Don’t try this at home. "It may be imagination, or it may be something else, but one thing is for certain, neither ‘Prince of mixtures’, or the ‘Irish blackguard’ makes me shake half so much as ‘Kendal Brown’”. So ends the account of one Tommy Forthwithe, who in c.1855 inadvertently mixed Kendal Brown snuff with muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid.) His friends and associates declared it to be “the sharpest snuff they had ever used”. The grim aftermath following this accident is described below. Unfortunately we do not learn if the victims died, but their injuries were “sufficient to excite the deepest sympathy in the most callous nature”. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=CL18800730.2.31&l=mi&e=-------10--1----0-all

Ah poor Tommy. Lost a loves embrace through such a “simple” twist of fate. Hope he learned to take a bit more care with his acids!

Great Post Thanks!

I’m sure it was sharp!

LMAO the sharpest snuff they ever used! No kidding lol Stefan

That was fascinating; thank you! I just have one question: do you understand Maori? (I can’t imagine how you navigated the archive otherwise…)