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submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 102 points 5 months ago (6 children)

Nine out of ten hatters recommend that you don't do this. The tenth hatter purple monkey dishwasher.

(Victorian-era hat makers were notorious for going mad because they used mercury to treat felt cloth.)

[–] [email protected] 24 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I wondered what the Mercury actually did with the felt, as I couldn't think of anything from the top of my hat:

Mercury made the felting process in hat production more efficient. The compound used to moisten the fibers was Mercury Nitrate, a process known as carroting. It produced a superior-quality felt, which in turn, resulted in higher-quality hats

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Mercury Nitrate

Which, should be noted, is not the mercury show in the picture. Mercuric nitrates are a white/yellow dry powder that is the result of mixing mercury with nitric acid. The process of making mercuric nitrates, and carroting itself, both result in rather toxic fumes that you really should not breathe in.

Handling liquid mercury is basically almost harmless as it absorbs through the skin really slowly and doesn't produce much vapours. Putting it in acid, heating it up, and putting the cloth treated with it in an oven is not.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

Thnx for elaborating!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Is this the origin story of The Mad Hatter? 🙄

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Could have been. I know Lewis Carroll liked to lampoon issues of the day in his writing.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

I'm kind of guessing the mad as a hatter phenomenon was known then, but don't really know.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

I think the original idiom was "mad as a hatter" which was eventually shortened to "mad hatter", possibly due to the Alice in Wonderland character.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (2 children)

I wonder what secondary compounds this was creating. Elemental mercury is pretty much fine, but if it was reacting with other things to create wacky fun times...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

they chewed the leather to hides to soften them, IIRC. so it wasn't just getting on their hands, they were ingesting it.

[–] threelonmusketeers 5 points 5 months ago

I think it was mercury nitrate. Much more soluble.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago

Sneaky Simpsons reference here for those who didn’t notice.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

I thought it was the vapours from using mercury inside that got them.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

It's so much harder believing in six impossible things before breakfast when you're allergic to quicksilver.