Beautiful Poison

Precious cinnabar,
Bright in an emerald sea,
Beautiful poison.


..... "Cinnabar", such an exotic sounding word...... I knew it was a semi-precious mineral and I knew it was the name of this moth.... but now I have discovered that the mineral Cinnabar was ground to make the pigment vermilion (another lovely word), also that it contains mercury and was mined for these purposes also ..... Given the toxicity of mercury, mining cinnabar was a hazardous process ...

'Overexposure to mercury was seen as an occupational disease to the ancient Romans, "Mining in the Spanish cinnabar mines of Almadén, 225 km southwest of Madrid, was regarded as being akin to a death sentence due to the shortened life expectancy of the miners, who were slaves or convicts."

Coincidentally, or possibly not, the cinnabar moth is also "unpalatable", it's caterpillars feed on the poisonous ragwort plant and look like tiny tigers (well to me anyway).

So all in all cinnabar is a beautiful poison.


Thanks so much for comments on yesterdays Day's Eye.... it even reached the spotlight for a while... :).