Free Delivery Over $100
|
|
|||
|
||||
OverviewArsenic is rightly infamous as the poison of choice for Victorian murderers. Yet the great majority of fatalities from arsenic in the nineteenth century came not from intentional poisoning, but from accident. Kept in many homes for the purpose of poisoning rats, the white powder was easily mistaken for sugar or flour and often incorporated into the family dinner. It was also widely present in green dyes, used to tint everything from candles and candies to curtains, wallpaper, and clothing (it was arsenic in old lace that was the danger). Whether at home amidst arsenical curtains and wallpapers, at work manufacturing these products, or at play swirling about the papered, curtained ballroom in arsenical gowns and gloves, no one was beyond the poison's reach. Drawing on the medical, legal, and popular literature of the time, The Arsenic Century paints a vivid picture of its wide-ranging and insidious presence in Victorian daily life, weaving together the history of its emergence as a nearly inescapable household hazard with the sordid story of its frequent employment as a tool of murder and suicide. And ultimately, as the final chapter suggests, arsenic in Victorian Britain was very much the pilot episode for a series of environmental poisoning dramas that grew ever more common during the twentieth century and still has no end in sight. Full Product DetailsAuthor: James C. Whorton (Professor Emeritus of the History of Medicine ,University of Washington, Seattle)Publisher: Oxford University Press Imprint: Oxford University Press Dimensions: Width: 13.10cm , Height: 3.30cm , Length: 19.10cm Weight: 0.470kg ISBN: 9780199605996ISBN 10: 0199605998 Pages: 448 Publication Date: 14 July 2011 Audience: General/trade , General Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: To order  Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us. Table of Contents1: 'Such an Instrument of Death and Agony' 2: 'A New Race of Poisoners' 3: A New Breed of Detectives 4: 'The Chief Terror of Poisoners' 5: A Penn'orth of Poison 6: 'Sugared Death' 7: 'The Hue of Death, the Tint of the Grave' 8: Walls of Death 9: Physician-assisted Poisoning 10: 'A Very Wholesome Poison' 11: Poison in the Factory and on the Farm 12: 'Dangers that Lie Wait in the Pint-Pot' Notes IndexReviewsa highly entertaining text Ambix, Vol. 58 the most unlikely topics can generate books of the utmost interest The Independent a highly entertaining text Ambix, Vol. 58 a highly entertaining text * Ambix, Vol. 58 * the most unlikely topics can generate books of the utmost interest * The Independent * Author InformationJames C. Whorton is Professor Emeritus of the History of Medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle, and has written numerous articles and books on the history of medicine and health, including Nature Cures. The History of Alternative Medicine in America, also published by Oxford University Press. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
||||
