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
According to Roman writer Suetonius, a rival of Nero’s was served untainted soup, but his poison taster deemed it too hot for his master. Cold water laced with arsenic was then added to cool it down, and the rival fell… 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
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.