/oss/taxonomy/term/7744/all en /oss/article/history-general-science/arsenic-and-old-books <p>I’ve long been intrigued by the 1851 Crystal Palace Exhibition in London. The magnificent building was constructed of 60,000 panes of glass, ten times as many as in the windows of the Empire State Building! There were exhibits from around the world that included the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond, a steam-powered printing press, an early prototype of a fax machine and a device that used leeches to predict the weather based on the idea that leeches in a jar of water would rise to the top when a storm was approaching.</p> Thu, 05 Sep 2024 18:23:37 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 10058 at /oss