[HN Gopher] Unusual compound found in Rembrandt's The Night Watch
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       Unusual compound found in Rembrandt's The Night Watch
        
       Author : gmays
       Score  : 16 points
       Date   : 2023-01-19 21:43 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.esrf.fr)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.esrf.fr)
        
       | eschulz wrote:
       | It's interesting to consider all of the wild and toxic substances
       | that artists have worked with throughout the millennia. In
       | addition to explaining the chemical properties of the art, such
       | substances maybe go a long way in explaining the behavior of the
       | artists.
        
         | dylan604 wrote:
         | I remember reading something like this has been studied
         | regarding mercury trying to apply what we know/understand now
         | about mercury poisoning's affects on people and how stories of
         | those known to work with mercury compare. Sadly, I don't
         | remember the results. <shrug>
        
           | ASalazarMX wrote:
           | Oh, maybe I can help about Mercury!
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_as_a_hatter
           | 
           | I've read that Roman pipes and pots/mugs had lead, but IIRC
           | it's still unclear if it was as toxic as we would fear:
           | https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/07/did-lead-
           | poisoning-c...
        
         | ASalazarMX wrote:
         | It's fascinating in a morbid way how many professions involved
         | great health risks no so long ago. (Mad) hatters poisoned by
         | mercury, tanners and chimney sweepers getting cancer, miners
         | getting black lung or simply suffocating... Sadly it still
         | happens today, but hopefully it will keep decreasing, even if
         | we have to pay more for ethical manufacturing.
        
           | ggm wrote:
           | Artificial marble/stone benchtop workers getting Mesothelioma
           | (current, as of 2023 the unions are pushing for the material
           | to be either banned or put into more stringent production
           | process control, although onsite cutting & finishing for
           | sinks and stones and shaping is going to be a problem no
           | matter what)
        
             | TylerE wrote:
             | Don't understand the appeal at all. My parents had some
             | sort of stone countertop put in (marble, I think, it's def.
             | _not_ granite). It's loud, echoey, and easily damaged.
        
         | hourago wrote:
         | The Radium Girls were female factory workers who contracted
         | radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-
         | luminous paint.
         | 
         | After being told that the paint was harmless, ... instructed to
         | "point" their brushes on their lips in order to give them a
         | fine tip... The women were instructed to point their brushes in
         | this way because using rags or a water rinse caused them to use
         | more time and material, as the paint was made from powdered
         | radium, gum arabic and water. ... The right of individual
         | workers to sue for damages from corporations due to labor abuse
         | was established as a result of the Radium Girls case.
         | 
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radium_Girls
        
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       (page generated 2023-01-19 23:00 UTC)