Synopsis:
Scrooge takes Donald and the nephews to Florida to buy some cheap land. He soon realizes that he has bought the Fountain of Youth as well!!!

Comments:
You might say that endless stories have had water as the main theme as the ducks have simply travelled the oceans in their search for treasures, but Barks also made more specialized water stories. In this story we are introduced to a body of water that we do not encounter every day - the fabled Fountain of Youth!
In U$22 The Golden River Scrooge's actions determine if a waterfall flows with liquid gold, and in WDCS109 'The Wishing Stick' the nephews are certain that they can find water using their diviner. In the end they do find water - in Donald's badly swollen knee...

Synopsis:
Scrooge finances the nephews' lemonade stand to make money. But he is also keen to test their honesty so he sits down at the stand to observe - in disguise!

Comments:
For some odd reason we rarely see the ducks drink any sort of beverages - not even milk. But when they occasionally partake in the production or the intake of beverages such as lemonade they do it in an extreme manner as in this story where they make countless gallons of lemonade.
In WDCS088 'Insane Bets' Donald bets that he can bathe in the lake during winter, and Gladstone bets that he can drink two gallons of lemonade in one hour...

Synopsis:
Scrooge likes his nutmeg tea after a hard day's work but suddenly the deliveries of the special nutmeg stop. Off he goes to solve the mystery...

Comments:
As was the case in the paragraph above the ducks tend to go a bit overboard in their rare beverage intakes. In this story Scrooge's craving for nutmeg tea can even be seen as a mild form of drug addiction...
Additional examples: In WDCS109 'The Wishing Stick' Donald hardly stops belching down soda pops, in WDCS282 Bubbleweight Champ he is addicted to Gurgleurps, and in WDCS292 Instant Hercules he gets high on Bronze-age cola!

Synopsis:
Scrooge gets interested in some magic ink that makes debtors feel ashamed and return borrowed money. Donald is the guinea pig...

Comments:
Nowadays ink used for fountain pens is almost unheard of, but in those days - before ballpoint pens were commonly known - ink was a very important product (back then it was normal to actually write real letters instead of emails, kids!).
In WDCS048 'The Putty War' Barks used another product, putty, that nowadays has largely been substituted by other, more specialized products. The Times They are A-Changin' as singer Bob Dylan sang in 1964...

Synopsis:
Donald and the nephews are hired to clean the huge stone head of Senator Snoggin at the side of Mount Mushmore. It's a bit of a nosy job...

Comments:
As can be expected, Donald takes no heed of the proper way to distribute a special red-coloured weed killer, with the foreseeable result that the substance pours all over the statue's nose!
In WDCS201 'The Art of Dyeing' Donald ought to have learned something, when he also neglected to heed instructions with the result that he poured bug fluid - red of course! - into Duckburg's water reservoir thus destroying all the city's tap water for a long time...

Synopsis:
Scrooge is stressed and after having reached his breaking point he travels with Donald and the nephews to Tralla-la where the concept of money is unknown. Until they arrive...

Comments:
Barks made two stories in which Scrooge's use of medicine triggered the stories as well as being important for the plot lines. In this one he is heavily depending on bottles of nerve medicine, and in FC0456 Back to the Klondike he had to take special capsules for his amnesia.
In WDCS114 'Skiing with Serum' Donald is in the centre of events when he volunteers to bring a vial of life-saving serum to the small village of Codfish Cove.

Synopsis:
Quite by coincidence Donald invents the powerful explosive Duckmite which also proves to be an excellent fuel!

Comments:
Barks let some of his primary characters mess with solid explosives (examples: Scrooge in U$18 Land of the Pygmy Indians and the Beagle Boys in U$66 The Heedless Horseman), but in just two stories the explosives were liquid. In both stories Donald was the inventor of novel explosives (Duckmite in this story and Weemite in WDCS220 'The Powerful Explosive'), and in both cases he used ordinary chemistry sets as the basis for his inventions!

Synopsis:
Scrooge wants to store vast amounts of oil in an old volcano crater that will serve as a giant oil tank. But he is not aware that the crater is inhabited...

Comments:
When you think about it, it is rather strange that Barks did not really make stories in which oil was an important part of the plot line. It would have been quite logical to make several adventures in which Scrooge buys oil wells, loses them again, or get them sabotaged, but apart from a few graphical hints such as him finding a small oil well by chance in U$11 Riches, Riches Everywhere! and being seen at an oilfield in U$27 The Money Champ Barks never used the obvious opportunity of making stories with oil and oil magnates.
Except in this one! And even this story is very atypical as it hardly shows any real oil business. Scrooge is just interested in finding a place to store his oil, and the precious liquid is only shown in a short sequence...

Synopsis:
Gyro is constantly disturbed by the noise from his neighbour's irritating kids as he tries to invent a special high-speed gasoline for a very impatient customer...

Comments:
Barks only made two stories in which gasoline (American-English for petrol) was used as an important ingredient in the plot, and both times the fuels were the result of great inventions.
In this story Gyro invents an ultra high-powered fuel that is bound to make all motorsports enthusiasts drool, and in WDCS255 Boat Buster we are confronted with two splendid new gasolines - Scrooge McDuck's Super-Zow and John D. Rockerduck's 300 Octane Ramfire Petrol with Hypersonic Element K...

Synopsis:
Gyro is visited by an evil witch doctor who can shrink people to a very small size. He suddenly has a king-size problem...

Comments:
It is next to impossible to sum up all the liquid concoctions Gyro has dreamed up as 'Inventor of Anything', so it must suffice with just a few of the most elaborate examples!
In this story he manages to invent a fluid that can resize people, in U$26 Krankenstein Gyro he tries to mix the ultimate liquid of life, in WDCS171 'Impervi-waxing the Money Bin he invents a special sealant, in WDCS183 'The Custard Gun' he makes a special custard that will tranquilize animals, in FC1095 Cave of the Winds he makes encyclopedia water, and in the same issue, in the story The Bear Tamer, he mixes a special bear repellent (although Little Helper's version works better in the end) ...