Unfortunately, people were unaware of the toxicity of arsenic compounds
August 29, 2024 1:08 PM Subscribe
Yet green also has a darker, more malicious side to it. Nature seems able to produce it effortlessly, infusing tones of green plants’ tissues with the brilliant emerald pigment chlorophyll. Reproducing green for our selfish human desires is a different endeavor altogether. Historically, most dyes used as favorite greens by painters, tailors, architects, and artisans have been foul, treacherous substances. Even today, in the era of synthetic dyes and more sustainable chemistry, producing green involves rather unpleasant heavy metals and releases side products that are difficult to neutralize. from The Wallpaper That Killed the Emperor [Przekroj]
I just read The Royal Art of Poison by Eleanor Herman which was rather fluffy and a bit lacking in scholarly rigor (IMHO) but a perfect airplane/vacation read.
Although ostensibly about the Royals who were intentionally poisoned, it also covers the incidental ways in which the environment of the late Medieval-Early Modernish eras was deeply toxic and quite often deadly. Arsenic was everywhere and in everything, including a green that was particularly popular for textiles. Interesting stuff.
posted by supermedusa at 2:05 PM on August 29 [1 favorite]
Although ostensibly about the Royals who were intentionally poisoned, it also covers the incidental ways in which the environment of the late Medieval-Early Modernish eras was deeply toxic and quite often deadly. Arsenic was everywhere and in everything, including a green that was particularly popular for textiles. Interesting stuff.
posted by supermedusa at 2:05 PM on August 29 [1 favorite]
It really is a beautiful shade of green.
posted by pattern juggler at 2:14 PM on August 29 [3 favorites]
posted by pattern juggler at 2:14 PM on August 29 [3 favorites]
History of Arsenic as medicine, if y'all are interested
posted by Dr. Twist at 2:22 PM on August 29 [1 favorite]
posted by Dr. Twist at 2:22 PM on August 29 [1 favorite]
If y'all like watching endless archives of very long content on YouTube, there's some entertaining stuff on the Absolute History channel if you search for "hidden killers." It's been a while but I've watched all of them, and the beautiful green wallpaper is definitely covered. Somewhere.
posted by phunniemee at 2:41 PM on August 29 [1 favorite]
posted by phunniemee at 2:41 PM on August 29 [1 favorite]
This article is a lot of fun. Unfortunately (?) Napoleon's death probably was not caused by his wallpaper. Here's the original scientific paper referenced at the end, confirming that the wallpaper sample in question was analyzed in 1982 and found to contain enough arsenic to cause "illness but probably not death." (David E. H. Jones, to whom the sample was shipped, turns out to have been quite a guy!) Here's a really fun breakdown of why the presence of arsenic in Napoleon's hair probably does not indicate much-- namely, his hair had high levels of arsenic throughout his life, he did not have the other characteristic symptoms of arsenic poisoning, and it's impossible to get an accurate 'normal' hair contamination reading for the period because there was so much arsenic around the place. And finally: gastric specialists reanalyze the medical evidence and conclude yeah he probably did have gastric cancer.
posted by peppercorn at 3:07 PM on August 29 [3 favorites]
posted by peppercorn at 3:07 PM on August 29 [3 favorites]
Also a favorite of Victorian publishers for making pretty green books.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 3:15 PM on August 29 [2 favorites]
posted by Horace Rumpole at 3:15 PM on August 29 [2 favorites]
In the extremely damp, tropical air, copper arsenite quickly decomposed, releasing large amounts of volatile arsenic compounds.I have a German book on poisons which claims that a fungus attacking the wallpaper detoxified it for its own purposes by metabolizing the copper arsenite to trimethyl arsine, which is a gas, that was then breathed in by Napoleon.
posted by jamjam at 3:42 PM on August 29 [2 favorites]
having watched the film before, the upbeat soundtrack to the trailer for The Young Poisoner’s Handbook probably resulted in emotional whiplash for viewers. It remains one of the darker films I’ve watched all the way thru, with all manner of poisons put to use. All entirely on purpose.
posted by funkaspuck at 3:43 PM on August 29 [1 favorite]
posted by funkaspuck at 3:43 PM on August 29 [1 favorite]
The verdigris covering the Statue of Liberty is most likely composed of various forms of copper sulfate and copper carbonate
I bet Dr. Zaius can't explain why it washed up on a beach in Malibu.
posted by clavdivs at 3:55 PM on August 29 [1 favorite]
I bet Dr. Zaius can't explain why it washed up on a beach in Malibu.
posted by clavdivs at 3:55 PM on August 29 [1 favorite]
Kathryn Harkup's A is for Arsenic is a fun science-based read on poisons that Agatha Christie had some of her characters use in her mystery novels, and includes a chapter, naturally, on arsenic, its biological effects, its cancer-causing properties, and the invention of the Marsh test, which was used to convict murderers.
The Periodic Videos series also has a great entry on the element, including the chilling story about Herbert Rouse Armstrong , who, in addition to poisoning his wife, passed a scone along to a business rival while saying "'scuse fingers" to poison him, as well.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:12 PM on August 29 [1 favorite]
The Periodic Videos series also has a great entry on the element, including the chilling story about Herbert Rouse Armstrong , who, in addition to poisoning his wife, passed a scone along to a business rival while saying "'scuse fingers" to poison him, as well.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:12 PM on August 29 [1 favorite]
I prefer Strong Poison, the Lord Peter Wimsey mystery novel that introduced Harriet Vane and taught me the concept of understatement, or perhaps euphemism, when describing the murdered man as falling victim to “gastric distress” caused by arsenic. Nobody dies from a mere tummyache.
posted by infinitewindow at 5:07 PM on August 29 [1 favorite]
posted by infinitewindow at 5:07 PM on August 29 [1 favorite]
Somebody is going to be writing this story about car tires someday.
posted by mhoye at 5:42 PM on August 29
posted by mhoye at 5:42 PM on August 29
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posted by Ideefixe at 1:11 PM on August 29 [1 favorite]