Arsenic, an Old Case: The Chronic Heavy Metal Poisoning of Raphaelle Peale (1774-1825)

ARSENIC, AN OLD CASE: THE CHRONIC HEAVY METAL POISONING OF RAPHAELLE PEALE (1774-1825) PHOEBE LLOYD and GORDON BENDERSKY* The investigation, recognition, and diagnosis of fatal arsenic poisoning has in the past been delayed beyond the victim's death for an interval of up to 100 years [1-4]. We report a case of arsenic and mercury poisoning after a delay of almost 200 years, the diagnosis being made by history, not necropsy. In the process of gathering biographical documents , Phoebe Lloyd discovered that the health of Raphaelle Peale was irreparably undermined by poisoning that appears to have eventually resulted in his death. Lloyd further postulated that the course of the victim's artistic career was largely influenced by the poisoning [5]. What follows is an amplification of the medical side of the argument. The victim, Raphaelle Peale, was not only America's first important still life painter but also by general agreement the most talented of Charles Willson Peale's seventeen children [6]. Charles Willson Peale [CWP] was in his own right a formidable figure: author, moralist, patriot , farmer, inventor, and a founding father of American painting. Furthermore, he combined the professions of art and science to become a leading museologist of his day. Clearly he was a man of inordinate ambition, and one spurred on by the necessity of supporting such a large family. His solution was to open, in Philadelphia in 1782, America's first sky-lit gallery, which, by 1786, he had converted into a natural history museum. The city column of Philadelphia's Packet, 31 October 1786, reported: "We hear that Mr. C. W. Peale has acquired the means of The authors thank Leo Steinberg for his stimulus to this collaboration and for formulating the counterarguments; Caroline Morris; Beth Carroll-Horrocks; Adam E. Jacobs; Roger B. Stein; Jean Woods; Peter J. Parker; Murray Brand; Henry Brenman; and Paul B. Solnick for their assistance and participation. *Department of Medicine, Hahnemann University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 191021192 .© 1993 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 0031-5982/93/3604-0827$01.00 654 Phoebe Lloyd and Gordon Bendersky ¦ Heavy Metal Poisoning preserving birds and animals in their natural form, and that he intends to place in his collection of curiosities every species of birds and animals that he is able to obtain, belonging to North and South-America." Hereby hangs the tale. The elder Peale ran his museum like a family enterprise, one that provided the principal source of reliable income for the extended family for at least forty years. In 1798 Raphaelle assumed the post of taxidermist [7]. Over the next twenty-three years, Charles Willson proved persuasive in driving his firstborn to an extremely hazardous task, imputed the subsequent symptoms to gout and excessive drink, avoided mention of arsenic and mercury in his correspondence, and impugned his son's reputation. As revealed by letters and other documents. Raphaelle's symptoms, such as delirium, tremor, erethism, alopecia, atrophy, loss of teeth, and gangrene, are indicative of both arsenic and mercury poisoning . The key document for tracing the pathology of Raphaelle's illness comes from his nephew, (George) Escol Sellers. Escoi, a mechanical engineer , began composing his Memoirs at the end of his life and here he also set down family reminiscences. One was written at the prompting of his nephew, Horace Wells Sellers, who sensed that the cause of Raphaelle 's death still remained an open question. Escol began by rehearsing the canonical view: "Grandfather [CWP] always attributed his [Raphaelle 's] gout and distortion to high living and intemperance, and that his versatility had lead to that." But then Escol went on to disagree, attributing his uncle's decline instead to his taxidermal chores: . . . how much more likely was Uncle Raphael's [sic] case one of mercury and all his gouty suffering also from the same cause. He was a very accomplished Taxidermist and after the death of the first Titian did all of the larger animal preparation for the Museum. Arsenic was all that was used for birds and small animals, but by its use the skins and hair of larger animals were not protected from the ravages of moths and other insects and Bichloride of...