The Arsenic Century: How Victorian Britain Was Poisoned at Home, Work, and Play

secondary literature · 2010

type:secondary literature

year:2010

citation:Whorton JC. The Arsenic Century: How Victorian Britain Was Poisoned at Home, Work, and Play. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2010. ISBN 978-0-19-957470-4.

LINK

https://archive.org/details/arseniccenturyho0000whor

SUMMARY

James C. Whorton's 2010 history (Oxford University Press) of arsenic in nineteenth-century Britain: its presence in wallpaper, food, clothing, cosmetics, and patent medicines, and the chronic and acute poisoning that resulted. Cited for the documented reality of arsenic taken for appearance, the reputation as a tonic for complexion, vigour, and figure, sold in complexion wafers and tonics, while in fact a cumulative poison. The scholarly secondary source for the arsenic side of the case; ISBN from the published record.

NOTES

James C. Whorton’s 2010 history (Oxford University Press) of arsenic in nineteenth-century Britain: its pervasive presence in wallpaper, food, clothing, cosmetics, and patent medicines, and the chronic and acute poisoning that resulted. Cited here for the documented reality of arsenic taken for appearance: arsenic acquired a reputation as a tonic for complexion, vigour, and figure, and was sold in complexion wafers and tonics, while in fact it is a cumulative poison. The book is the scholarly secondary source for the arsenic side of the toxic-slimming-nostrum case; the ISBN is from the published record.