Beautifying the City, Poisoning the Lady. About an Odd Victorian Scientific Conversation (1869)
It’s a tale of color and poison in the Victorian era: modern chemistry democratized colorful beauty and brought with it a heavy toxic burden. In both the home and the workplace, women bore the brunt of this burden through the wallpapers, fabrics, clothes and artificial flowers in their finery. In 1869, a small anonymous book challenged the collective consent to poisoning by arsenical greens: The Green of the Period, together an artistocratic travelogue, a scientific treatise and a political pamphlet, is an extraordinary piece questioning modern ambiguity towards our toxic world.

Judith Rainhorn is a Professor in Modern History at University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Centre d’histoire sociale des mondes contemporains). She has been a History of Science Fellow at the Maison française d’Oxford in 2019 and a long-term visiting researcher in History in 2020-2022. Her research interests include the history of medicine and health in urban societies, environmental and labour history in France, Europe and the United States, 19th-20th c., on which she has published extensively. In 2020, Judith received the Fondation des Sciences sociales Award for excellence in research. Judith’s present research deals with the history of industrial poisons and occupational diseases. Her last book, Blanc de plomb. Histoire d’un poison légal (2019) was awarded 3 academic prizes and will soon be published in English translation at White Horse Press (2025). Her forthcoming book is a commented edition of The Green of the Period (1869), to be published both in English and French. She is also working on a biography of Dr Alice Hamilton (1869-1970), an American female physician who pioneered urban social reform and industrial medicine in the US in the early 20th century.
Date: 17 February 2025, 16:00
Venue: Maison Française d’Oxford, 2-10 Norham Road, Oxford OX2 6SE
Speaker: Judith Rainhorn (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne)
Organising department: Oxford Centre for the History of Science, Medicine and Technology
Part of: Oxford Centre for the History of Science Medicine & Technology (OCHSMT) Seminars and Events
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Belinda Clark