# 'Mat Hatter' -- from mercury or snakes?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mat-hatter-from-mercury-or-snakes/46348
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 19, 2000, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mat-hatter-from-mercury-or-snakes/46348 "2000-12-19T15:04:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2000, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mat-hatter-from-mercury-or-snakes/46348/1 "2000-12-19T15:04:56Z")
Can any Dopers provide any evidence either way about the theory that “Mad as a Hatter” comes from mercury poisoned hatters? The theory is plausible (and repeated often enough), but the Snopes Urban Legend site (who I trust almost as much as Cecil) calls it an unlikely derivation
(at [http://www.snopes2.com/spoons/fracture/hatter.htm](http://www.snopes2.com/spoons/fracture/hatter.htm)
So any cites, references, or even reliable authorities either way? Ignorance awaits your stamping out!
(I’m doing an article on mercury; I’d love to get this definitively right)
Just to go over the situation briefly, here’s the pros and cons that I know of:
Pros: It’s a very plausible theory. Mercury is undoubtedly poisonous, and prolonged exposure will cause neurological damage (most obviously shaking and twitching, but there can be other symptoms, too). I don’t think there’s much dispute that hatmaking, in the 17th and 18th centuries, used mercury and hatmakers were exposed to enough to poison them. Another piece of support for the theory is the name “Danbury Shakes” which I’ve been told (any references for this, too would be appreciated) referred to the affliction of hatmakers in Danbury, CT (which was a center of the hat industry).
Cons: The Snopes article doesn’t so much refute the merucry theory as say that there’s no support for it. They mention some other possible derivations, such as Lewis Carroll satirizing a well-known businessman (this seems unlikely to me, as the Snopes article mentions a usage of the phrase from 1837), or coming from ‘mad as an adder’ (using the now-archaic meaning of ‘mad’ as ‘venomous’ I imagine also possibly sliding into the meaning of angry as well). This last derivation is the opinion of a source from 1901, so it’s not just a new idea, thought I don’t know what the support for it is.
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### Author:  [@Zumba\_The\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zumba_The_Cat)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2000, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mat-hatter-from-mercury-or-snakes/46348/2 "2000-12-19T15:22:30Z")
I don’t know if I would call this a reliable source, but:
Where the phrase “Mad as a hatter” came from was a question on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire a few weeks ago. The answer was the mercury thing.
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### Author:  [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2000, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mat-hatter-from-mercury-or-snakes/46348/3 "2000-12-19T16:55:54Z")
Hmm. This may be a good question for Cecil. I can’t find any definite proof off-hand. But here are some possible helpful links…
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (a reliable source of info)
[http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/](http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/)
From a Google search…(I don’t know how reliable these are)
[http://vest.gu.se/~bosse/yrOCA95a.html](http://vest.gu.se/~bosse/yrOCA95a.html)
[http://www.redlandsfortnightly.com/howell83.htm](http://www.redlandsfortnightly.com/howell83.htm)
Some EPA-cited references on the subject of mercury poisoning (not sure if they specifically mention the mad hatter case or not)…
Fawer, R.F., U. DeRibaupierre, M.P. Guillemin, M. Berode and M. Lobe. 1983. Measurement of hand tremor induced by industrial exposure to metallic mercury. J. Ind. Med. 40: 204-208.
Piikivi, L. 1989. Cardiovascular reflexes and low long-term exposure to mercury vapor. Int. Arch. Occup. Environ. Health. 61: 391-395.
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2000, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mat-hatter-from-mercury-or-snakes/46348/4 "2000-12-19T17:29:11Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Toxic Effects of Mercury
>
> Mercury toxicity depends very heavily upon the form the mercury is in. Mercury (I) chloride, calomel or Hg2Cl2, has been used in medicine as a purgative for a long time; the fillings of teeth are mercury amalgams with gold or silver. Only 2%, or less, of the inorganic mercury breathed or swallowed is absorbed into the bloodstream, and inorganic mercury constitutes only a minor health hazard. It has long been known to be a hazard, however. In the early days of the Industrial Revolution, mercury (II) nitrate, Hg(NO3)2, was used to soften fur in the making of felt hats. The phrase “mad as a hatter” – and the Mad Hatter of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland – both are from the same source, which is the toxic effect of mercury on the central nervous system, producing mental effects and “hatter’s shakes”. The workers in the felt hat industry, and also those in mercury smelters, were the only ones constantly exposed to high enough mercury levels to exhibit obvious symptoms.
from [niblink.com](http://niblink.com)
I don’t know how reliable that particular source is, but it agrees with all of the things that I had heard in the past about “hatter’s shakes”
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### Author:  [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2000, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mat-hatter-from-mercury-or-snakes/46348/5 "2000-12-19T19:51:54Z")
As much as I respect **Snopes** , I think they’re a little too skeptical on this one.
An important step on the road to turning your beaver pelt into a hat was **carroting** the fur. I quote from an excellent page on the [fur trade](http://www.whiteoak.org/learning/furhat.htm):
> [@](#):
>
> A solution of “nitrate of mercury” would be brushed on the pelt. This produced a yellow-red color on the fur tips. The fur became “carrot” colored. The mercury caused miniature scales to raise on each individual fiber. This roughened the fiber and increased the wool’s matting ability…(n)ote: In subsequent steps using heat and moisture, the mercury would be released as a vapor. After long term exposure to these fumes, the amount of mercury in the Hatter’s body would reach dangerous levels. Mercury attacks the nervous system causing uncontrolled muscle twitching, a lurching gait, difficulties talking and thinking.
(ellipse mine).
Huffing mercury fumes into the lungs would seem to be an ideal way to get it into the bloodstream pronto.
Lighthouses with large lenses (First or Second order, I think) used a [tub of mercury](http://www.trevithicktrust.com/pendeenl.htm)
to float the lens, in order that it could rotate around its (pre-electric) light source. NESCSAUM (North East States and Eastern Canadian Provinces Mercury Study) says:
> [@](#):
>
> Canada has ~ 6 tonnes of mercury stored in existing lighthouse facilities. This mercury is used to float beacon lenses. This is a substantial quantity of mercury. However, no environmental losses during de-commissioning of the sites have been estimated.
The Canadian Coast Guard, which is responsible for lighthouses and other navagation aids in Canadian waters, takes the mercury threat [seriously](http://www.canoe.ca/AllAboutCanoesNews1999/991213_lh.html), as there are still 60 manned lighthouses in Canada.
This [Coast Guard Canada page](http://www.ccg-gcc.gc.ca/archives/iala-aism/chapter2.htm) has interesting information about the [historic lighthouse](http://parkscan.harbour.com/frh/) I look after:
> [@](#):
>
> Davies, like many other keepers across Canada in the years before the poisonous effects of mercury were discovered, would routinely lower the bath, wipe dust and debris off the metal’s surface with a rag, drain the liquid off, strain it through chamois leather and top up the bath again. In the summer heat, Davies would inhale great quantities of mercury vapour. According to author Donald Graham, in his book Keepers of the Light, Davies “was inhaling mercury in the beacon room like steam in a sauna.” Davies’ entire family was likely affected by mercury poisoning, through residue on clothing and, in Rosina’s case, sexual intercourse.
I have the original 1866 keeper’s log on my desk at the moment, by coincidence, and I can’t find any reference to sex with Mrs. Davies…
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2000, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mat-hatter-from-mercury-or-snakes/46348/6 "2000-12-20T07:06:44Z")
Evan Morris, in his Word Detective column, agrees that it’s from [mad as a hatter](http://www.word-detective.com/030299.html#madhatter). He doesn’t mention the “mad as an adder” theory at all.
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### Author:  [@TomH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TomH)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2000, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mat-hatter-from-mercury-or-snakes/46348/7 "2000-12-20T13:56:23Z")
From _Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_:
> [@](#):
>
> **Mad as a Hatter** By some said to be a corruption of “Mad as an atter” (adder); but evidence is wanting. The word adder is _atter_ in Saxon, _natter_ in German.
The earliest reference to “mad as a hatter” in the OED is 1837, but it doesn’t shed any light on the origin of the phrase. Under “hatters’ shakes” it has:
> [@](#):
>
> **1902** _Brit. Med. Jrnl._ 15 Feb. 378 Muscular tremors (‘hatters’ shakes’) are most often observed in those engaged in dusty post-carotting processes.
I realise that none of this advances either case.