Paris green

Paris green is a vivid green pigment composed mainly of copper acetoarsenite. Its use in paints and as an insecticide was limited by its extreme toxicity.

Copper acetoarsenite: A copper and arsenic compound used as the principal coloring material in Paris green. This compound gives Paris green its characteristic color and arsenic-based toxicity.
Insecticide: A substance used to kill insects or prevent their damage. Paris green became a widely used insecticide despite its dangers to people and animals.
Carl Wilhelm Scheele: A Swedish-Pomeranian chemist who discovered oxygen and developed Scheele's green. His earlier arsenical pigment provides a precursor in the history of Paris green.
Arsenic poisoning: Illness caused by exposure to toxic arsenic or its compounds. Paris green could cause poisoning through ingestion, inhalation, or contaminated surroundings.
Arsenic: A chemical element whose compounds include both toxic substances and useful materials. Arsenic in Paris green makes ingestion and exposure hazardous.
Colorado potato beetle: A beetle that feeds on potato plants and became a major agricultural pest in North America. Paris green was used to control this pest in nineteenth-century agriculture.
Nineteenth-century chemistry: The rapidly expanding chemical science and industry of the 1800s. Paris green emerged amid new synthetic pigments and commercial chemical production.
Wallpaper poisoning: Illness attributed to toxic substances released from decorated wallpaper, especially arsenic pigments. Paris-green wallpapers contributed to fears of arsenic exposure in homes.
Copper(II) acetate: A copper salt of acetic acid, commonly encountered as a blue-green crystalline solid. Copper acetate is a component used in preparing copper acetoarsenite.
Wallpaper: A decorative material applied to interior walls, sometimes printed with colored pigments. Paris-green wallpaper could release toxic arsenic compounds under damp conditions.

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Olive ThomasRelated: Thomas died in Paris after accidental exposure to mercury bichloride, not Paris Green; the distinction corrects a recurring confusion.