As a kid, I loved detective stories. My favorites were Agatha Christie (I can’t wait to read this new bookabout poisons in Agatha Christie stories). I also devoured Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Both Christie and Conan Doyle… Read More
This past weekend I traveled to Toronto. I went there for two reasons: to see the exhibit called “Fashion Victims: The Pleasures and Perils of Dress in the 19th Century” at the Bata Shoe Museum, and to meet my friend … Read More
I have a new favorite publication. During my recent week of research in New York City, I spent many happy hours poring over nineteenth century copies of The British Medical Journal. I found it so diverting—literally—that it was difficult to… Read More
The writer James Whorton opens his fascinating book, The Arsenic Century, with a news article from the London Times, 13 December, 1848. It recounts how for months, partridge hunters had been coming upon flocks of dead birds nestled together, eyes… Read More
In his book Il Libro dell’Arte, Cennino Cennini (1370 – 1440) cautions painters against working with the arsenic-based yellow pigment, realgar. “There is no keeping company with it . . . . look out for yourself.”
http://www.noteaccess.com/
Texts/Cennini/2.htm
James… Read More
Meteorites often contain arsenic; when a Peruvian village was hit by one in 2007 many people became ill from vaporized arsenic compounds.
Source: The Arsenic Century, p 7… Read More
Chinese rulers during the Han Dynasty often ate with silver chopsticks, believing that silver would tarnish quickly if it came into contact with arsenic (and other poisons).… Read More
During the 19th century, bedrooms that were papered with poisonous, arsenical-green wallpaper tended not to have bedbugs.
Source: Bill Bryson, At Home, page 315… Read More
There’s a major mystery surrounding the death of the composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. According to most accounts, he died of cholera in 1893, after drinking a glass of unboiled tap water. Which would have been a reckless thing to do,… Read More
Nowadays, subdued colors are considered proper business attire, especially for men. But to people of the Renaissance, muted, earthy shades were the colors of poverty. Noblemen, princes and high church officials wore bright colors. The brighter the color you were… Read More