1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, 2 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:09,800 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bog Obam here. If you've read 3 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:13,080 Speaker 1: Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or seeing any of 4 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 1: the movie adaptations, the character of the mad Hatter is 5 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:19,680 Speaker 1: bound to have left an impression. He's eccentric, to say 6 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:22,720 Speaker 1: the least, as he presides over a rollicking tea party 7 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: that Alice attends. But the idea of being mad as 8 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,840 Speaker 1: a hatter in the British sense mad meaning crazy, not angry, 9 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:35,239 Speaker 1: it didn't come from Carol, And if you, like Alice, 10 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:38,600 Speaker 1: have a tendency to fall down rabbit holes, this phrase 11 00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,560 Speaker 1: is an interesting one. Carol's book was published in eighteen 12 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:45,879 Speaker 1: sixty five, but the Oxford English Dictionary puts the earliest 13 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: known use of mad as a hatter in eighty nine. 14 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:51,560 Speaker 1: That's three and a half decades before any march Hares 15 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:54,680 Speaker 1: or Dormice sipped tea or the cheshire Cat made his 16 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 1: famous claim of the general madness of the inhabitants of Wonderland. 17 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: We're all mad here. The actual origin of the phrase 18 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:05,520 Speaker 1: mad as a hatter is unknown, but it's believed to 19 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:09,839 Speaker 1: be connected to mercury poisoning in hat Makers. Several years 20 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:14,120 Speaker 1: after Alice's Hatter first appeared in three, the phrase hatters 21 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: shakes was used to describe the condition caused by mercury poisoning. 22 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:22,160 Speaker 1: The symptoms included muscle tremors and mental and behavioral changes. 23 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: Wonderland's Hatter behaves strangely in the novel, as do most 24 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: of the characters, but his friends seemed to accept his 25 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: oddities as being normal. Today, mercury poisoning is known to 26 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 1: the medical and scientific communities as aritism. The modern list 27 00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:41,480 Speaker 1: of symptoms includes irritability and mania, both of which the 28 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:46,520 Speaker 1: hatter displays, but there's also sleep disturbance, depression, visual disturbance, 29 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: hearing loss, and those tell tale tremors, at least the bladder, 30 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: of which the Hatter does not seem to have, though 31 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: to be fair, he only appears briefly. You may be 32 00:01:56,960 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: glad to learn that although short term exposure to mercury 33 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 1: can cause earism, it usually goes away if you can 34 00:02:03,120 --> 00:02:07,480 Speaker 1: avoid further contact with mercury. Long term exposures such as 35 00:02:07,520 --> 00:02:11,080 Speaker 1: that that dental professionals and chemical workers experience, can mean 36 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:15,560 Speaker 1: the symptoms persist. In any case, Aritism is a rare disease. 37 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 1: After the tea party, during the playing card court trial 38 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:23,480 Speaker 1: to determine who has stolen the tarts, the hatter explains 39 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:25,400 Speaker 1: to the king that he has no hats of his 40 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 1: own because he sells all of the hats he has, 41 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:31,239 Speaker 1: which brings us to the last stop in our rabbit hole. 42 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 1: What does mercury have to do with hats? It was 43 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:39,760 Speaker 1: part of a process called carroting. In order to make felt, 44 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:41,960 Speaker 1: which is what many hats are made of, you have 45 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:44,280 Speaker 1: to get the fur of a beaver or rabbit to 46 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:48,760 Speaker 1: stick together in a matte of thick, stiff fabric, which 47 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:51,080 Speaker 1: means you have to get the fur off of the skin. 48 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: To get the fur off of the skin cleanly, mercuric 49 00:02:54,760 --> 00:02:57,799 Speaker 1: nitrate was used. It came to be known as carroting 50 00:02:57,919 --> 00:03:00,360 Speaker 1: because the solution would turn the edges of the pelt 51 00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 1: orange as it dried. Modern haberdashers use hydrogen peroxide to 52 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 1: remove the fur from the skin, which is a slower 53 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: but much safer process. But apparently Louis Carol didn't mean 54 00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:17,639 Speaker 1: to slander hatters via his tea party host of First 55 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: The phrase mad hatter never appears in the book. He's 56 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:24,120 Speaker 1: merely called the Hatter. It's the other characters, like Alice 57 00:03:24,120 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 1: and the cheshire Cat who consider him mad. Second Carol 58 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: once responded to a query about the word play in 59 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 1: this his most famous work by saying, I'm very much 60 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 1: afraid I didn't mean anything but nonsense. Today's episode was 61 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,080 Speaker 1: written by Kristen hall Geisler and produced by Tyler Clang. 62 00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:46,440 Speaker 1: For more on this and lots of other Curiouser and 63 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:50,160 Speaker 1: Curiouser topics, visit how stuffworks dot com. Brain Stuff is 64 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my 65 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or 66 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:57,040 Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.