Napoleon Bonaparte thought torture should be abolished because the information obtained from it is worthless.
25
In the 1830s, a Greek prime minister tried to spread the potato in Greece but people weren't interested so he put armed guards in front of shipments of potatoes so people would think they were important. People then started stealing these potatoes so much that the crop spread to all of Greece.
29
The Aztecs were the first to serve chocolate as a drink. They also mixed it with hot chili pepper to make it really 'hot'.
13
Romans used a plant called Silphium as contraception. They had so much sex that they drove it into extinction.
24
In 1846, a 14 year old French peasant girl named Angelique Cottin was found to possess extraordinary electrical power. With a gentle touch she could knock over heavy pieces of furniture and even shock people near her.
17
Leonardo Da Vinci made a robotic lion in 1515 that would walk, sway, open its mouth and move its tail - it even had a compartment that opened to present flowers.
22