Newton and Mercury

Mercury...and Hair Loss?

2005-11-08T22:34:00.000-05:00

Mercury is already associated with neurological complications, but does it have any relation to hair loss? It is believed that more people are becoming susceptible to mercury poisoning because they are turning to low-carbohydrate diets and are more likely to consume fish. Now, mercury has been related to unexplained hair loss. (Hair Loss) When a balding patient visits their physician, he/she may expect mercury testing to detect any relation the hair loss may have with mercury. Mercury’s inhibitory effect on hair growth is most likely caused by its influence on the body’s hormones. Since toxins, like mercury, interrupt the function of growth-related hormones, mercury therefore may be responsible for hair loss. However, mercury poisoning represents only one of the many possible causes of hair loss. For example, hair loss may also depend on one’s genetic predisposition or a hormonal imbalance, which is why approximately 30% of Caucasian women, before menopause, are afflicted with this problem. Yet again, the effects of mercury are, well, mercurial.

The Problem Still Remains...

2005-11-08T22:33:00.000-05:00

In early 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally publicly reported its findings regarding children’s health and the environment. A surprising 8% of women (ages 16- 49) were found to contain abnormal mercury levels in their blood which could result in lowered IQ and reduced motor skills in their children. Additionally, the EPA documented that over the last twenty years, asthma rates in children more than doubled from 3.6% to 8.7%. This information tells us the significance of mercury and how it affected and continues to affect our lives. As discussed in previous entries, mercury emissions from coal-fire power plants have been the major sources of mercury emitted to the environment, and the EPA has finally officially announced its dangers to children’s health. The “Clear Skies Initiative” was introduced in the hopes of reducing mercury emissions from these power plants. It proposed the reduction of 70% of industrial emissions within the time frame of 15 years. The reality of the increasing danger of mercury continues to haunt us – when will we find a definite solution in regulating the mercury in our environment?

Beauty Cream Not So Beautiful

2005-11-08T21:54:00.000-05:00

A Mexican beauty cream was responsible for mercury poisoning in Texas, New Mexico, and California. “Crema de Belleza- Manning” was recalled by the Mexican Secretary of Health for the high dosage of mercury urine levels found in three regular users in the United States. The first person to show signs of mercury poisoning was a 15-year old boy from Texas who experienced fatigue, weakness, insomnia, and a number of other symptoms. Two other people suffered similar symptoms in the following year. After all three were discovered to be users of the beauty cream, the recall of 35,000 containers ensued. (CDC)
Approximately eight percent of the cream was found to contain higher levels of mercury. The particular molecule in question was calomel (mercurous chloride) an ingredient marked on the container. Thankfully, the United States has precautions in place to prevent similar incidents like this from occurring in the future.

Lincoln: Another Possible Victim of Mercury Poisoning

2005-11-08T21:44:00.000-05:00

The health of the United States President has always been a concern of the public, yet certain Presidents were able to conceal their respective ailments. For example, FDR hid polio from the public eye and Reagan was able to cover up early signs of deterioration from Alzheimer’s. A Boston University study unearthed another circumstance in which a famous President cloaked an ailment. (BBC)
Abraham Lincoln suffered from depression before he stepped foot in the White House. To cure this condition, he took a pill called the blue mass which doctors nowadays note at mercury levels 9000 times the modern safety limit. Early in his political career, Lincoln was combative and at times belligerent in debate. This contrasts the general image of a patient, subdued Lincoln and seems to mirror the neurotic symptoms experienced by Newton late in his life. Rather than cure Lincoln of his depression, his mercury pill caused more harm than it did good.

A Mercury Costume Party!

2005-11-08T21:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, a press conference was organized in Mineola, NY in an attempt to persuade Governor Pataki to regulate power plant mercury emissions. Kate Contino and the New York State Public Interest Research Group chose to drive home the point by dressing in frightening Halloween costumes. They wanted to make sure that everyone understood how “truly wicked” mercury poisoning is to children. During the press conference, Scott Zotto, in a Wicked Witch of the West costume, stated that mercury is toxic and can damage a child’s development in the areas of ambulation, speech and thinking. They also provided information which demonstrated that mercury has the potential to travel 50-500 miles from the state’s power plants through its waterway system. Governor Pataki spokesman Peter Constantakes stated that the governor is committed to environmental causes and reduced mercury contamination.
Considering that children and women who may become pregnant are cautioned against eating virtually all fish from Adirondacks and Catskills waters due to mercury contamination, it would appear that no government official understands the meaning of the word “committed.” Commitment would have been apparent by the governor himself meeting with the goblins and witches in a show of support for their cause. The waters in New York did not reach the high toxic levels overnight and the problem will not dissipate anytime soon. It’s hard to imagine that the Pataki spokesman felt that he vindicated the governor when he stated, “New York state has done more than any other state to reduced harmful emission from power plants” when mercury continues to spew forth from their power plants contaminating up to 500 miles of waterways. The fact that other states have done even less to protect the environment and its citizens from the toxic effects of contamination is of little comfort—especially to the parents and children who have been cruelly disabled by a government and politicians who were not committed enough to have corrected the problem years ago.

Catch of the Day! -- New Labels Could Prevent Mercury Poisoning From Fish

2005-11-08T21:05:00.000-05:00

According to an article by Darla Sitton entitled “Fishing for the Truth,” though fish is an excellent source of omega-3 fats which are essential for the heart, all fish contain traces of mercury. However, the amount of mercury varies. For example, Malcolm Wittenberg of Microanalytical Systems said, “You could…have one piece of tuna that would have 300 times the mercury content of another piece of tuna.” Recently, this company has devised a method to determine the exact amount of mercury in each piece of fish. They hope to post this information on the package so the public can become aware of how much mercury they are consuming.
For Joan Davis, a San Francisco resident, this information would have made all the difference. Her son consumed fish almost everyday, yet they were unaware of how much mercury he was actually ingesting. As a result, her twelve year old son started experiencing difficulty in school and, when tested, his blood contained mercury levels that were 12.5 times higher than safety levels determined by the government. Luckily, her 12 year old son recovered and he is now aware of the discrepancy between mercury content in different fish. Jane Hightower stated, “Now you can test for the mercury level and at least people know what they’re getting and it won’t be a roulette game.” Yes, but how about some regulations to keep fish with higher than recommended levels of mercury off the shelves? Why the government is not more aggressive in preventing mercury poisoning seems somewhat “fishy.”

Regulation of Mercury Emission

2005-11-04T10:14:00.000-05:00

David Krabbenhoft, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist, said, “Converting mercury to methylmercury is the first step on a long and twisted path that leads to accumulation in fish” (Mercury from Power Plants). Studies conducted at the Florida Everglades and northwestern Ontario showed that methylation occurs more immediately in mercury in wetlands and lakes than other parts of an ecosystem. In fact, most of the mercury found in fish, mentioned in earlier entries, was actually methylmercury, and much of it could be traced back to the emissions of coal-fired power plants.

This led to the decision to reinforce and control the amount of mercury emitted from the power plants. The logic behind the decision was that if newer mercury was able to convert to methylmercury faster than older ones, then the regulation of the mercury emission would decrease the methylmercury in the atmosphere. Ultimately, this would lead to a decrease of methylmercury in fish. Some of the main issues that surfaced from this decision included time and the money. The Environmental Protection Agency approximated the cost to be around “several billions of dollars per year”. In addition to that, some argued that “If [the project] takes too long then it may not be cost-beneficial.” Apparently, maintaining the environment still remained a difficult task --- even when an excellent solution appeared, there still remained problems of cost and time.

Update: Big News in a Small Space

2005-11-03T23:25:00.000-05:00

The previous blog entry entitled “Mercury Mix Up,” discussed the suspicious behavior of the Granville High School faculty and the health department regarding the 8 to 12 potentially toxic ounces of missing mercury which was later found dispersed throughout the Granville High School. According to the earlier article, the high school staff denied knowing that mercury was dangerous. Their inaction placed students at further risk due to the ensuing delay. Additionally, the more serious effects of mercury poisoning were omitted from the original news article. However, the story doesn’t end there.

About a half and hour ago, a suspiciously brief article documented that “fourteen classrooms had mercury vapor levels higher than the recommended level by the Environmental Protection Agency.” Initially, Dr. Roddy Drake of the Granville-Vance Health Department had said there were only low levels of mercury present. However, if indeed fourteen classrooms were deemed unsafe by the EPA, then the levels of mercury must have been higher than reported by Dr. Drake. His questionable ignorance caused students to spend twelve days breathing dangerous mercury vapor. Furthermore, on November 2, 2005, 15 days after the mercury was reported stolen, a student found even more mercury in the bathroom! One wonders who inspected the school and deemed it safe to return to when enough mercury vapor remained to intoxicate fourteen classrooms. The article evades this question.

However, News Channel 5 reports that they contacted school districts in the area around Granville County, N.C. and found that most schools discarded mercury after a bill was passed through the House of Representatives to attempt to eliminate all mercury in schools. Perhaps, this is why the Granville High School decision-makers tried to allay the severity of the situation. Small minds can create big problems!

Clear Skies Initiative: Permitting More Mercury Emissions?

2005-11-03T22:27:00.000-05:00

The Clear Skies Initiative (CSI) was introduced by George Bush on February 14, 2002. Its intent was to reduce sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and mercury emissions. Bush claimed that mercury emissions would be reduced by 69% to 15 tons by 2018 (White House). While this proposal seemed to benefit air quality and the economy, proponents attacked the weakening of controls of mercury emissions compared to stringent adherence to a prior proposal, the Clean Air Act. For example, over 9.5 million more tons of mercury will be released into the air by 2018 under the new CSI rather than the Clean Air Act.
The Sierra Club notes that “a new EPA report discusses the ways pregnant women pass mercury on to their babies, causing mental retardation, but why did the Administration sit on the report for more than nine months and only release it after journalists exposed their findings?” (Sierra Club) This is interesting to note considering that, although the Bush administration claims to be improving air quality, mercury emissions will only escalate. The lack of regional control and cap-and-trade programs will only abuse the reforms of the Clean Air Act. Also, considering that CSI will not take full effect until 2018, at which point emissions will decrease only somewhat, one can only ponder the true benefits of this revised plan and the timing of its revisions in March of this year.

Findings in Toy Batteries

2005-10-28T10:14:00.000-04:00

“Who would expect to find the latest toxic mercury threat in a holiday gift to a child?” (Mercury Findings)

This question was posed by Elizabeth Saunders, the organizer of the Zero Mercury Campaign. Though there are numerous reports of mercury findings in fish, amalgam, etc. in the news, there is significantly less documentation of mercury in the cell batteries of toys. The Zero Mercury Campaign reports that these potentially dangerous toys are frequently found in Massachusetts. This campaign reports that the toys may not pose a problem to the children who play with them, but “become a poisonous threat once those items are tossed in the trash.” The Zero Mercury Campaign also informs the public that this mercury can be released into the air when the toys are incinerated. This can only increase the problem of the accumulation of mercury in fish, as discussed in the previous blog entries. Further evidence to support this campaign was provided by Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, which stated that in only one year, “incinerators emitted 587 pounds of atmospheric mercury.”
Since these toys containing the mercury batteries had no warning labels, the purchasers were not well-informed of the proper methods of disposal. As a result, a bill was created in Massachusetts, in the hopes of prohibiting the sale of mercury-containing batteries in toys.

Fish Fad Diets Pose Risk

2005-10-27T23:18:00.000-04:00

Weight loss has engulfed the populous of the United States in frenzy to attain a desirable figure. However, those that rely on a large consumption of fish to meet their dietary standards (especially protein intake) should be forewarned. The FDA advises that “It is when people eat fad diets - frequently eating only one type of food or a particular species of fish - that they put themselves at risk.” (FDA Mercury) This “fad” diet can be potentially dangerous if not monitored cautiously.

Certain species of fish do not pose a tremendous threat, such as albacore tuna, which averages only about 0.17 part per million. Generally, high tuna levels have been associated with larger fish. A University of Bristol study concluded that a fish diet improves the growth of a developing fetus. However, the Food Standards Agency noted that pregnant women and prospective mothers should “avoid eating shark, marlin and swordfish because they contain relatively higher levels of mercury.” (Fish diet boosts 'foetal growth) This is an important point to make, considering that pregnant mothers might misinterpret the findings of the study and consume these fish in a larger quantity, possibly harming the well-being of their unborn child. Even if a diet promotes higher fish consumption, one should still consider its impacts. Do not be swayed by a particular “fad”. Instead, research a diet before possibly putting your (or your child’s) health at risk.

Why Did Newton Experiment With Alchemy?

2005-10-27T19:29:00.000-04:00

Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night:
God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.
—Alexander Pope

In Dr. Schwartz’s Fly in the Ointment, Dr. Schwartz discusses Newton’s continuation of Starkey’s experimentation with alchemy. Yet, he never discusses why Newton, whose “accomplishments in mathematics, optics, and physics laid the foundations for modern science and revolutionized the world,” spent the latter part of his life experimenting with alchemy, a pseudoscience that led nowhere.

According to Suzzette Moulin, alchemy was based on the transformation of reactive base metals into gold. Additionally, alchemists strove to discover a sole cure for all diseases and a method to lengthen life. Originally, alchemy was considered a quest for riches, but it transformed into a “journey of spirit.” Alchemists believed that the first person to create gold (matter in its most perfect form) would possess characteristics of divinity, especially intelligence and power. To alchemists, “occult knowledge leads the mind to perfection and knowledge is a way to bring gold to God.” Therefore, in order to attain perfection, they needed to liberate the essence of gold from the materials that bound it together.

A further explanation of why Newton was absorbed in alchemy lies in an aspect of alchemy that was tantalizing-- the philosopher’s stone. This stone, supposedly composed of mercury and sulfur, would turn “sick” metals into gold. Additionally, this stone would prolong human life. Newton was quite determined to discover this stone, as evidenced by his servant’s report that Newton “very rarely went to bed until two or three o’clock, sometimes not till five or six, lying about four or five hours, especially at springtime or autumn, at which time he used to employ about six weeks in his laboratory, the fire scarce going out night or day.” Though Newton may have studied alchemy for monetary gains, his strong theology, documented by numerous accounts, paired with his intense desire to prolong life indefinitely, are the most likely explanations for his continual experimentation with alchemy. Interestingly enough, while attempting to prolong human life, he shortened his own by breathing dangerous mercury vapor, in a futile attempt to create the philosopher’s stone.

Websites used: http://www.newalchemy.biz/alchemy.html
http://www.alchemylab.com/isaac_newton.htm

Amalgam Scare

2005-10-21T09:36:00.000-04:00

As previously discussed, mercury has devastating effects on the nervous system, and can be acquired by our bodies in different ways, which include vaccines, seafood, pesticides, etc. Now, one of the largest sources of mercury exposure come from dental amalgams, as reported by Dr. Miller in his “Mercury on the Mind”.
Around the early 1900s, mercury-laden amalgams were first used, and it caused Alzheimer’s disease in over four million Americans. These patients exhibited mercury levels 2-3 times higher than the norm. This should not be surprising, considering that each amalgam averaged 750,000 micrograms of mercury, in which 10 micrograms were released each day. The mercury that escaped could travel all the way to the hippocampus, which controls memory, through the nose. This explains why mercury damaged or impaired many of the victim’s memories. Many of these victims exposed to the mercury first developed signs of memory complications which gradually led to permanent mental deterioration.

Mercury Mix Up

2005-10-20T21:27:00.000-04:00

On October 14, a science teacher discovered that 8-12 ounces of mercury were missing from his locked cabinet at the South Granville High School in North Carolina. As a result, on October 18, 2005, the school was closed due to testing for mercury vapor—the results of which have yet to be announced. According to students, the mercury was divided by students and handled in three classrooms. Also, according to police, over half of the missing mercury was found in one student’s home.
This article by Gretchen Bartelt reports that testing for mercury vapor is necessary because it can be inhaled and cause “lung irritation.” This is confirmed by Karen Wright’s article “Our Preferred Poison” which is discussed in the above blog entry “The Air We Breath.” However, Karen Wright reports that mental disturbances, including cerebral palsy and mental retardation, can also result from exposure to mercury. It is curious that these more serious symptoms were omitted from the first article. Furthermore, Dr. Roddy Drake of the Granville-Vance Health Department says, “with low levels of exposure, people don’t develop symptoms and it’s likely in this case that people won’t develop symptoms.” However, Karen Wright states that “mercury is unimaginably toxic and dangerous. A single drop on a human hand can be irreversibly fatal.” These effects are not immediately apparent, but rather gradually escalate over time. Therefore, it would not be surprising nor should it be reassuring that no symptoms were detected yet. For the students who were in direct contact with the 8-12 ounces, their health could be in greater jeopardy than the school district and Health department are willing to admit. Even more curious is that not one teacher in that school acknowledged that mercury was dangerous and this included the science faculty. The article reports “the school didn’t even know it was harmful until it had a meeting with the public health department on Monday afternoon.” This suspicious ignorance by the school put its students at further risk due to the ensuing delay. It is disturbing that the public continues to receive conflicting information concerning the effects of mercury exposure.

Minamata Disease: Adding to the Amazon’s Ecological Problems

2005-10-20T20:18:00.000-04:00

Mercury poisoning is notorious for appearing in people who regularly consume fish. In the Amazon, Minamata disease has resurfaced among fishing communities. The name originally referred to a Japanese town in which over 1500 people died in the 1950s. The residents were contaminated by fish consumed from a bay which contained methyl mercury, an organic form of mercury, which was spewed from a metals plant. The case in the Amazon seems to reflect either runoff from gold mining (which requires mercury for purification) or soil deposits resulting from deforestation.
According to Maszumi Harada, an expert from Kumamoto University who has researched the disease in the region, “Miners release about 250 tonnes of mercury into the Amazon region each year, most ending up in rivers.” This is a startling figure that needs to be addressed now that symptoms of the disease have arisen in this population. The disease was contracted by consumption of fish which are susceptible to methyl mercury as it passes through its gills. The ecological effects of both gold mining and deforestation are bad enough for the Amazon region, but now communities are suffering from neurological symptoms attributed to mercury poisoning. It is time for action to be taken and regulations established protecting these people from a disease that harmed the welfare of fishing communities.

Mercury Poisoning is Lethal

2005-10-14T11:30:00.000-04:00

Karen Wetterhahn is proof of how lethal mercury is. As a result of a miniscule drop of dimethyl mercury on her rubber gloves, she received a dose 80 times the lethal dose. She was using mercury to examine the effect on human cells and how mercury is good at repairing itself. According to the article, "Mercury attacks the central nervous system well before the victim shows symptoms". (Dartmouth Researcher Dies From Mercury Poisoning) Newton's psychotic behavior has been attributed mercury poisoning. Since mercury attacks the central nervous system, this offers another possible explanation for these fits of psychosis. The death of Karen Wetterhahn seems to be an anomaly considering the gloves did not provide the appropriate level of protection. If Newton’s mercury content exceeded 200 parts per million according to “The Fly in the Ointment” then it is surprising that Wetterhahn’s level of 80 parts per million would have such a devastating affect. The lesson here is that you should not handle mercury with rubber gloves, no matter how secure they may seem.

Whale Scare

2005-10-13T22:56:00.000-04:00

Including all the way back to Isaac Newton's time period, revelations of mercury's dangers and risks continued to build up, in which Dr. Schwarz mentioned in "Newton and Mercury" of his The Fly in the Ointment. In the past few years, more revelations surfaced, including the discovery of a startling amount of mercury in whale meat. "While it has long been known that the animals accumulate heavy metals such as mercury in their tissues, the levels discovered have surprised even the experts" (NewScientist.com).

The mercury found in the whales could be traced to the food they consumed. Experts explained that the contaminated small fish transferred the mercury to their predators. Unfortunately, the mercury became trapped in the whales’ internal organs. Similar to what Dr. Schwarz reported in "Newton and Mercury", when people consumed the contaminated whales, many of them noticed mental complications.

However, the amount of mercury in the whales made the importance of this issue more understandable. Tetsuya Endo, who performed much of the research, said, "At these concentrations, a 60-kilogram adult eating just 0.15 grams of liver would exceed the weekly mercury intake considered safe by the World Health Organization." From the research, they found that a surprising amount of 370 micrograms per gram of wheat meat existed. This "370 parts per million" information greatly went over the allowed governmental limit by 900 times. Additionally, it was not the major samples of whale meat being studied exceeded the limit, but all of the samples. As a result, Japan's fishing industries definitely suffered from the whale research. After all, the Japanese were known for their great seafood consumption.

The Air We Breathe

2005-10-13T15:12:00.000-04:00

“Let’s start with a straightforward fact:
Mercury is unimaginably toxic and dangerous.
A single drop on a human hand can be irreversibly fatal.
A single drop in a large lake can make all
the fish in it unsafe to eat.”

Karen Wright in “Our Preferred Poison” discusses the common uses of mercury in the past. She states that Newton thought it was a key ingredient in gold and, during the modern era, it was used in paints, thermometers, skin creams, batteries and vaccines. However, mercury is now known to be highly poisonous and hazardous. For instance, Karen Wright reports that infants born to mothers who were infected by mercury in Minamata Bay in Japan continue to exhibit mental disturbances such as mental retardation and cerebral palsy. Similarly, Dr. Schwartz’s article “Newton and Mercury,” acknowledges both Newton’s experimentation with mercury as well as mental disturbances associated with mercury poisoning.
Karen Wright’s article, however, delves deeper into how mercury enters and reacts in the body than Dr. Schwartz’s article. Karen Wright reports that the extent of mercury’s toxicity depends on the state and path of exposure. For example, liquid mercury can be swallowed without incident because it will not infiltrate the stomach lining or intestines. However, mercury, in its vapor state, enters the body through the nose and continues through the blood stream to the brain. Thus, inhaling mercury vapor, even from a broken thermometer, can be deadly. It is interesting to note that Dr. Schwarcz reports that “Newton’s notebooks describe how he heated mercury compounds and tasted concoctions brewed with the element.” Therefore, if Newton was poisoned by mercury, it was probably not due to consuming these “concoctions,” but rather from breathing the mercury vapor that resulted from heating the mercury compounds.
So it would appear that mercury in vapor form is extremely dangerous and probably is responsible for Newton’s death. Yet, frighteningly, United States power plants diffuse fifty tons of mercury into the air each year. This month, the Environmental Protection Agency will enact a plan to limit mercury emission from power plants. Furthermore, the United Nations is working to reduce mercury emissions worldwide. Better hurry up!

Newton's Low IQ a Result of Contaminated Whale?

2005-10-07T00:34:00.000-04:00

Dr. Joe Schwarcz seems to reasonably connect the dots in the case of Isaac Newton’s hallucinations. It is convenient that according to his notebooks, Newton blatantly recounted “heating mercury compounds and tasting concoctions brewed with the element” (Schwarcz 237). However, Newton’s later reduced productivity and psychotic tendencies do make sense in terms of mercury’s poisonous extent.

For example, Philippe Grandjean and Pál Weihe are conducting a study at the University of Southern Denmark to determine children’s cognition in a society habitually exposed to high mercury levels (http://www.discover.com/issues/mar-05/features/our-preferred-poison/). In the Faeroe Islands of Denmark the islanders consume about one whale per every fifty people. This represents one of the most predominant fish-eating societies in the world today. A similar study of a society in New Zealand which consumes sharks tested mercury levels in mothers’ hair during pregnancy. A high level, categorized as six parts per million, resulted in a loss of three IQ points in children. In his study, Grandjean concluded “that IQ drops 1.5 points for every doubling in prenatal exposure to mercury.” This is noteworthy because in both cases of societies with high mercury intake, the newer generations of children possess lower IQs.

This brings us back to Sir Isaac Newton. A piece of hair believed to be Newton’s kept at Trinity College in England revealed a mercury level of about 200 parts per million. This figure is astounding compared to the shark eaters in New Zealand that reported a high level of 6 parts per million. If the children in societies exposed to high mercury lose between 1.5 and 3 IQ points, one can only imagine the effect of mercury on Newton. Schwarcz makes a fair assumption in attributing Newton’s fascination with chemistry to the enigmatic hallucinations and poor scientific progress of his later years.

Mad Hatter, Not Only in Alice In Wonderland

2005-10-06T21:04:00.000-04:00

Mercury poisoning appears rare, after all, we have been warned of mercury's dangers and risks often today. However, Southwest Missouri State University's chemistry professor, James O'Brien offered interesting information. “Famous folks like Isaac Newton, England's King George II and Boston Corbett (the man who shot Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth) were all “mad hatters” in some way, having suffered brain disorders from prolonged exposure to mercury” (DesertNews.com).

As many know, Lewis Carroll's Alice Adventures in Wonderland included many references to drug use, craziness, etc. Mad Hatter particularly appears queer and “bizarre”. So where did the name Mad Hatter come from? Lewis Carroll surely did not create it; it was often used in his time. Back then, around 1940, hat industries used mercury in their hat manufacturing process to produce felt. They later discovered that people, especially the workers at the industries, are developing mental illnesses and severe problems. O'Brien said, “It's been known for centuries to be a serious health risk.”

Boston Crobett spent much time as a hat maker, explaining his unusual behaviors and why he was through into one of Topeka's insane asylums. King George II, like Newton, worked with alchemy, explaining their gradual mental disturbances. Apparently, worries of mercury have existed for a long. Even Lewis Carroll incorporates it into his creation.

Oedipus or Mercury?

2005-10-05T16:54:00.000-04:00

“So do we look to Oedipus or mercury for an explanation of Newton’s behavior?”
- Dr. Joe Schwartz

Though Newton is considered by some surveys to be the second most influential man, ranked in between Mohammed and Jesus, his behavior was not typical of either Mohammed or Jesus. In fact, Newton “showed definite psychotic tendencies characterized by occasional withdrawal from human contact, fits of anger, and periods of depression” (Schwartz 236). Most historians believed that his poor behavior was due to psychological problems caused by the separation from his mother at an early age.

However, according to Dr. Joe Schwartz in "The Fly in the Ointment," Newton’s efforts in chemistry could explain this behavior. When Newton’s psychological condition worsened, his own notebook details his unsuccessful experimentation with alchemy. He studied the work of Starkey who devoted his life to finding the “universal remedy,” a potion that could transform substances to cure all diseases. He also became fascinated with “The Net,” a mixture of copper iron and stibnite, whose purpose is still unknown. Most interesting, however, Newton’s notebook details his experimentation with heated mercury. Furthermore, this notebook explains that Newton actually ingested his concoctions. It is only after this time that Newton documents sleep deprivation and hallucinations, common symptoms of mercury poisoning.

So, the earlier question emerges- is Newton’s behavior due to his mother’s detachment from him, mercury poisoning or something else altogether? Dr. Schwartz points to another clue from the Trinity College in England as his final piece of evidence. This clue is a piece of hair, which is believed to be Newton’s and has a mercury content forty times more than the normal five parts per million.

Therefore, it would appear that Newton’s behavior is due to mercury poisoning. However, since this piece of hair cannot be definitively proven to be Newton’s, we will continue to study the causes and effects of mercury poisoning and Newton’s behavior to determine if this theory is fact or fiction.

Welcome to our Blog!

2005-09-29T19:15:00.000-04:00

Hi, and welcome to our blog! For the next month and a half, we will be updating this blog with information regarding the commentary "Newton and Mercury" by Dr. Joe Schwarcz. This blog will emphasize the work of Starkey and Newton, such as their study of alchemy, as well as highlight why scientists had felt that alchemy was a worthwhile pursuit. Also, we will find evidence to either support or reject Dr. Schwarcz’s assertion that mercury poisoning could explain Newton's psychotic tendencies. Hope you enjoy!