Arsenic poisoning was a common way for Victorians to die. They used it everywhere: in the new, fashionable green wallpaper that Queen Victoria used in Buckingham Palace; in the green dye of dresses; in “Dr Simms Arsenic Complexion Wafers and Medicated Arsenic Soap;” designed to give a woman a rosy complexion; and in a ‘pure’ form which men took to improve sexual function. Unfortunately, death often followed on the heels of such a use of “Victorian Viagra,” but at least those men died happy.

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