Mad as a Hatter

I learned where this phrase came from. First, some chemistry:
In my organic chemistry class we are discussing the different functional groups, memorizing what it's called when a carbon is hooked to a hydrogen or oxygen or nitrogen, or any various combination of them. Very useful stuff to know.  When a carbon is hooked to a sulfur, it's called a thiol.  Thiols are found in the proteins of our nervous system.  The problem with thiols is that they really like hooking to heavy metals, such as mercury or lead.  If we inhale or consume mercury or lead, the thiols attach to them, making the nervous system go kaput.

Now, some history.  Hatters were people who made hats, obviously.  The occupation was at it's peak in the 1800's.  Hatters at that time often used mercury to cure the felt or fur for hats, which inevitably led to them inhaling the fumes, which attached to the thiols in the nervous system.  It was an occupational hazard which made many hatters go insane. (Thanks to Dr. Wood for sharing this information during class).

A notable mad hatter that I read about recently is Boston Corbett.  He was the cavalry sergeant who shot John Wilkes Booth, who shot Abraham Lincoln.  (Interestingly, Corbett shot Booth in the exact same location where Booth shot Lincoln.)  Corbett was a hatter in England before he immigrated to the United States. After shooting Booth, he fled to Kansas because he thought Booth's supporters were stalking him.  He got a job as a door keeper for the Kansas House of Representatives, and one day showed up with a gun, forcing the house to adjourn.  He was admitted to an insane asylum, but escaped a year later and was never found.  Creepy, creepy.