Arsenic’s Toxic Legacy: People, Places, Pests and Peppermints

Neil Dickinson


Region:
East of England
Notice Period:
Emergency (maybe less than one week's notice)
Type:
Hobby
Fee:
Paid: ca. £50 depending on distance
Category:
History
Updated:
16th November 2023

“Arsenic’s Toxic Legacy: People, Places, Pests and Peppermints” is a look at how, during the 19th and 20th centuries, arsenic and its compounds appeared to offer marvellous solutions particularly in the spheres of medicine, fashion, design and pest control so long as an increasingly blind-eye was turned to the problem of its dreadful toxicity. The talk considers a few deliberate poisonings as well as linking the once major uses of arsenic with its supply in vast quantities across the world from the former tin and copper mines of Devon and Cornwall. Providing technical information, history, horror and humour in balanced measure, after hearing this talk, the thought of a mouth-cooling peppermint lozenge might induce a more spine-chilling feeling! Length of talk 50 to 60 minutes. Can be adapted by arrangement.

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About Neil Dickinson

My working life was spent as an industrial chemist and I have enjoyed a variety of other interests yet I’ve always been particularly fascinated by the ingenuity and brilliance of humans over history to develop resources and shape them to our own needs, be it for great good or to terrible ends, and sometimes for both, as accepted wisdom and circumstances have changed over time. I present several illustrated talks on various topics with, when appropriate, a degree of humour attached.


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