Caustic Soda, you say?
Yes…. The episode referenced today is HERE!
Caustic Soda is like an audio encyclopaedia of “eeeeeew!!!! Gross!!!” that you can’t put down.
As for the Castrati… Why mutilate these young boys?
Well…. According to (drum roll please.…) THE BIBLE…
There are many religious reasons (MOSTLY religious reasons), but by far the worst is that of entertainment…. for GOD…
1 Corinthians 14 (34) Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. (35) And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
From Wikipedia: In Europe, when women were not permitted to sing in church or cathedral choirs in the Roman Catholic Church, boys were castrated to prevent their voices breaking at puberty and to develop a special high voice. The first documents mentioning castrati are Italian church records from the 1550s.
In the baroque and classical music eras these singers were highly appreciated by opera composers as well. Mozart’s Exultate Jubilate, Allegri’s Miserere and other famous pieces from this period now sung by sopranos and countertenors were written for castrati. Some of the alto parts of Handel’s Messiah were first sung by a castrato.
Famous castrati include Farinelli, Senesino, Carestini, and Caffarelli. Joseph Haydn was almost castrated. The last castrato was Alessandro Moreschi (1858–1922) who served in the Sistine Chapel Choir. It was not until the late 19th century, that the Roman Catholic Church officially condemned the production of castrati.
The BBC have THIS to say.
Although they didn’t go into the fact that only 1 in 400 of those castrated would then go on to sing….. and thousands were castrated each year. Yup, having an eight year old boy doped up on opium, dunked in to a scalding hot bath and then having his balls crushed in literal nut crackers, was still no guarantee that he’d be able to sing…
God and Son 
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