Henley u3a

HENLEY u3a learned about the darker side of science when Dr Kathryn Harkup outlined the risks people have taken over the centuries to look more glamorous.

Her talk, illustrated with startling pictures, was called “Dying to be beautiful”.
Dr Harkup’s presentation covered four areas of beauty treatment:

• The use of mercury in cosmetics but also for hat-making and disease control

• The metal lead in hair dyes and face paints

• The chemicals that create alluring eyes

• The use of Botox to hide wrinkles.

In past centuries blushers and lipsticks were often made with mercury sulphide, known as vermillion. Mercury was also an ingredient in soaps that were found to lighten skin shades and until antibiotics came along, mercury ointments and pills were used medicinally to treat syphilis.

Furthermore, mercury was vital for hat-making. Dr Harkup explained how historically many hats were made of felt, which was produced by taking animal fur and combing it with mercury salts.

This process compressed the fibres and created a flat fabric that could be moulded into a hat shape.

While hat wearers were generally not too much affected, hat manufacturers working with mercury every day suffered from severe damage to the nervous system. They gabbled, they twitched and they were unco-ordinated. They appeared to be mad.

The damage caused by ingestion of mercury gave rise to the term ‘mad hatter’. Such a character was immortalised by Lewis Carroll when he wrote the Mad Hatter’s tea party in Alice in Wonderland.

Next Dr Harkup exposed the dangers of introducing lead into the human body.

A well-known brand of dye aimed at darkening hair contains lead combined with sulphur. Although lead has been removed from this particular product in Europe, the American version still contains the metal.

We were shown pictures of Elizabeth I, who used white lead face-paint to hide her smallpox scars. Many of her subjects copied this fashion.

Besides headaches and the shakes, lead use on the skin disrupts the manufacture of red blood cells, leading to anaemia, kidney failure, black teeth and hair loss.

Affected in this way by lead in her system, the Queen had to resort to wearing a wig and keeping her mouth closed.

In the 1700s Joshua Reynold’s muse, the courtesan Kitty Fisher, died in her twenties from its use.

Dr Harkup reminded people that with hair loss, eyebrows also disappeared. Many fashionable ladies turned to artificial ones made from mouse fur.

The third part of the talk referred to the use of antimony, otherwise known as kohl, used since Egyptian times to accentuate the eyes.

Many people also used Atropa belladonna berries to dilate their pupils and make their eyes appear more seductive.

The juice of these berries, which affects neurotransmitters in the body, is known to have produced hallucinations and fantastic dreamlike states in users. It may indeed have been used by witches in the late middle ages and account for their visions, trances and sensations of flying on broomsticks.

Atropa belladonna berries are deadly poisonous. The clue is in the scientific name: in Greek mythology Atropos was one of the three Fates, the one who determined the day on which a human died.

The Belladonna part, from the Italian for beautiful lady, was added by Linnaeus as a reference to its use as an eye enhancer.

Even its common name, deadly nightshade, acts as a warning. The medicine Atropine derived from Atropa belladonna is used to this day by doctors to relieve certain heart conditions and by ophthalmologists to enlarge the pupil.

Finally, Dr Harkup turned to the problem of wrinkles and the desire we have to cheat ageing and look younger.

Botulinum toxin is one of the deadliest poisons ever known. It used to appear in tins of meat or fish that had not been handled hygienically before canning.

In a highly diluted form it is known as Botox and has medical use for disorders that involve overactive muscle movement.

While treating optic muscle problems with Botox, doctors noticed the ironing out of wrinkles around the eyes. This led to the cosmetic use of Botox.

By relaxing the underlying muscles it smooths lines on the face caused by decades of squinting, frowning and smiling.

The procedure needs to be repeated every six months but Botox appears to be completely harmless when injected by a trained practitioner.

Dr Harkup is a former chemist and author. She completed a doctorate on her favourite chemicals, phosphines, and went on to further doctoral research.

She later realised that talking, writing and demonstrating science appealed a bit more than hours of slaving over a hot fume-hood.

She writes and gives regular talks on the disgusting and dangerous side of science. Her latest book is The Secret Lives of Molecules.

Henley u3a holds talks for its members and the public on the second Wednesday of each month at 2pm at Sacred Heart Church hall in Walton Avenue, off Vicarage Road (parking available).

U3a is a UK-wide organisation open to anyone over the age of 65 who wishes to learn for fun. Henley u3a offers more than 20 groups and new members are always welcome.

For more information, call 07879 580736 or visit u3asites.org.uk/henley-on-thames

Lin Taylor