Short Stuff: Scheele's Green | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. hey and welcome to the short stuff I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and Dave C's here. in spirit Jerry's here in spirit and uh. let's go let's start talking about a. color a really interesting color yeah. this is uh the first of a two-part. series on color an accidental series. really that's right uh and this one. we're gonna be talking about uh Shield's. green s he- l e or schoss green mhm.

schas is pretty obviously spelled I. think um do you know is that just. another name for sheal or something or. was that Carl wilhem Shield's Hotel name. like how did it come to be scho as well. oh I don't know I thought you knew I. don't. know I have no idea actually well I. spilled the beans Chuck is named after. Carl vilhelm. shei who was the guy who discovered it. so it's appropriate that it would be. named after him that's right uh he was a.

a German Swedish chemist a. pharmaceutical chemist and here's the. deal he created this amazing uh kind of. accidentally created this amazing shade. of green that kind of took the World by. storm but the big problem with it is. that it killed people yeah that it is a. big problem and it killed people and. that's not funny I laugh because the way. I said it well it happened a long time. ago so you can laugh now but um it it. killed a lot of people in some really.

horrible ways I was just kidding about. laughing at Misfortune that's. appropriately old anyway well tragedy is. or comedy is tragedy plus time right oh. man that's great you should you should. Market that yeah I just made it. up so yeah it was a terribly toxic color. um Paris review wrote a really. interesting article on it in in it they. called Shield's green blisteringly toxic. yeah and the thing that was toxic about. it was arsenic as we'll see but Carl.

vham shiel um he came up with it. supposedly almost accidentally according. to Victoria Finley who's a historian who. wrote a book called um the brilliant. history of color and art and God bless. Victoria um Finley for not using a colon. that's she said it was almost accidental. I don't know what he was doing but he uh. heated some sodium carbonate he added. some arenus oxide MH gave it a good stir. um and then he added some copper sulfate.

and when that happened he found that he. had a really really brilliant green. that's right it was brilliant but he. knew that it was uh toxic and about a. year before it was released to the. public he as Legend goes wrote to a. friend of his and said hey I'm kind of. worried about this stuff being toxic uh. and apparently it didn't matter because. people went nuts for the stuff um. arsenic had been around for a long time. so so people knew it was poisonous.

because it was a great murder poison. right for many many years because it has. uh fairly unspecific symptoms as far as. poisoning people goes so up until 1830. uh when the marsh test was invented by. James Marsh which basically Roots out. arsenic there was you know it was a. pretty good way to kill somebody yeah. like you said I mean you could attribute. the the um symptoms of acute arsenic. poisoning to a lot of things you've got. um vomiting abdominal pain diarrhea I.

mean a lot of things can do that sure. what are you drinking arsenic um and. then later on you've got numbness and. tingling of the extremities you could. been been like I've been sitting too. long maybe muscle cramping and then you. you die you go k plots that's right and. that's uh acute poisoning the long-term. exposure and we're talking you know over. the order of you know 3 to 5 years kind. of thing it can also be really bad and.

you usually find that in the skin like. you might have lesions the color of your. skin might change apparently you can get. very uh patchy like hard patches on your. feet and your palms like the bottoms of. your feet yeah and it can give you. cancer it's you know it's a known. carcinogen now I don't think it was at. the time I think they just thought this. is a heck of a good poison yeah that's. the thing um even though I'm not sure if. it's clear that um sheal spilled the. beans himself but somebody did because.

it was common knowledge that Shield's. green was toxic with Arsenic and yet as. we'll see people used it all the time it. it took off like Gang Busters basically. the moment it was available as a pigment. um and it's not because the people of. the age were dumb or didn't care about. dying in their experience arsenic was. kind of hit or miss some people it. seemed to poison very acutely other. people seem to be fine as far as acute. poisoning goes and there was wasn't an. awareness yet of long-term exposure.

poisoning exactly and what's ironic is. it turns out it seems to have been. Shields green that introduced uh the. Victorian public to the idea that you. could suffer really horrible. consequences from long-term exposure to. arsenic even though along the way you. don't seem like you have acute poisoning. exactly uh maybe we should take our. break here maybe and we've kind of. hinted around about how this stuff took. up we'll talk more about that right.

after. [Music]. this you. should y. [Music]. y should. [Music]. know so we promised talk of Shield's. green really taking the World by storm.

and boy did it uh it was in all kinds of. clothing uh I mean they went nuts for it. because it was it was like this natural. green that they had never seen before no. one had ever been able to replicate like. this really gardeny vegetal green yeah. and so they went nuts for it it was in. soap it was like in stuff they ate it. was in beauty products it was on stamps. that you know posted stamps that you. licked uh like castanza.

uh what else it was on wallpapers uh it. was in toys like children's toys um on. behalf of all the pedants out there I. want to pointing out that she wasn't a. castanza yet she died licking the. envelopes that that were going out as a. wedding invitation so she wasn't a. castanza yet never made it to castanza. you think someone would have emailed. that totally I can name like I'm at. least a handful of people by name who. would have. right you're probably right right uh so.

again it's taking the World by storm. it's in everything and especially in. sort of. depressing uh smoggy Revolution. Victorian London all of a sudden they. had this brilliant green all around and. they love the stuff yeah because like. you said the industrial revolution had. already happened and its full smoggy. effects were being felt and people had. moved to the city but yet they were not. so far removed from the country that. they had a real affinity and fondness.

for Country Rural Life right so all of a. sudden there's this green here that. again I got to go to the Paris review. because they this article they wrote on. was so great they said that it was not. too yellow wasn't too teal it was a. middle green and it had full saturation. it was very vibrant because up till then. the greens that they come up with I. think that were based on copper um they. were not vibrant it was green but it was. a kind of a dumpy green this was. suddenly like a green and everybody just.

loved it and like you said they they. used it in every way they possibly could. yeah like when they went to Sheran. Williams they were like what kind of. greens you got they were like they're. all dumpy yeah don't you have that. Schloss green you mean shi's green yeah. exactly so reports all of a sudden after. you know this becomes the the color of. the season start to roll in a little bit. uh children were quote wasting away in. their green rooms uh people these women. that wor these uh dresses were falling.

ill apparently there were these they. would wear them in these elaborate hats. that color green and there was a a. doctor Dr a w Hoffman who was an. analytical chemist that did some testing. and he found that the average headpiece. with Schloss green had enough arsenic to. poison 20 people yeah so people are. starting to become aware like okay this. this stuff is is really bad like we knew. it was toxic but it's really really bad. and so there was actually a um a public.

push that centered on the death of a a. 19-year-old artificial flower maker. named Matilda Sher and she um was sh a. rural jur yeah I I said that in my head. Chuck I'm glad you put it out there she. died in November of 1861 and she had I. don't remember how long she'd worked but. she'd worked for many years in a little. tiny cramped Workshop dusting artificial. flowers with a Shield's green pigment.

and so she inhaled it uh it was all over. her fingers and her nails so she ate it. um and by the time she died and was. autopsied it was in her stomach it was. in her liver it was in her lungs before. she died her eyes had turned green and. she reported to her doctor that. everything she looked at had a green. tint to it that's how arsenic Laden this. poor girl was yeah the the direct quote. is that she vomited green waters yeah. you you don't want to see that you don't.

want to see that so like you said the. Press got behind this finally uh because. there was an actual you know real human. death to point to and Parliament got. involved and you know this is sort of. one of the first uh first big regulatory. acts for something like this this kind. of thing wasn't that common back then so. I think in less than 10 years Parliament. said all right this is a we're going to. do something is called regulating and. limiting arsenic in food and everyone. went. what and all of the wigs stood up and.

said Nanny State Nanny State exactly uh. and then the little button on top of. this episode is that some people believe. that Napoleon died of a stomach cancer. that was uh perhaps brought on by this. green poisoning because when he uh lived. in Exile in in St Helena on that island. he loved that color and he had that. wallpaper in his room and apparently was. breathing this stuff in because of the.

moisture right yeah open culture um. wrote that he so he loved his baths and. the wallpaper was in his bathroom and. they said that anytime it was damp uh. from you know a hot bath or apparently. St Helena itself was pretty damp and. moldy as an island um the the Arsenic. dust in that Shields green would become. vaporized and Napoleon would Breathe it. in and it's it's it's not just some. random Theory like it's actually fairly. widely considered at least possible that.

that's what he died of we just don't. know what he died of Napoleon thought he. was being poisoned by British. agents I think some someone else said he. probably died of stomach cancer but it's. entirely possible he died from inhaling. Shield's Green from his wallpaper in his. bathroom well that could have very well. led to the stomach cancer for sure and. there is a documented case of somebody. becoming ill from their Shield's green. wallpaper right yeah there was a uh. there was an ambassador in the 1950s uh.

to Italy named Claire boo loose who uh. had arsenic poisoning and just like. Napoleon thought someone was poisoning. him the CIA got involved and thought. well the Soviets are poisoning uh this. woman who is an ambassador for us and uh. they went in did some investigating and. sure enough her ceiling in her bedroom. had arsenic in it and apparently the. washing machine from the floor above. would would Rattle and shake and that.

would releasee arsenic dust and she. would just breathe that stuff in all. night when she slept and it killed her. pretty nuts huh pretty nuts well big. thanks to open culture Paris review. artist Network Jezebel and my dear wife. Yumi for suggesting this one in the. first place oh is that her idea mhm she. comes her schl green headdress yeah. she's in the schw scen Antiques I love. it uh well Chuck said he loves it. everybody you know what that means short. stuff is.

that stuff you should know is a. production of iHeart radio for more. podcasts ihart radio visit the iHeart. Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you. listen to your favorite. [Music]. shows.