From The Federalist‘s 8 Insanely Dangerous Toys From The Past:
The Gilbert Chemistry Outfit included “potassium permanganate, which, besides being poisonous, has been known to make things catch fire,” and ammonium nitrate, which can be used to make bombs, writes Jason Stevens.
The manual “taught kids how to create explosions with gunpowder — on the first page — and the sole safety feature consisted of a single line telling them not to attempt the same experiment on a larger scale … which only served the purpose of informing kids that this was a possibility.”
The Atomic Energy Lab “came with real samples of uranium (which is radioactive) and radium (which is a million times more radioactive than uranium),” writes Stevens.
The manual described experiments that required handling blocks of dry ice. Dry ice “has a temperature of minus 109.3 degrees Fahrenheit, and it’s recommended that it only be handled while wearing gloves (none were included).”