Pharaoh's Serpents - Lethal Victorian Toys

In 1863, restrictions existed to control the sale of arsenic. This was because of the risk of inadvertant, or criminal, injestion of this deadly poison. However, a well-to-do youngster in Edinburgh could walk into a shop and, with no questions asked, buy enough mercuric thiocyanate to poison several people. To death. In an extremely unpleasant manner.

Edinburgh toy shops were selling pharaoh's serpent eggs. These indoor fireworks consisted of small tablets of mercuric thiocyanate, which upon ignition would produce remarkable snake-like ash. Like this -

Explosives Chemistry

Please help beat cancer - DONATE click above

 

A STEAMPUNK NOVEL, FULL OF

ANARCHIC EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE

"Hodges emitted a scream the like of which

I hadn't heard since his scrotum was burned off

during my experiment with fluorine gas last year."

The Exotic Experimentation of Ernest Glitch,

Victorian Science with a Smile

More information & sample chapters here

Search for Ernest Glitch on your Kindle

or visit Amazon -

UK here

USA here

Unrelated to this post, below is an example of

eclectic science esoterica 

View post on imgur.com

Main Menu - click above

WARNING - Many subjects outlined within this site are extremely dangerous and are provided here for information only. Please don`t experiment with high voltages or chemicals unless you are fully conversant with safe laboratory practices. No liability will be accepted for death, injury or damage arising from experimentation using any information or materials supplied.