![]() ![]() This tragic occupational hazard gave rise to the expression “mad as a hatter” in the 1800s.Īll over the world, the very real fear of poisons led people to seek charmed objects to keep them safe. Symptoms included tremors and extreme irritability. Some hat makers in the 1700s through the early 1900s really did behave as if insane or “mad.” Long-term exposure to mercuric nitrate, a poisonous compound used in hat making, was the cause. But the hatter character had a basis in reality: many hat makers did behave strangely, leading to the term “mad as a hatter.” What caused their odd behavior? Mercury poisoning. His first words when meeting Alice are curiously impolite: “Your hair wants cutting.” Convinced that time is stuck at 6 pm, the Hatter presides over a never-ending tea party.Īuthor Lewis Carroll had a fantastical imagination. ![]() In the classic children’s book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice encounters a tea party hosted by a nonsensical and irritable hat maker. ![]()
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