world, which would make his family rich. George attempts to recreate it but is unable to remember all the ingredients. The second version makes a chicken's legs grow extremely long, and the third elongates another one's neck to bizarre proportions. The fourth has the opposite effect of the first and makes animals shrink. George's grandmother, now even more angry because she has to sleep in the barn, storms over and starts complaining loudly that she's once again sick of being ignored. She sees the cup of medicine in George's hand and erroneously mistakes it for tea. Much to his and Mrs. Kranky's horror, and Mr. Kranky's delight, she drinks the entire cup and shrinks so much that she vanishes completely. At first, Mrs. Kranky is shocked, confused, and distraught about her mother's sudden and very strange disappearance, but soon accepts that she was becoming a nuisance anyway. In the last page, George is left to think about the implications of his actions, feeling as though they had granted him access to the edge of a magic world. Safety concerns Though it was a popular book for reading to children in primary school, great care was taken by teachers to warn children to not try and recreate the medicine at home due to the hazardous nature of some of its ingredients. There is a disclaimer warning before the story stating "Warning to Readers: Do not try to make George's Marvellous Medicine yourselves at home. It could be dangerous." In 2020, a team of British researchers performed a toxicological investigation into the potion and all 34 of its ingredients. They reported in the BMJ that if ingested, it would cause vomiting, kidney injury, convulsions, and other severe health problems, including "the most likely clinical outcome", death. "The overall outcome for Grandma would be fatal catastrophic physiological collapse," they wrote. Ingredients The original ingredients are as follows: Toothpaste Golden gloss hair shampoo Superfoam shaving soap Vitamin enriched face cream Scarlet nail varnish Hair remover Dishworth's dandruff cure Brillident false teeth cleaner Nevermore ponging deodorant Liquid paraffin Helga's hairset Perfume: 'Flower of turnips' Pink plaster powder Lipsticks Superwhite washing powder Waxwell floor polish Flea powder for dogs Canary seed Dark tan shoe polish Curry powder Mustard powder 'Extra hot' chilli sauce Black peppercorns Horseradish sauce Gin Fowl pest powder to mix with feed Purple pills for hoarse horses Thick yellowish liquid for cows Sheep