Mercury Poisoning

January 15, 2007 8:12 AM

Looking for a historical example of someone trying to build up an immunity to mercury poisoning (and obviously failing dismally).

I seem to remember reading a story of a famous historical figure (I think it may have been a military figure) who was so paranoid about being posioned with mercury, they ingested a small amount of the substance each day to try and build up a tolerance or immunity to the toxic element. Who was it? My google-fu has failed me on this occasion!

posted by monkeyforest to Health & Fitness (3 answers total)

China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang ingested mercury pills everyday in the belief that it would provide him with immortality. Instead he got insanity and death. I don't think he did it to build an immunity though.
posted by sephira at 8:52 AM on January 15, 2007

Well, China's first emperor died from ingesting mercury (which was supposed to make him immortal). A quick trawl through wikipedia doesn't throw up anyone who took the stuff knowing it was poisonous, though.
posted by Leon at 9:02 AM on January 15, 2007

You might want to add cinnabar to your search terms.

Not directly an answer but maybe a lead...

"The king of Pontos (now Turkey), Mithradates, contributed greatly to the subject of antidotes, although it must be said that he had his own interests at heart in carrying out the research — living in constant fear of being poisoned by enemies, he experimented with poisons and possible antidotes on condemned criminals, and dosed himself with small quantities of various poisons daily to build up immunity."

posted by peacay at 10:58 AM on January 15, 2007