Molecules: You'd better learn to live with them.
Mutual funds are such a common instrument, it's hard to imagine they were once a novel concept. In 1924, $10M were invested in US mutual funds. In 1964, $35B were invested. Skip ahead to today and the number is $12T - that's $12 x 1012. Such logarithmic growth is due to boosters like Jack Dreyfus (and more robust securities laws) bringing mainstream these newfangled "mutual investment funds," as this credulous Life Magazine profile describes them.
What, then, does Jack Dreyfus have to do with chemistry? You see, this Wall Street titan had a favorite molecule.
Phenytoin was discovered a century ago and languished uselessly for thirty years after that. Then, in 1938, it was first appreciated that it showed some promise in the treatment of epileptic seizure.
Phenytoin really saw its day in the sun, however, a couple decades later, when Jack Dreyfus convinced a doctor to write him a scrip for the stuff for anxiety and depression. It seemed to work for him (some later studies have borne out this result, some haven't).
Placebo or not, though, Jack liked phenytoin. He really, really liked phenytoin, and he went after it in the way only the very rich can. He sold his businesses, started a foundation, and wrote a book, the succinctly titled A Remarkable Medicine Has Been Overlooked, and sent copies to every. single. doctor. in. America. Whatever you think about the scientific and medical aspects of this, you've got to admire the dedication - he spent over $100M going after this.
If you're curious, have a look at Jack's book. And now you see why I can safely say Jack Dreyfus had a favorite molecule.
Medicine & Health
Physical Science
Comments
So much so that he persuaded Richard Nixon of its benefits, who promptly got hooked on the stuff and started getting through jars of pills weekly.
Posted by: Alex | December 19, 2007 6:22 AM
Mutual fund investment postulates that a distributed segment of the stock market will, on the average over time, appreciate in value faster than brokerage fees (and presumably inflation plus taxation). Thus geriatric healthcare is overall guaranteed to boom given Baby Boomer decrepitude and contingent infinite Medicare and insurance reimbursements no matter what happens to individual healthcare-provider companies.
This philosophy does not obtain during a Wall Street fire sale like the crashes of 1929 and 2008.
Posted by: Uncle Al | December 19, 2007 11:55 AM
See, when most people have a love affair with a drug, they just quietly pursue it until they're addicts. Most don't write a book and start a campaign...
Posted by: HamsterMath | December 20, 2007 5:04 PM
We made that in undergrad organic lab.
Posted by: Anon | December 21, 2007 2:54 AM
HE MAY HAVE HAD A MOOD DISORDER THAT IMPROVED WITH DILANTIN...TODAY WE USE MANY SO-CALLED ANTI-EPILEPTICS FOR STABILIZING MOOD, WHICH IS MEDICAL JARGO-SPEAK FOR FUNNY MOODS AND BEHAVIORS....
Posted by: mary efremov | January 3, 2008 12:31 PM