. Jan. 26, 2025. https://cosmeticsandskin.com/companies/tokalon.php
“Gigantic Swindle Probably Bared.” Nebraska City Weekly. Jan. 16, 1906. https://www.newspapers.com/image/728074626
“In Force of Life Case.” Houston Post. Jan 13, 1907. https://www.newspapers.com/image/94975109
“Nuxated Iron Sellers in Libel Suit.” The Times-Transcript. June 10, 1918. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1106285753/?match=1&terms=%22e.%20virgil%20neal%22
“Part I: The 1906 Food and Drugs Act and Its Enforcement.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration. https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/changes-science-law-and-regulatory-authorities/part-i-1906-food-and-drugs-act-and-its-enforcement
“Personal Magnetism.” San Francisco Examiner. March 8, 1903. https://www.newspapers.com/image/457762995/?match=1&terms=Columbia%20Scientific%20academy
“Pope Receives O’Beirne.” New York Times. Sept 25, 1910. https://www.newspapers.com/image/20505640/?match=1&terms=%22pope%20receives%20o%27beirne%22
Schwarcz, Joe, PhD. “The Prince of Quackery.” McGill Office for Science and Society. July 16, 2025. https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/pseudoscience-history/prince-quackery
“Thought Waves Between ‘Em.” New York Sun. April 12, 1903. https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-herald-e-virgil-neal-and-the-a/185828789/
“Tribune’s Answer in Libel Suit Calls E. Virgil Neal a Quck.” New York Tribune. June 23, 1918. https://www.newspapers.com/image/469171423/?match=1&terms=%22e.%20virgil%20neal%22
“Vain Search for Neal.” New York Times. January 16, 1906. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1906/01/16/101763032.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
“WORRIED ABOUT NEAL & CO.: Depositors, You See, Don’t Like Hypnotism in Banking.” New York Sun. March 4, 1903. https://www.newspapers.com/article/new-york-herald-e-virgil-neal-hypnotic/176427712/
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This 2022 episode covers Hortense and Marie Mancini, who tried to make a place for themselves in 17th-century Europe, defying all kinds of conventions along the way.
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Tracy talks about a book that she didn't use for research on Viola Roseboro'. Holly talks about how wealth inequality has shaped science history.
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Boyle is frequently described at the first modern chemist, but his work encompassed much more than that. Among other things, he was a founding member of the Royal Society.
Research:
Boyle, Robert. “An account of Philaretus during his Minority.” Accessed online: https://celt.ucc.ie/published/E650001-100.html
Boyle, Robert. “New experiments physico-mechanicall.” Oxford. 1660. https://archive.org/details/chepfl-lipr-AXA74/mode/1up?q=proportional
Boyle, Robert. “New experiments physico-mechanical, touching the air.” London. Richard Davis. 1682. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A29007.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext
Boyle, Robert. “The Sceptical Chymist.” London. J. Crooke. 1661. Accessed online: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/22914/pg22914.txt
“Copy of Sir Robert Boyle's Will.” Brief History of Blue. https://omekas.prattsi.org/s/HistoryofBlue/item/109
“December 31, 1691: Death of Robert Boyle.” This Month in Physics History. APS News. Dec. 1, 2016. https://www.aps.org/apsnews/2016/12/this-month-in-physics-history
Henderson, Felicity. “What Scientists Want: Robert Boyle’s To-do List.” The Royal Society. August 26, 2010. https://royalsociety.org/blog/2010/08/what-scientists-want-boyle-list/
Highmore, Nathaniel. “The history of generation. Examining the several opinions of divers authors, especially that of Sir Kenelm Digby, in his Discourse of bodies ...” 1651. Accessed online: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/kv5tr2uz/items
Martin, Christy. “Full Boyle.” Distillations Magazine. Science History Institute Museum and Library. May 13, 2012. https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/full-boyle/
Masson, Flora. “Robert Boyle: A Biography.” London: Constable & Company Ltd. 1914. Accessed online: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/73234/pg73234.txt
Principe, Lawrence M.. "Robert Boyle". Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Apr. 2026, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Boyle
“Robert Boyle (1627-1691): Sherborne School library benefactor.” The Old Shirburnian Society. https://oldshirburnian.org.uk/robert-boyle-1627-1691/
“Robert Boyle: wishlist of a Restoration visionary.” The Guardian. June 3, 2010. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/jun/03/robert-boyle-royal-society-wishlist
“The Royal Society of London.” National Museum Australia. https://www.nma.gov.au/exhibitions/exploration-and-endeavour/royal-society-london
Sweeney, Patricia E. “Robert Boyle.” Ebsco. 2022. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/robert-boyle
West, John B. “The Original Presentation of Boyle’s Law.” Journal of Applied Physiology 1999 87:4, 1543-1545. https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jappl.1999.87.4.1543
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Viola Roseboro’ isn’t well-known today, but she played a big behind-the-scenes role in the careers of a lot of American writers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, shaping what’s thought of as the American literary canon.
Research:
“4 New Features.” Washington D.C. Evening Star. 4/29/2013. https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1913-04-29/ed-1/?sp=10&r=-0.115,-0.055,1.648,0.596,0
Dykeman, Wilma. “Tennessee Women: An Infinite Variety.” Newport. Wakestone Books. 1993.
Gorton, Stephanie. “The Strange, Forgotten Life of Viola Roseboro’.” The Paris Review. 2/24/2020. https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/02/24/the-strange-forgotten-life-of-viola-roseboro/
Gregorie, Anne King. “Reviewed Work(s): Viola, The Duchess of New Dorp: A Biography of Viola Roseboro by Jane Kirkland Graham.” The South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 57, No. 2 (Apr., 1956). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27566059
Howell, Isabel. “Reviewed Work(s): Viola, the Duchess of New Dorp, a Biography of Viola Roseboro' by Jane Kirkland Graham.” Tennessee Historical Quarterly, December, 1956. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42621315
McClure, S. S. “My Autobiography.” London: J. Murray. 1914. https://archive.org/details/myautobiography00mcclrich/
New York Times. “VIOLA ROSEBORO', FICTION EDITOR, 87; Former McClure's, Collier's Executive Dies--Helped O. Henry Get Start Bought Tarkington Stories Praised by Will Irwin.” 1/30/1945. https://www.nytimes.com/1945/01/30/archives/viola-roseboro-fiction-editor-87-former-mcclures-colliers-executive.html
Osborn, Scott C. “Reviewed Work(s): Viola, The Duchess of New Dorp: A Biography of Viola Roseboro by Jane Kirkland Graham.” The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 22, No. 2 (May, 1956). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2954261
“Person Annotations.” From “#0088: Transcription of Letter from Willa Cather to Viola Roseboro', June 14 [1903].” The Complete Letters of Willa Cather. Center for Digital Research in the Humanities at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. https://cather.unl.edu/writings/letters/let0088#ref001
Robinson, Phyllis C. “Willa: The Life of Willa Cather.” New York. Doubleday. 1983.
Roseboro, Viola. “Begging as an Avocation.” New York World. 12/11/1887. Via New York University “Undercover Reporting.” https://undercover.hosting.nyu.edu/s/undercover-reporting/item/13733
A. W.. “Reviewed Work(s): Viola, the Duchess of New Dorp. A Biography of Viola Roseboro' by Jane Kirkland Graham.” Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society (1908-1984), Vol. 49, No. 1 (Spring,1956). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40189490
Schmalhofer, Stephen. “The Making of My Ántonia.” First Things. 12/17/2018. https://firstthings.com/the-making-of-my-ntonia/
Schmalhofer, Stephen. “Viola Roseboro’s literary garden.” The New Criterion. 12/12/2018. https://newcriterion.com/dispatch/viola-roseboros-literary-garden-10164/
Skaggs, Merrill M. “Viola Roseboro': A Prototype for Cather's ‘My Mortal Enemy’.” The Mississippi Quarterly , Winter 2000-01, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Winter 2000-01). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26476820
Skaggs, Merrill Maguire. “Willa Cather's New York: New Essays on Cather in the City.” Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. 2000.
Tarbell, Ida M. “All In The Day S Work An Autobiography.” The Macmillan Company. 1939. https://archive.org/details/allinthedayswork010810mbp/
The Georgia Historical Quarterly. “Reviewed Work(s): Viola, The Duchess of Nenx Dorp. A Biography of Viola Roseboro'. Two volumes in one by Jane Kirkland Graham.” Vol. 40, No. 2 (June, 1956). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40577676
Adkins, Gilbert R. “Two Daughters of Tennessee.” Franklin County Historical Review. 1986: XVII:1, 30-42.
Johanningsmeier, Charles. “Unmasking Willa Cather's ‘Mortal Enemy.’” Cather Studies. Vol. 5. https://cather.unl.edu/scholarship/catherstudies/5/cs005.johanningsmeier
Williams, Jay. “Author Under Sail: The Imagination of Jack London, 1893-1902.” University of Nebraska Press, 2014. Project MUSE. https://muse.jhu.edu/book/35026.
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