Comments on: Just how poisonous was Napoleon's wallpaper?

Just how poisonous was Napoleon's wallpaper?

YamwotIam — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 14:28:10 -0800

What do you get when you combine strange poisons, unusual wallpaper, and odd Napoleons? Why, the strange story of Napoleon's wallpaper, of course. (bonus Mark Knopfler video)

By: Henry C. Mabuse

Henry C. Mabuse — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 15:40:47 -0800

Pau. Nay. Loron. will be more of fire than of blood, To swim in praise, the great one flees to the confluence. He will refuse entry to the Pius ones, The depraved ones and the Durance will keep them imprisoned.

By: kavasa

kavasa — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 16:06:17 -0800

Yay! What an odd, fun mystery. Thanks. :)

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 16:31:44 -0800

Just love these kinds of historical stories. Thanks for the interesting post YamwotIam. A related story, Don't Chew the Wallpaper- A history of poison Lead was used in cosmetics for thousands of years and did untold damage. An old friend in India told me how a friend of hers died because of the lead paint crumbling from the ceiling and falling into an elderly person's face/mouth over many years. Death by deliberate poisoning plays a big part in the first century of Caesars' lives with the villain, Livia, being the malicious Cruella. Wonderfully told tale in I, Claudius, the BBC series. That Grand Illusions site, of your strange story link, has wonderful, geeky gifts as well. I want.

By: jamjam

jamjam — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 16:40:55 -0800

The David Jones of the investigation of Napoleon's wallpaper is also the author of The Inventions of Daedalus and The Further Inventions of Daedalus, collected from a column of the same name which ran for years in Nature. For all their studied absurdity (and no one has studied absurdity more deeply), none of his 'Inventions' lack that essential grain of plausibility, and an afternoon spent among them can be as inspiring as amusing. It's interesting to see what he's been up to. I first heard of the mold which could metabolize arsenic used as a preservative in wallpaper into trimethyl arsine and waft it harmlessly (to the mold) away before getting down to the primary business of das Fressen in an older popular German book about poisons, and it made me wonder about all the arsenic used in wood preservatives in the US up until a few years ago (and I still do wonder).

By: b1tr0t

b1tr0t — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 17:15:51 -0800

I bet David gets asked about his locker all the time.

By: CCBC

CCBC — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 17:58:14 -0800

In the 1950s the American ambassador to Italy, Clare Booth Luce, suffered from arsenic poisoning traced to peeling paint.

By: Pope Guilty

Pope Guilty — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 21:53:40 -0800

Why hasn't Vetinari posted in this thread yet?

By: ulotrichous

ulotrichous — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 22:04:25 -0800

Man! There are indeed lots of awesome things for sale on that site. A Gaussian Gun, Jacob's Ladder glasses cases, the amazing slinky + hula hoop Torofluxis, a ball that rolls down slopes really slowly, and a wobbling salt & pepper set. Sorry to derail and blue up this thread, but that is some great crap. Don't miss the torofluxis video.

By: hattifattener

hattifattener — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 00:27:59 -0800

Fascinating article. The mold-releasing-arsenic aspect reminded me of some research I've read of suggesting that SIDS is due to a mold releasing toxic gas from mattresses treated with certain heavy-metal-containing fire-retardants. (Googling it just now, I find that followup research has generally not supported the theory, though.)

By: Pronoiac

Pronoiac — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 11:16:46 -0800

Pope Guilty: He's waiting for Vimes to work it out.