Glazier's Diamonds, Claret,
Sugar, &c.
4 doz Glazier's Diamonds,
20 casks Claret,
60 boxes do
6 bhds
Muscovado Sugar,
30 casks Allum,
5 pipes Cogniac [sic] Brandy,
St
Domingo Coffee, Sugar of Lead [1],
and
China
Vermillion
for
sale at No. 9 Spear's wharf
ALEXANDER
MITCHELL.
June 21 [illegible][2]
 |
| Glazier's Diamond - Advertisement Jun 21, 1814 Baltimore Patriot & Evening Advertiser |
"Lead
acetate, also known as sugar of lead, is a salt that (ironically) has a sweet
flavor—a fairly unusual quality in poisons, which are more likely to
taste bitter, signaling to the taster that they are unsafe for consumption. The
ancient Romans used the compound—which they called sapa—to sweeten wine, and
the aristocratic segments of the population could toss back as much as two
liters a day (about three bottles’ worth, although wine was usually diluted
with water). There is debate as to whether the wine alone could have produced
the traditional physiological effects of lead poisoning, such as organ failure,
infertility and dementia—the little things that help facilitate the fall of an
empire.
[2]
Baltimore Patriot & Evening Advertiser.; Date: 06-21-1814; Volume: 3; Issue: 146; Page: [3].
Transcribed by John
Peter Thompson, 21 June 2014.
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