ON POISONS & PRECIOUS THINGS M

OST of us know the expression “mad as a hatter”, maybe thanks to Lewis Carroll’s immortal loon, the Hatter, from Alice in Wonderland. But do you know where the expression comes from?

It was, in fact, common at the time Carroll wrote his book (published in 1865), stemming from the eccentric behaviour of milliners at the time. Today, we know this was a side-effect of mercury poisoning, mercury being a vital ingredient in hat-making.

And that’s just one nugget among hundreds to be unbottled at the absorbing Power of Poison exhibition, now on at Silverstar Casino in Muldersdrift.

Curated by the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the show manages exquisitely to be both fun and informative, with a deliciously high gross-out factor, thanks to displays on creatures creepy, crawly and deadly. (But don’t worry, you’re perfectly safe. The tarantula hardly moved, I promise.)

Beyond the science, there is a lovely look at poison in myths and fables. Why do witches fly? What was in the apple that put Snow White to sleep? The answers, it seems, are all in magical plants.

At the same time, the venue is host to another exhibition, The Terracotta Army and the First Emperor of China. The army, of course, is China’s most important archeological find, more than 8 000 clay soldiers buried near the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, 2 000 years ago.

The exhibit follows his story and displays 300 painstaking reproductions of the soldiers and artefacts (made in Belgium, not Beijing).

And if the combination strikes you as odd, consider this: although the first warriors were discovered in 1974, the emperor’s actual tomb remains unopened to this day, partially due to fears that he booby-trapped it. And the pièce de résistance in that elaborate plot? A river of mercury. Mad as a hatter, too?

Both are on in Joburg until August 24. See tsogosun.com.