Castle Aching

[Hroth]

10 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

One lick of that and you’ll drop down dead from arsenical poisoning.

 

So, don’t go licking wallpaper, understood?

 

You do know that it wasn't the green wallpaper in his bedroom that saw off Napoleon?

 

[jcredfer]

10 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

One lick of that and you’ll drop down dead from arsenical poisoning.

 

So, don’t go licking wallpaper, understood?

 

 

 

I thought that was just the white paint with a dash of Arsenic, a Napoleonic version of the Putin cure for the ravings of lunatic persons who have failed to comprehend his personal magnificence.

 

Julian

 

[Compound2632]

3 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

You do know that it wasn't the green wallpaper in his bedroom that saw off Napoleon?

 

 

Really? I thought it was the demoralising effect of the poor taste, if not the arsenic content!

[Hroth]

6 minutes ago, jcredfer said:

I thought that was just the white paint with a dash of Arsenic, a Napoleonic version of the Putin cure for the ravings of lunatic persons who have failed to comprehend his personal magnificence.

 

Must admit I jumped to blaming Morris for the dire design.  Try googling "pugin wallpaper"....

[Nearholmer]

Good Lord!

 

But no, it looks a bit too restrained for him.

[jcredfer]

7 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

Must admit I jumped to blaming Morris for the dire design.  Try googling "pugin wallpaper"....

 

Wow, apparently vivid green was the new white!!

 

interesting internet visit, thank you.

 

Julian

 

[Nearholmer]

Scheele’s Green, it’s called.

[jcredfer]

Just now, Nearholmer said:

Good Lord!

 

But no, it looks a bit too restrained for him.

 

Apparently he had little choice, as it was a Gov't provided accommodation.

 

Apparently Trump is also trying to avoid mention of the fact that he has been allocated the recently vacated premises of a non-white occupant.

 

Julian

 

[jcredfer]

2 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Scheele’s Green, it’s called.

 

Was that an Aussie discovery??

 

Hat, coat, door...........   gone.....

 

Julian

 

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

10 hours ago, ian said:

Having just returned from a visit to Whitwick Manor I have come over all pre-Raphaelite so I offer this painting that quite struck me whilst there.

 

 

It is of Jane 'Jeanie' Elizabeth Hughes, Mrs Nassau John Senior (1828-1877) who, in 1874, was the first female civil servant as Inspector of Workhouses and Pauper Schools.

 

 

One of the cruellest rules applied in Victorian workhouses was synchronised flower arranging .........  

[Edwardian]

11 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

One lick of that and you’ll drop down dead from arsenical poisoning.

 

So, don’t go licking wallpaper, understood?

 

 

 

11 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

You do know that it wasn't the green wallpaper in his bedroom that saw off Napoleon?

 

 

There is a conspiracy theory that he was deliberately poisoned, IIRC, Count Montholon was cast as the suspect.

 

Aside from a vast conspiracy to sell books about Napoleon, I suspect no such felonious plotting could be proved.

 

Longwood house was damp. Napoleon's personal livery was green, Green was produced using arsenic. Mould doesn't like arsenic either, so finds a way to expel it as it munches on.

 

Something like that.    

[St Enodoc]

2 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

 

There is a conspiracy theory that he was deliberately poisoned, IIRC, Count Montholon was cast as the suspect.

 

Aside from a vast conspiracy to sell books about Napoleon, I suspect no such felonious plotting could be proved.

 

Longwood house was damp. Napoleon's personal livery was green, Green was produced using arsenic. Mould doesn't like arsenic either, so finds a way to expel it as it munches on.

 

Something like that.    

Conclusion = don't eat green mould.

[Compound2632]

27 minutes ago, St Enodoc said:

Conclusion = don't eat green mould.

 

I dissent:

 

 

6 hours ago, Malcolm 0-6-0 said:

 

One of the cruellest rules applied in Victorian workhouses was synchronised flower arranging .........  

 

No danger of the workhouse for Mrs Senior. In addition to her personal accomplishments noted above, I read that she was a friend of George Elliot and sister to Thomas Hughes, author of Tom Brown's Schooldays.

 

Kick one and they all limp.

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

 

 

There is a conspiracy theory that he was deliberately poisoned, IIRC, Count Montholon was cast as the suspect.

 

Aside from a vast conspiracy to sell books about Napoleon, I suspect no such felonious plotting could be proved.

 

Longwood house was damp. Napoleon's personal livery was green, Green was produced using arsenic. Mould doesn't like arsenic either, so finds a way to expel it as it munches on.

 

Something like that.    

 

According to that fount-of-all-knowledge Wikipedia*, Napoleon expired from a peptic ulcer/stomach cancer, the autopsy being carried out by his personal physician. Though there was arsenic in his hair at the time of death,

 

Quote

In a 2008 study, researchers analysed samples of Napoleon's hair from throughout his life, as well as samples from his family and other contemporaries. All samples had high levels of arsenic, approximately 100 times higher than the current average. According to these researchers, Napoleon's body was already heavily contaminated with arsenic as a boy, and the high arsenic concentration in his hair was not caused by intentional poisoning; people were constantly exposed to arsenic from glues and dyes throughout their lives.

 

It is possible to build up an "immunity" to arsenic poisoning over a period of time (See DL Sayers "Strong Poison" for a fictional example of this), so any arsenic in the wallpaper would be mere background to his system.

 

The miserable conditions at Longwood House are more likely to have weakened him and hastened his death.

 

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon

[Nearholmer]

Having sparked the Napoleon debate, it might be worth me mentioning that I didn’t even have him in mind when I mentioned accidental arsenical poisoning - the traditional victims were children, including toddlers literally licking wallpaper, just as with lead in interior paintwork and in toys.

[Edwardian]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

the traditional victims were children, including toddlers literally licking wallpaper

 

That'll learn 'em

[Nearholmer]

Yes, it tended to.

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

No danger of the workhouse for Mrs Senior. In addition to her personal accomplishments noted above, I read that she was a friend of George Elliot and sister to Thomas Hughes, author of Tom Brown's Schooldays.

 

Coincidentally I am currently reading Daniel Deronda by George Elliot. Her work which I enjoy, does penetrate to the heart of human relations with that crusading earnestness that seems to have been the lot of well-educated women of the period prevented by their status as ladies from actually using all that creative energy in physically productive ways. I can imagine her as a friend of a well meaning Inspector of Workhouses (and flower arranger). 

 

Although from what one knows of Victorian workhouses anything less likely to give charity a good name is hardly imaginable. Truly the abode of The People of the Abyss.  

[webbcompound]

William Morris was at one time a shareholder and director of the Duke of Bedford's Devon Great Consols which owned mines in the Tamar Valley. At Wheal Fanny mine, from about 1860 to 1901 arsenic was roasted until it turned into dense smoke. The smoke was sent along brick passageways where it condensed into crystals looking like caulilowers. Men wrapped in rags scraped this off by hand. Apart from poisoning them it gave them cancer and any scratches or wounds were likely to fail to heal and develop septicaemia.

 

We can probably restart this valuable industry when those stupid Elf and Safety laws get abolished in January

Edited September 8, 2020 by webbcompound

[Hroth]

2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

 just as with lead in interior paintwork and in toys.

 

The kiddies were more likely to ingest lead through chewing painted surfaces than from drinking water delivered by lead water pipes, unless the water was "soft".  The furring deposited in the pipes in hard water areas stopped lead leaching into the water.

 

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

That'll learn 'em

 

Or not, as the case might be. Non fatal lead  poisoning diminishes learning capacity.

 

20 minutes ago, webbcompound said:

Men wrapped in rags scraped this off by hand.

 

Can't have our nice pure arsenic contaminated by brick fragments!

 

[Hroth]

31 minutes ago, Malcolm 0-6-0 said:

Coincidentally I am currently reading Daniel Deronda by George Elliot.

...

I can imagine her as a friend of a well meaning Inspector of Workhouses (and flower arranger).

 

Some 30 years on from Daniel Deronda, and a scene for Castle Aching, the wife of the Vicar of St Tabs goes visiting the deserving poor.

 

 

 

 

[Edwardian]

Interesting quote today from Brandon Lewis (one of that band of Knaves and Fools currently passing themselves off as a government), as a chief legal officer resigns in the face of HMG's stated intention to breach an international treaty.

 

Inspired by this, I now intend to rob a bank.  But don't worry, that's fine provided I do it in "a specific and limited way". 

[Compound2632]

10 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

Inspired by this, I now intend to rob a bank.  But don't worry, that's fine provided I do it in "a specific and limited way". 

 

Reports are coming in of a bank robbery in Barnard Castle. Durham Constabulary say they are looking for a suspect in full evening dress and top hat, last seen heading down The Sills with £250 in bagged new 2p coins in carrier bags marked "Rails of Sheffield".

[Compound2632]

Urgent public notice from Durham Constabulary: The public are warned not to approach the Barnard Castle bank robber as he is believed to be in possession of dangerous animals. Bank staff report that he threatened to set his Terriers on them.

 

A Scotland Yard spokesperson has told the press that the suspect is now thought to be a member of a national underground network known as RMWeb, a network that has been under surveillance for some time by MI7 (the Cummings and Goings Branch) as a hotbed of political sedition. Many members are known to have formerly been involved in trainspotting gangs. The suspect's links with this network were confirmed when he demanded the bank staff hand over "wagon weights" - known RMWeb cant for 2p coins. 

Edited September 8, 2020 by Compound2632

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

Interesting quote today from Brandon Lewis (one of that band of Knaves and Fools currently passing themselves off as a government), as a chief legal officer resigns in the face of HMG's stated intention to breach an international treaty.

 

Or as might be "sung" on the Last Night of the Proms,

 

"Rule Brittannia,

Brittannia waives the rules..."