THE cosmetic to buy! :P

[med_cat]

~ May 1894
via Grace’s Guide

“Harmless Arsenic Wafers” and “Arsenical Toilet Soap”
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(from "Questionable Advice" tumblr)

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I must go purchase some, without delay...:P

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

Meep. Now that's a patent medicine.

[med_cat]

Indeed. It works too, you know, but at what cost...

[charleygirl.livejournal.com]

I read a book a couple of months ago, which detailed the appalling problem of arsenic in the Victorian era. It was in everything, from wallpaper to food colouring - if you got through life without some degree of arsenical poisoning, you were extremely lucky!

[med_cat]

My goodness--I've heard of it used in cosmetics and such (antimony was another element used in cosmetics, wasn't it?) but I had no idea it was so ubiquitous...

[charleygirl.livejournal.com]

I think it may have been.

There were a couple of widely-used green dyes which contained arsenic and which were used to colour all kinds of things. Some people reported feeling ill after spending time in rooms that had been hung with paper manufactured with Scheele's Green, only to find the symptoms abated once they changed the decor. There were mass poisonings in some towns because confectioners used the same to colour their sweets (mind you, there it wasn't just arsenic that was a hazard, as lead was used to colour red sweets!). Arsenic was in candles, cloth, medicine, beer... And there was no regulation, as it could easily be bought over the counter.

The book is The Arsenic Century by James C Whorton. It's an interesting read.

[med_cat]

I see...wow. Thanks for the book recommendation.

radium, also . . . if it glows, it *must* be good!

[derhofnarr.livejournal.com]

Arsenic was also touted as a cure for syphilis, although probably in tiny tiny print, if at all, on containers sold in public. Another interesting, albeit slightly tangential, situation was with women in factories applying radium to clock dial so you could read the time in the dark. If you go the the graveyards near the factories where this was done, you can still get Geiger counter numbers well above background, as the workers would "point" the ends of their brushes by placing them between their lips.

Re: radium, also . . . if it glows, it *must* be good!

[med_cat]

Ah yes, that's right, they used to sell thorium toothpaste and radium-containing water-pitchers...and interesting re: factories.