![]() ![]() In the mid 20th century, the use on farmlands was phased out as well. Other pigments were found to replace Paris green in paintings and the textile industry etc. Of course, continuous skin contact with the substance would lead to symptoms of exposure.īut by the second half of the 19th century, the toxic effects of the substance were more commonly known, and the arsenic variant stopped being used as a pigment and was more frequently used as a pesticide on farmlands. In its heyday, all types of materials, even book covers and clothes, could be coated in Paris green for aesthetic reasons. This means that many museum pieces today contain the poison. ![]() Impressionist and post-impressionist painters used different versions of the pigment to create their vivid masterpieces. Industrial production of Paris green was initiated in Europe in the early 19th century. The pigment is especially known for its colour intensity and resistance to fading. Science has decided that old books smell smoky, earthy. Larger grains produce a distinct darker green – smaller grains a lighter green. Extracting the smell of a 18th century bible in the Spangled Bedroom at Knole House. The size of the powder grains influence on the colour toning, as seen in oil paints and lacquers. The arsenic pigment – a crystalline powder – is easy to manufacture and has been commonly used for multiple purposes, especially in the 19th century. This is also known as “emerald green”, because of its eye-catching green shades, similar to those of the popular gemstone. The green arsenic-containing pigment found on the book covers is thought to be Paris green, copper(II) acetate triarsenite or copper(II) acetoarsenite Cu(C₂H₃O₂)₂♳Cu(AsO₂)₂. All my fellow readers are hunched over, absorbed in their own treasures. Micro-XRF technology is widely used within the fields of archaeology and art, when investigating the chemical elements of pottery and paintings, for example. Few sounds disturb the heavy quiet in here: an occasional cough the scrape of a chair on the worn, creaky floorboards the chirping wheels of the book delivery cart the deliberately slow turning of a stiff, crinkled, centuries-old page. This technology displays the chemical spectrum of a material by analysing the characteristic “secondary” radiation that is emitted from the material during a high-energy X-ray bombardment. The poisonous qualities of these books were detected by conducting a series of X-ray fluorescence analyses (micro-XRF). I asked Bembibre if she could envisage some kind of public access smell library. The books come from the 16th and 17th centuries. With the odor wheel now assembled, the task remains to work out exactly how the smell of old books will be archived. ![]() We found that three rare books on various historical topics in the University of Southern Denmark’s library collection contain large concentrations of arsenic on their covers. Could something like this happen in reality? Poisoning by books? Poisoned by a mad Benedictine monk, the book wreaks havoc in a 14th-century Italian monastery, killing all readers who happen to lick their fingers when turning the toxic pages. Some may remember the deadly book of Aristotle that plays a vital part in the plot of Umberto Eco’s 1980 novel The Name of the Rose. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |