Jump to content
Complete France Forum

Arsenic and old lies


Colonel Mustard

Recommended Posts

Recent research has discovered that Napoleon was not poisoned by the British, as the French have always claimed. He did have high levels of arsenic in his body, but it was the accumulation of decades, and, according to the researchers, could have come from "the smoke from wood fires." Now the memsahib and myself enjoy a good blaze from an open fire. Are we poisoning ourselves? Any toxicologists out there?

Joke: Did you hear about the man who poisoned his wife with a razor? He gave her arsenic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Judie

Its just so informative[:-))] I think Emperor Claudius had the right idea.......... lets bring back the same law [geek]

back to the subject of woodburning, don't fart too close to your chimney/woodburner........it's a highly inflamable gas[blink] that's probably more dangerous than toxic fumes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Katie wrote 'It seems artsole thinks we have nothing better to do with our time than to get drunk on terraces'

 

Katie,

For artists, it is no different to the 'board meeting' or the 'team meeting' in companies.

How else do you think artists can discuss the latest trends in contemporary art.....................different techniques.......................how big your paint brush is!............................and whether you use 'rubbers' or not[geek]

and just as importantly, how best to persuade the women on the opposite table to 'model' for us,[Www] then if this is succesful, take them back to my place for a few more drinks and to find out how 'lightweight and bendy' they are[:P] How do you think I find my 'models'..........definately not sitting at home watching the TV[blink]

What do you think Van Gogh and Gauguin did in Arles, they went to the bar in PLace de Forum, thats the one in the painting 'starry night'........by the way, did you know there is a Hotel Pinus in the same square[blink]

and Matisse, Derain, Dufy, et al, after a hard days painting (hee hee) they frequented the bars of L'Estaque and Marseille

Le vie de l'Artist..............c'est dur eh![;-)][;-)]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="Renaud"]I had thought that the arsnic was from the wallpaper.

Call for Hercule Poirot.[/quote]

So did I - I heard that the green pigment called Scheeles Green gave of horribly toxic methylarsine gas when the wallpaper got damp and went mouldy. St Helena is damp. Boney's wallpaper was green.

A similar case occured in the 1950s in the US embassy in Rome. The ambassador, one Clare Luce, fell ill with arsenic poisoning that was eventually traced to green arsenic based paints and pigments in her bedroom.

I think it pretty unlikely that the concentration of arsenic in firewood provided direct from forestry would be dangerous, BUT scrap wood from buildings could pose a risk as up until the second half of the last century arsenic compounds were used as wood preservatives.

Vichy water is reputed to have about easily measurable levels of arsenic in it. Some people think that this is what gives it its tonic effect.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would agree with Riff-Raff about scrap wood from buildings................there is also a large lead content in older paints, this advice is not just for woodburning but also for stripping old doors and paintwork, especially with hot air strippers[Www]
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...