The Gazette - The ludicrous tale of 'crazy water crystals'

(Joe Schwarcz's column in Sunday's Gazette): "Science finds, industry applies, Man conforms." That was the rather imaginative motto chosen for the Chicago World's Fair of 1933. People flocked to see exciting new cars, colourful light displays, novel building materials and the "Chamber of Horrors." But this chamber was not on the midway; the horrors there, at least as far as prissy Chicagoans were embodied in the provocative performances of "fan dancer" Sally Rand. "Chamber of Horrors" was actually a term coined by a reporter to describe the Food and Drug Administration's dramatic exhibit aimed at alerting the public to the lack of effective legislation regarding the marketing of foods and drugs.