On 30 October 1858 a batch of sweets poisoned hundreds in Bradford, England. The confectionary had been accidentally adulterated with poisonous arsenic trioxide. About five pounds (two kilograms) of sweets were sold to the public, leading to around 20 deaths and more than 200 people suffering the effects of arsenic poisoning. With increasing urbanisation and the rise in shop-purchased food, adulterants became a growing problem. With the cost of sugar high, replacing it with substitutes was common. For the sweets produced in Bradford, the confectioner was supposed to purchase powdered gypsum, but a mistake at the wholesale chemist meant arsenic was purchased instead. Three men were arrested—the chemist who sold the arsenic, his assistant and the sweet maker—but all three were acquitted after the judge decided that, as it was all accidental, there was no case for any of them to answer. The deaths led to food-adulteration legislation and were a factor in the passage of the Pharmacy Act 1868.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1858_Bradford_sweets_poisoning> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1960: At the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Michael Woodruff performed the first successful kidney transplantation in the United Kingdom. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Woodruff> 1965: English model Jean Shrimpton wore a controversially short minidress to Derby Day at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia – a pivotal moment of the introduction of the miniskirt to women's fashion. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_shift_dress_of_Jean_Shrimpton> 2010: American comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert hosted the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington, D.C. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rally_to_Restore_Sanity_and/or_Fear> 2020: A magnitude-7.0 earthquake occurred in the Aegean Sea between Greece and Turkey, triggering a tsunami and causing 119 deaths. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Aegean_Sea_earthquake> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: wolf of Wall Street: (idiomatic, US, finance) (A name for) an aggressive, prominent, and wealthy financier; specifically (derogatory), one who swindles or takes unfair advantage of people. <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wolf_of_Wall_Street> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: Man's social happiness all rests on us: Through all the drama — whether damned or not — Love gilds the scene, and women guide the plot. --Richard Brinsley Sheridan <https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Richard_Brinsley_Sheridan> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe write to: [email protected] Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
