M.J. Rose

Beauty is skin deep – but sometimes the treatments seep in…

One Of The Hazards Of The 1700s Was Death By Rouge

by Esther Inglis-Arkell (http://io9.com)

“The late 1700s were not known for their long life-expectancy. One of the many sources of death, at the time, was a nasty little thing with the incongruously pleasant name of “cinnabar.” We’ll show you how fashion trends combined with chemistry to kill people off.

No one puts on make-up for their health. In the 2000s, fashion regimes involve injecting poison into the face. In the early 1900s, make-up would sometimes blind women and occasionally cover them with radium. In the 1800s, arsenic-based make-up and tonics would shrink down women’s capillaries and, at times, poison them.

It was in the 1700s that people really went to town. The standards of the day were different. Women liked dark lashes and eyebrows, so they’d darken their facial hair with soot. Other than that, they wore very little eye make-up. They also didn’t go overboard with the lips. It was the skin that they concentrated on. If you’ve ever seen horror movies involving creepy porcelain dolls with chalk-white skin and dark red splotches on their cheeks, you’ve seen the last remnant of the fashion of the 1700s. Women painted their faces pure white with Venetian ceruse, which was made by mixing lead with vinegar. Because make-up was expensive, and washing wasn’t considered healthy, they wore this lead until it wore off, sometimes for weeks. (Some ladies at this time also came up with the pre-cursor to botox, an enamel-like coating that stiffened parts of their faces and didn’t allow their skin to wrinkle.)…”

For the rest, click here.

Archeologists Uncover Genghis Khan’s Lost Mongolian Fortress
by Lisa Winter

“Genghis Khan, born as Temujin in 1162, became one of the greatest military leaders of all time by building and ruling the Mongol Empire. At the time of his death, he ruled from the eastern stretches of Asia to as far west as Russia. A team of Mongolian and Japanese researchers uncovered a fortress that has now been confirmed to have been used by the ruler during the 13th century. This discovery could help historians better understand how the growth of the empire expanded westward toward Europe.

Genghis Khan (also known as Chengis Khan), which translates into Supreme Leader, once controlled over 12 million square miles across Asia. The Mongol Empire was second only to the British Empire in terms of expanse. While tribes were given the opportunity to surrender peacefully, resistance was met with great force. It is believed that during his life, Genghis Khan was responsible for the deaths of over 40 million people. However, some historians debate the validity of the extent of Genghis Khan’s carnage, attributing much of it to hearsay meant to strike fear into his enemies…”

For the rest, click here to go to iflscience.com.

We think an entire novel could be written around such an intriguing object!

Thou’rt poisoned with that book

from the delightful blog: Shakespeare’s England: Everyday Life In Seventeenth Century England

“I wanted to share this fascinating object which I stumbled upon on Friday. It is a bible dating to 1600 which contains a secret arsenal of poison. Given its nature, one might assume it was used by travelling assassins, or kept hidden in the library of a large house to dispatch unwanted guests. It was for auction at the Hermann Historica auction house in Germany, and is described, in translation, as follows:

Original book cover in 1600 with finely embossed parchment-related covers. Close book intact, the pages glued to a solid block, and cut out rectangular. Inside, finely crafted device with eleven different sized drawers and an open compartment. The individual drawers with colored paper glued on, the front frame and knobs flame strips of silver and ebonised wood. Handwritten paper labels with the Latin names for various poisonous plants…”

Click here to visit the original post at Shakespeare’s England, Everyday Life In Seventeenth Century England. (Several more beautiful photos of this object are to be found.)