The most complete account of the death of Hercules (also called Heracles) appears in a play by the ancient Greek dramatist, Sophocles. Hercules was presented with a cloak by his beautiful wife, Deianira. She had smeared it with a magic… Read More
I know, I know. Buying organic fruits and vegetables can be really expensive. I can’t afford to buy organic everything (I have three teenagers), but certain produce just skeeves me out, and I will opt not to buy it if… Read More
My close family and faithful readers will know that I am semi-obsessed with arsenic. I’ve mentioned the fantastic book The Arsenic Century by James Whorton in previous posts about arsenic. Yesterday as I was rereading it, I got up to… Read More
During Tudor times, huge starched collars called ruffs were all the rage. They must have been miserable to wear. Special elongated spoons had to be invented to allow ruff-wearers to eat. During the reign of James I (who succeeded Elizabeth… Read More
For my upcoming book on insects and their effect on human history, I started researching arsenic as a component of many insecticides. The more I read, the more I learned about how widespread was the use of arsenical compounds during… Read More
I’ve been haunted for some time now by a 19th century affliction known as “phossy jaw.” To understand what it is, you have to know a little bit about the element phosphorous. It was supposedly first isolated in 1669, by… Read More
During the sixteenth century, cocoa was a drink reserved for Spanish royalty. In 1579, some English pirates searching for gold aboard a Spanish ship mistook the cocoa beans for sheep droppings, and burned the valuable cargo.