Today’s Pink Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
Mercury chloride (calomel) is a strong disinfectant and was commonly used both in hospital s and homes for this purpose during Victorian times. The effect of mercury on the gums was at one time thought to be beneficial for babies and young children cutting their first teeth. The sleepless nights for both child and parents which accompanied this phase of their development led many to seek relief with so-called teething powders. The powders, which were first introduced in 1812, relied on the calomel they contained to cause excessive salivation. For babies, mercury poisoning would manifest itself as pink disease, so named because of the pink coloration of the fingers, toes, cheeks, nose and buttocks. Some babies that were especially sensitive to mercury died, although for most babies the occasional powder was unlikely to be fatal. Pink disease had a mortality rate of 10% and accounted for 1 in 25 hospital admissions in the 1940s. It was thanks to two American doctors, D. Warkany and J. Hubbard, that the cause was traced to teething powders, and in particular to Steedman’s Teething Powders which contained 26% mercury chloride. The reason is took so long to make the link between mercury and pink disease was that only 1 child in 500 who was given the teething powder developed the pink condition.
Culled from: The Elements Of Murder
Here’s an ad for Steedman’s Powders from the late 1800’s. I’d love to have an old container of this stuff on my curio shelf!
Funny it’s called the pink disease. Often mercury poisoning causes a blue line to appear on the gums.