Lead or Antimony?

"Okay," you say. "How about lead poisoning? They didn't know how to make tin cans very well back then. They were often contaminated with lead."

"But there were only six cans in the whole trash pile," she replies. "Enough to poison six people, perhaps, but hardly the whole expedition. Lead is out."

"Hmmm," you say. You tick them off on your fingers. "Then how about antimony? It was used in fever medicine, so they could have been overdosing on it."

"But we have no evidence they were," she says. "None. No empty bottles, no mention in the journals. Antimony is right out." She stops suddenly. "Look, this is silly, right? We both know they were poisoned by the mercury that Captain Torvey used in his bath compass. What we can't suss out is how."

An Access Excellence Science Mystery sponsored by Genentech, Inc.
Copyright © 1997 Genentech, Inc.; all rights reserved.