Even those of us curmudgeons who aren’t easily swayed by the winds of political correctness might have to concede that this is a bad idea. This illustration is from the August 1920 edition of Science and Invention.

It shows a new toy, the invention of one Miss Florence Garrigue of Danvers, Mass. The idea is either to cure children of their “natural aversion for darkness,” or perhaps simply scare the crap out of them; the accompanying article is somewhat unclear. But in any event, the idea is to place these animals with glow-in-the-dark eyes next to the sleeping child, who awakens to see several pair of luminous green eyes staring at them in the darkness. “But their fears are quickly turned to joy when Nursie, in response to the cries of alarm, winks on the electric lights” to reveal that the eyes belong to the seemingly harmless toys.  Miss Garrigue was awarded US Patent 1337354 for the toy.

The article reveals that the eyes are luminescent due to the use of radium. The patent stresses that the eyes should be made of “preferably a radium composition which will retain its luminescent property for a long time.”

For the politically incorrect, it should be noted that radium is not particularly dangerous, unless ingested, such as by the Radium Girls, who were instructed to routinely lick their brushes while applying radium paint. But still, this particular toy probably isn’t the best of ideas.

It appears that the toy’s inventor went on to be the founder of Meditation Mount in Ojai, California, a center, according to its website, devoted to the building of an enlightened and compassionate world through meditation and universal spiritual principles.  It stresses “loving understanding that treats all beings with respect and dignity.”

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