密歇根新闻广播 小心墙纸有毒

In the 19th century, wallpaper became an increasingly popular home decor trend among Americans. Influenced by the culture of Victorian England, these wallpapers were adorned¹ with loud patterns, flowers, animals, and a lot of colors.

But those bright, vibrant² hues³ held a dark secret.

In the mid-19th century, green became a very popular color. And the way to get the various hues of green was to mix it with arsenic⁴, explained the Michigan History Center's Rachel Clark.

Michigan State University chemist Dr. Robert Kedzie began alerting⁵ the public to the dangerous decorating trend in 1873. Kedzie had discovered that people, and especially children, were being poisoned by dust in their homes caused by arsenic-laced wallpaper, toys, and other household items.

So, the U.S. Express Company, which was an early mail company, they would wrap their packages, and their labels were made with this green tint⁶, said Clark.

Kedzie took his findings to the Michigan Board of Health and voiced his concerns about the widespread use of arsenic in consumer products. Then, in 1874, he published 100 copies of a book titled Shadows from the Walls of Death. The book contained 86 physical samples of wallpaper patterns printed using arsenic.

He was sending out these examples to universities and libraries all over the state so people could be educated on what exactly this poison wallpaper looked like, said Clark.

Over time, the industry found other ways to create green colors without using poisonous materials. While most copies of Kedzie's book were destroyed, there are five remaining copies stored at university libraries and at the Michigan History Museum. It's not the kind of book you can check out with a library card, however.

It is stored encased in multiple layers of plastic, and I had to wear multiple layers of gloves and a mask as I was looking through it, said Clark.

This post was written by Stateside production assistant Katie Raymond.

This segment⁷ is produced in partnership⁸ with the Michigan History Center.

1 adorned   

[计]被修饰的

参考例句：

• The walls were adorned with paintings. 墙上装饰了绘画。
• And his coat was adorned with a flamboyant bunch of flowers. 他的外套上面装饰着一束艳丽刺目的鲜花。

2 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

3 hues   

色彩( hue的名词复数 )； 色调； 信仰； 观点

参考例句：

• When the sun rose a hundred prismatic hues were reflected from it. 太阳一出，更把它映得千变万化、异彩缤纷。
• Where maple trees grow, the leaves are often several brilliant hues of red. 在枫树生长的地方，枫叶常常呈现出数种光彩夺目的红色。

4 arsenic   

n.砒霜，砷；adj.砷的

参考例句：

• His wife poisoned him with arsenic.他的妻子用砒霜把他毒死了。
• Arsenic is a poison.砒霜是毒药。

5 alerting   

n. 发信号，警告 动词alert的现在分词

参考例句：

• Thanks so much for alerting us to the problem. 感谢你提醒我们这个问题。
• Alerting was indicated by the desynchronization of the EEG. 脑电图上显示的失调结果是一种危险信号。

6 tint   

n.淡色，浅色；染发剂；vt.着以淡淡的颜色

参考例句：

• You can't get up that naturalness and artless rosy tint in after days.你今后不再会有这种自然和朴实无华的红润脸色。
• She gave me instructions on how to apply the tint.她告诉我如何使用染发剂。

7 segment   

n.切片，部分，段，节

参考例句：

• The company dominates this segment of the market.这家公司控制着这一部分市场。
• Give me a segment of a tangerine to taste.给我一瓣柑橘尝一尝。

8 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。