Terminology: Radioactivity...without radioactivity?

[Thespitron 6000]

Today we have a wide variety of terms to describe radioactive phenomena ("nuclear" weapons, "atomic" power, "fallout", etc.) but what would, say, Victorians call radioactive phenomena if they didn't know what caused it (i.e., weren't familiar with atomic theory)? For example, some Victorian explorer finding a fairly pure piece of radium would very rapidly succumb to radiation poisoning, but what would they call it, and related phenomena?

Your suggestions?

 

[Zuvarq]

Well, let's see. If some Victouian exploueu encounteud a rock such as that, they would call it a bloody-maud maudstone, sai-uh.

 

[Thespitron 6000]

Victorian era, I suppose. Say mid-19th century.

 

[Zuvarq]

Victorian era, I suppose. Say mid-19th century.

I stay feum with my assumption that they would caull it a bloody-maud maudstone.




...

They'd probably call it something plaguey. Instead of the Black Death, Invisible Death?

 

[Thespitron 6000]

Radiation poisoning: stone pox
Nuclear fallout: Pharaoh's Ash (since it causes "boils" on contact with the skin)

 

[TapReflex]

Possibly Bloody-Consumption, as Tuberculosis (Consumption) was common in Victorian England, and both radiation sickness and Tuberculosis cause rapid loss of body weight and other body features.
Another possibility that is often used when making common names for STDs is to Say it was a loathed country's disease. (Syphilis, or French Disease being one example)

 

[brokenman]

Radioactivity: Choke Stone Effect
Radium: Choke Stone
Radioactive Poisoning: Choke Stone Curse

 

[Workable Goblin]

They DID use radioactive materials (without knowing it, of course)--pitchblende (the main uranium ore) has been known about since the late 18th century, and they routinely used uranium for pottery glazes in the mid-19th century. The tricky part with radium is that it is a uranium decay product, and as such only occurs in trace concentrations (a few grams per ton of ore at most), so you're not going to find a very concentrated source and it's going to take a fair bit of chemical knowledge to find it. And many other sources are located in areas where there are many other causes for similar symptoms--eg., radon is mostly present underground, but it's mainly mineworkers who spend a lot of time underground at this time, so...

 

[carlton_bach]

They would likely realise that it had an effect on photosensitive materials such as daguerrotype plates. Maybe something to that effect - pseudoluminescence, photoeffective radiation?