GREEN - A Colourful History

Administrator from Curtain Clean BOP Ltd

You may be planning to wear green this St. Patrick’s Day. Green, the color of kissing the Irish! The color of money! The color of… horrible, horrible death.

At least when it came to green dyes through the Victorian age.
In 1814, a company in Schweinfurt, Germany, called the Wilhelm Dye and White Lead Company developed a new green dye. It was brighter than most traditional green dyes. It was bolder. The shade was so jewel-like that it quickly began being called "emerald green." And women loved it. Largely because it was during this time that gas lighting, rather than candlelight, was being introduced. When women went out to parties at night, the rooms were considerably brighter than they had been only a few decades before. These party-goers wanted to make sure they were wearing gowns that stood out boldly — gowns in a shade like emerald green. People also began using it for wallpaper and carpeting. Victorian Britain was said to be "bathed in… green."

Unfortunately, the reason that dye was so striking is that it was made with arsenic...The effects of arsenic exposure are horrific. In addition to being deadly, it produces ulcers all over the skin. Those who come in close contact with it might develop scabs and sores wherever it touched. It can also make your hair fall out, and can cause people to vomit blood before shutting down their livers and kidneys.

So, this is probably one of the worst chemicals for a society to be "bathed in." This was obviously unpleasant for women who wore green apparel.
Keep reading: www.racked.com...

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