When the Walls Were Painted With Poison

Scheele’s Green, named for the Swedish chemist who invented it in 1778, was everywhere in Victorian England, from the walls of Buckingham Palace to the factories where child laborers painted the leaves of fake foliage. And it was deadly.

Scheele’s Green, named for the Swedish chemist who invented it in 1778, was everywhere in Victorian England, from the walls of Buckingham Palace to the factories where child laborers painted the leaves of fake foliage. And it was deadly.