Got a reading of a short, funny story from 1912, reprinted in the first year of Weird Tales! It's called "Mr. Fosdick Invents the 'Seidlitzmobile,'" and it tells the tale of an inventor's attempt to use a precursor to good ol' Alka-Seltzer as motive force for a car!
The remedy in question is called "Seidlitz powder," and instead of citric acid, it uses tartaric acid, a tartrate salt, and baking powder to make a bitter, fizzy drink for clearing out the stomach and taming excess acidity. The addition of the tartrate salt makes this a buffer solution, extremely good at dealing with undesired acid.
But follow the directions! Mix each of the two powders in separate cups of water, then mix the waters slowly and drink after it's fizzed a bit. This tricky procedure is probably part of the reason it's not really used today.
It was commonly used by many people for many years, but sometimes there would be some undesirable side effects... There's even an epitaph supposedly in Burlington, Vermont about it:
Here lies the body of Mary Ann Lowder
She burst while drinking a Seidlitz powder
Called from this world to her heavenly rest,
She should have waited till it effervesced.
Mr. Fosdick decides to try using this same chemical reaction to power a car's engine. The results are... less than optimal.
There was also a spoof article in a 1916 issue of Flight magazine suggesting something similar for a airplane engine. Did that author see Jacque Morgan's story, or was it an independent development?!
I hope you enjoy the reading embedded above. Or, if you'd rather read the story yourself, grab it here on Wikisource.
If you'd like to read some more humorous sci-fi, check out my stories Mendala and More Money than Brains
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