Almost 200 years after she died, Jane Austen’s early death at the age of just 41 has been attributed to many things, from cancer to Addison’s disease. Now sleuthing from a crime novelist has uncovered a new possibility: arsenic poisoning.
Author Lindsay Ashford moved to Austen’s village of Chawton three years ago. She soon became engrossed in old volumes of Austen’s letters, and one morning spotted a sentence Austen wrote just a few months before she died ”I am considerably better now and am recovering my looks a little, which have been bad enough, black and white and every wrong color.”
Having researched modern forensic techniques and poisons for her crime novels, Ashford immediately realized the symptoms could be ascribed to arsenic poisoning, which can cause “raindrop” pigmentation, where patches of skin go brown or black, and other areas go white.
Photo source: Lilly Library, Indiana University
照片來源:印第安納大學禮來圖書館
Professor Janet Todd, editor for the Cambridge edition of Jane Austen, said that murder was implausible. “I doubt very much she would have been poisoned intentionally. I think it’s very unlikely. But the possibility she had arsenic for rheumatism, say, is quite likely.”
(THE GUARDIAN)
珍‧奧斯汀過世兩百年後,她四十一歲就英年早逝的原因,從癌症到愛迪生氏病眾說紛紜。現在犯罪小說家調查後發現新的可能:砒霜中毒。
作家琳賽艾希佛德三年前搬到奧斯汀住的小鎮喬頓。奧斯汀大量的舊信件馬上就讓她沉迷其中,有一天早上,她發現奧斯汀在生前幾個月寫的一句話:「我現在好多了,外貌也稍微恢復。之前狀況很糟,又黑又白的,什麼不該出現的顏色都出現了。」
艾希佛德為了自己的犯罪小說研究過現代法醫技術與毒藥,立刻發現奧斯汀的症狀可歸因於砒霜中毒,導致「雨滴」般的色素狀病變,讓皮膚有的呈現塊狀的褐色或黑色,有的則是白色。
劍橋版奧斯汀小說集的編輯珍娜陶德表示,珍奧斯汀的死因若是謀殺不太合理。「我非常懷疑她是遭人蓄意毒殺,我覺得這不太可能。不過她如果因為風濕而服用砒霜,可能性就很大。」
(衛報/翻譯:陳維真)
Tangbao are one of the most internationally renowned delicacies, that win the hearts of both locals and tourists. Their charm lies in the paper-thin flour wrapper that needs to be folded evenly almost 20 times. Folding a tangbao requires skill to deal with a bulging filling and a thin wrapper. Tangbao are served in a bamboo steamer in which they are steamed, not only adding to the visual appearance, but ensuring they do not get cold before reaching the table. The best way to enjoy a tangbao is to dip it in a mixture of vinegar and soy sauce with
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) announced a seismic change in direction on March 19, hiking interest rates for the first time in 17 years. The move represents an unwinding of an ultra-loose — and maverick -- policy aimed at putting Japan’s “lost decades” of stagnation and deflation behind it. The last time the BoJ raised interest rates was in 2007, but its war against deflation began in earnest in 2013 under then-prime minister Shinzo Abe. “Abenomics” combined generous government spending and central bank monetary easing. The BoJ spent vast amounts on bonds and other assets to pump liquidity into the
A: Wow, YouTuber Xander 73’s channel “73_Tricking” now has over 10 million subscribers, making him Taiwan’s first 10-million YTR. B: Cool! But what’s “tricking?” A: Basically, it’s a sport derived from extreme martial arts. B: Xander 73’s income is as high as NT$600,000 per month. What’s the secret of his success? A: He often uses English catchphrases in his videos to attract more viewers from around the world. This shows how important English is. A: 哇,YouTuber奇軒的「奇軒Tricking」頻道訂閱突破千萬人, 成為台灣首位千萬YTR! B: 好厲害,但什麼是tricking啊? A: 聽說是極限武術所衍生的運動。 B: 奇軒月入60萬,成功的秘訣是什麼呢? A: 他常使用英文標語,所以能吸引全球觀眾,可見英文多重要。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Have you ever wished for an extra hour to prepare for exams or finish homework? In some countries, people actually adjust their clocks to gain or lose an hour, all for the sake of Daylight Saving Time (DST). Specifically, clocks are set forward by an hour in March and then set back in November. One of the primary reasons for implementing DST is to make better use of natural daylight so that people can reduce energy consumption. The concept originated with Benjamin Franklin in 1784 and became widely adopted during World War I. Today, this system is in place