Now this is an out there Mad Hatter. Tim Burton is planning his usual over-the-edge production for the upcoming Alice in Wonderland flick and Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter is sure to provide a typically excellent Depp performance. But that’s not what I wanted to speak of today. No, what I was interested in was spreading some light on why the Mad Hatter is called the Mad Hatter in the first place. Or, more generally, why we say "Mad as a hatter."
The reason is quite interesting. Turns out that mercury was used by hat makers when they were making their hats. And mercury is a most toxic substance indeed. We all know about mercury poisoning and how tuna shouldn’t be eaten in too great a quantity due to the concentrations of mercury in its flesh. Well, the old time hat makers got a lot more mercury than you’ll likely ever see from tuna. And prolonged exposure to mercury causes uncontrollable trembling of the limbs, mood swings and aggressiveness. Or, more simply, it makes you mad.
Hat making isn’t the first profession to come with serious health consequences, but it’s one of the few to have led to a new phrase in the English language. Now you know where it came from.
- And that’s today’s word from the bird
I’ve heard this info before but, have never heard how the mercury was used in making hats. I wonder if any mercury was leftover and stayed in the completed hats.
They used mercury nitrate to facilitate the removal of the fur from the animal skins. Then they felted the fur to make the hats. I bet some trace mercury did remain but the user would be exposed to just a tiny, tiny bit that was “on” the fibers whereas the hatters would be breathing in the vapor. Not good.
Mercury is the deadly liquid metal, which can desolve other metals including gold. It has been used and is still being used in Phillipines and Brasil
to mine gold. Miners will get sick and become Mad
Goldminers. After the world war ＩＩ mercury was used as electrode for the production of Caustic soda and chroline gas from salt. The waste streem of the plant caused MINAMATA desease,
which is another type of Mad desease, called
Mad cat disease. The disease was found among cats which ate the contaminated fish from the ocean and streem. Late many Japanese people suffered from the disease.
Seems like the bottom line is that mercury is a big “not-good” for people.