Victorians were dying to get their hands on green products– and actually dying because of them!
In the 19th century, a killer was running rampant, but unlike most crimes, there was no real mystery to solve. People were perishing as a sacrifice to beauty...and the color green.
In 1775, a new pigment was developed called Scheele's Green– a bright and attractive hue unlike anything of its kind. In 1814, a new-and-improved version was invented and widely known as Paris green or emerald green. It contained arsenic, a known poison. Despite its high levels of toxicity, emerald green became so popular it would be used in the production of garments, wallpaper, carpets, paints, and more throughout the century.Production of the dye was booming. Gas was replacing oil and candlelight at the time, and women loved how their bright green dresses glimmered under the lamps.And it didn't help that even Queen Victoria herself chose to wear emerald green fashions.
The poison infiltrated her body so aggressively that she developed green-tinted eyes and fingernails, she vomited green, and before dying she claimed to see nothing but green. She was only 19.As for the wearers of green dresses and inhabitants of green rooms, it was a dance with death as well, as this cartoon depicts.But in reality, arsenic was everywhere in Victorian life, not just in anything green.
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