3. The Many Poisoned Emperors of China
Elixirs of Life, potions and pills that could supposedly extend life — or even make the person who consumed them immortal — feature prominently in the history of imperial China. There were numerous alchemists who claimed to have perfected the formula, but in at least a handful of cases, their elixirs actually made the consumer’s life much, much shorter.
Qin Shi Huang, first emperor of the Qin dynasty, died at age 39, likely from consuming mercury, which he thought would make him immortal. He even took the substance with him to the grave; it’s believed that a moat of mercury encircles his tomb. That has greatly complicated plans to excavate his tomb.
via Gizmodo
Image: Crop from The Alchemist, In Search of the Philosophers’ Stone by Joseph Wright of Derby, 1771.
