The 19th century was a dangerous period in which to be alive. All manner of hazards awaited the unwary as they meandered rtheir way along the rocky road of life – and many of those hazards resulted in some of them reaching the end of said road somewhat prematurely.

In previous blogs I’ve written about poisoned ice cream, poisoned lozenges, poisoned bath buns, and so on and so forth.

But it wasn’t just what you ate that could hasten your demise – what you wore, or what you adorned you person with could have equally tragic results, as is evidenced by the following story which appeared in The Northampton Mercury on Saturday the 30th of November 1861:-

DEATH FROM ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS

On Monday an inquiry was held by Mr. G. S. Brent, touching the death of Matilda Scheurer, a good-looking girl of 19, who died from poison imbibed into the system during her engagement in the manufacture of artificial flower leaves.

Mrs. Louisa Scheurer,a widow, and mother to the deceased, deposed that on Thursday week her daughter was taken ill. She was seized with vomiting, and the refuse of the stomach was of a very greenish colour.

The witness took her to a doctor on the following morning, who told her that she was again suffering from the effects of poison, She had been ill several times before, complaining of pains in the stomach and sickness, for the last year and half.

HER ILLNESS AND DEATH

She was engaged as an artificial florist in the warehouse of M. Bergerond, of Judd Street, Brunswick Square, and up to the time of her death she had been engaged in the leaf making.

She was in the greatest pain until she became insensible.

Then death put an end to her sufferings.

THE DOCTOR’S EVIDENCE

Mr. James Thomas Paul, surgeon, of 26, Burton Crescent, said that he had attended the deceased four times within 18 months, while suffering from the same causes.

He had made a post mortem examination, and had found that the lungs gave evidence of the presence of arsenite of copper, the liver being highly impregnated, as also were the mesenteric glands.

The cause of death was acute inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach, produced by the inhalation of the arsenite of copper.

A sister of the deceased had died under similar circumstances.

HER EMPLOYER’S TESTIMONY

Mr. Bergerond said he employed 98 girls in his establishment, and for their protection he had suggested the wearing of masks, but it was objected to by them as producing excessive heat.

They, however, wore muslin over their mouths.

A BAN IN FRANCE AND THE VERDICT

It was stated by a juror that the arsenite copper in such manufactures was prohibited in France, as injurious to workpeople.

The jury returned a verdict to the effect that the deceased died accidentally, from the effects of mortal disease in her stomach and other organs, occasioned by arsenite of copper that was used in her employment.