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The Witch Doctor President and Other Horrific Rulers

Khalid Elhassan December 25, 2019 32 min

25. A Fortuitous Case of Mercury Poisoning

Expedition sent by Chin Shi Huang in search of the Elixir of Life. Wikimedia

Chin Shi Huang’s megalomania included a quest for immortality: he literally wanted to live forever. He lavishly funded searches for a “Life Elixir”, including an expedition with hundreds of ships that sailed off into the Pacific in search of a mythical “Land of the Immortals”. It was never heard from again. He also patronized alchemists who claimed that they were close to inventing the Life Elixir.

One of the charlatans who flocked to the First Emperor’s court gave him daily mercury pills. He claimed that they were a life-prolonging intermediate step in his research for immortality drugs, which should tidy Chin Shi Huang over until the Life Elixir was ready. Swallowing mercury every day, the emperor gradually poisoned himself, and gradually grew insane. He turned into a recluse who concealed himself from all but his closest courtiers, constantly listening to songs about “Pure Beings. The mercury poisoning eventually killed him at the relatively young age of 49.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.