Help With Autism

Have you ever wondered about the etymology of the phrase “Mad Hatter Disease”? I had always assumed that it referred to an eccentric person, much like the character from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Upon further research, Mad Hatter Disease actually refers to 19th century hat makers who suffered from mercury poisoning.

During the 19th century, mercury was used to cure animal pelts that were then made into hats. The workers would breathe in the fumes all day long and thus become poisoned, as metal toxicity was not well understood at that point in history. The hatters would eventually display classic mercury poisoning symptoms, including vision and hearing issues, slurred speech, hallucinations, tremors and more. The workers were thought to be insane and were referred to as mad hatters because of the frequency of the “insanity” present in that profession.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.