With... Adam Sargant
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It's our last episode of series 1!!! Expect ghost, ghouls and lots of
laughs as we round off the series with Adam Sargant, AKA Haunted Haworth.
We'll be...
1 week ago
But mercury as medicine? Indeed, mercury was most commonly used in the 18th and 19th centuries but also right up to the 1950s. It came in two ways: mercurous chloride, known as calomel; and as liquid mercury pulverized into microscopic globules, known as "blue mass" or the "blue pill." [...]Here's what Charlotte herself wrote to Margaret Wooler at the time:
Many persons were poisoned by medicinal mercury in those days; some of the famous ones included Robert Burns, Franz Schubert, Isak Dinesen, Niccolo Paganini, Charlotte Bronte, Louisa May Alcott. (Norbert Hirschhorn)
My Doctor called the next day; he said the headache from which I was suffering arose from inertness in the liver--prescribed some alternative pills and promised to call again in a week. I took the pills duly and truly--hoping for benefit--but every day I grew worse--before the week was over I was very ill--unable to swallow any nourishment except a few teaspoonsful of liquid per diem, my mouth became sore, my teeth loose, my tongue swelled; raw and ulcerated while water welled continually into my mouth. I knew by this time that Mercury had formed an ingredient in the alterative pills and that I was suffering from its effects. When my Doctor came and found me in this condition he was much shocked and startled; a result had been found which he had not intended, nor anticipated: according to him the dose of 'blue pill' he had given was not sufficient to salivate a child--and he talked much about exceptional sensitiveness of constitution &c. (Charlotte Brontë to Margaret Wooler, 20 January 1852)To continue with the strange occurrences, this is what a blogger on SeattlePi reports:
Upon recommendation by my friend, Margaret, I tried to reserve "Jane Eyre" at our library's website. When I called up the book, the description said, "May contain content about UFO sightings". I immediately wrote Margaret an angry email and said, "I thought you said 'Jane Eyre' was a CLASSIC."Perhaps the person who wrote the description got a little lost in that part where Rochester jokes about the 'green people'.
Actually I didn't do that. (Christina Hyun)
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