While we have an entire section on Health, this section looks at aspects of Victorian life that had an impact on people's health and safety. For example, in Victorian days, the adulteration of food products was a major issue, and spawned a host of regulations - many of which were only poorly enforced. Wallpaper could be a danger to one's health, if it happened to be green - a color often produced with arsenic! As the century drew to a close, issues of public sanitation were increasingly coming to the fore as topics of health and safety concerns. In short, living in the Victorian era could be damaging to your health!

The Great Tobacco Nuisance (Leisure Hour, 1860)

Dislike of smokers in the room is nothing new!

Arsenic in Paper-Hangings, by Robert Hunt (Art Journal, 1858)

When your wallpaper can kill you...

Careless and Unsuspected Poisoning, and How to Avoid It (Cassell's Family Paper, 1860)

Incendiary Mice (Leisure Hour, 1860)

A case of rodential arson - and a look at some of the dangers of rat poison.

The Adulteration of Food, (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1877)

Poison in the cup, poison in the cake - eating in Victorian times could be hazardous to your health!

Adulteration and How to Detect It (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1880)

More on the pesky problem of sand in the sugar, tar in the tea and poison in the pickles!

Alum in Our Bread (Demorest, 1880)

Concerns over the substitution of alum for cream of tartar in baking powder (Royal Baking Powder being, apparently, the only brand at the time that did not do so).

Domestic Poisons, Their Detection and Antidotes, by C. Proctor (Girl's Own Paper, 1883)

Amongst the poisons of concern in the Victorian household were arsenic, phosphorus, lead salts, copper salts (sometimes used to add green color to tinned vegetables), Bengal opium, and the mystery-writer's favorite, prussic acid.

On Poisons in the House (Cassell's Family Magazine, 1883)

Dangers in Food and Drink, by Elwyn Waller (Century Magazine, 1886A)

This begins as an interesting piece on adulteration, then gets into an in-depth look at the water supplies of New York, London and Paris.

What to Do if You Catch Fire (Girl's Own Paper, 1886)

Good advice in an era of long skirts and open hearths!

The NPMC [Natural Products Manufacturing Corp] (The Strand, 1893A)

A humorous, fictional look at the problem of adulteration.