(08-20-2018 12:24 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  No ideas? To summarize and specify further:
- The depicted gentleman "added someTHING" to the world that to swallow in those days was considered beneficial in some way.
- Someone in "our" saga did swallow it.
What was it?

Good grief! Was this man an early "dealer" in drugs, such as cocaine and blue mass?

Using Laurie's answer, I'll say mercury. Yes, I know that's what blue mass (Laurie's answer) was. But maybe this person took it 'neat'. I did a quick google and noted that you could inhale mercury. So maybe that's the answer? Breathing in mercury vapour?

(08-20-2018 05:10 PM)AussieMick Wrote:  Using Laurie's answer, I'll say mercury. Yes, I know that's what blue mass (Laurie's answer) was. But maybe this person took it 'neat'. I did a quick google and noted that you could inhale mercury. So maybe that's the answer? Breathing in mercury vapour?

Breathing in mercury vapor while working in the manufacture of hats is claimed to be the cause of Boston Corbett's weird behavior. It also is the origin of the term "mad as a hatter" or simply "Mad Hatter."

Well done, Laurie, blue mass nailed it.
According to Wiki, "the oldest formula is ascribed to one Barbarossa, in a letter to Francis I of France.[1]".

Barbarossa is the depicted gentleman, he was an Ottoman admiral of the fleet and secured Ottoman dominance over the Mediterranean during the mid 16th century:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayreddin_Barbarossa

The source of citation reads:
[1] Frazer, William. Elements of Materia Medica. Dublin, 1851, p. 173.
If anyone wants to try...:
   
https://books.google.de/books?hl=de&id=P...ry&f=false

I would love to see a transcript or picture of that original letter but could not find it.

I always thought Lincoln stopped using blue mass shortly after he became President. But, in an apparent interview with Jane Swisshelm after the assassination, Mary Lincoln said he was still taking the pills until the time of his second inauguration. Most books I have do not mention this interview; rather they use John Stuart's statement that Lincoln stopped taking blue pills about five months after his March 1861 inauguration because they "made him cross."

This building is now gone, but Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in it. Where was the building located?

Cooper Union, Manhattan? (Only because that seems to be the most significant speech pre-President) ... now I've checked Google images for Cooper Union ... l'm fairly sure thats nowhere near big enough to be Cooper Union.

That's a great guess, Michael, but it is incorrect.

Its Peoria isnt it? I was thinking that before I said Cooper Union ... honest ... and Ive just checked Google images and it must (?) be Peoria.

Thanks to Rob Wick and being an avid trivia question reader I am sure it is the "Lost Speech" in Bloomington

(08-24-2018 06:49 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Thanks to Rob Wick and being an avid trivia question reader I am sure it is the "Lost Speech" in Bloomington

OK. "I dips me lid" to Eva ... I reckon thats correct. (And another instance of me needing to be more careful when using Google images.)

Kudos to Eva and Michael. Yes, that is Major's Hall in Bloomington where Lincoln gave his famous "Lost Speech."

Eva and Michael, you both win authentic copies of the speech - very rare and valuable!

(08-24-2018 07:24 AM)AussieMick Wrote:  

(08-24-2018 06:49 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Thanks to Rob Wick and being an avid trivia question reader I am sure it is the "Lost Speech" in Bloomington

OK. "I dips me lid" to Eva ... I reckon thats correct. (And another instance of me needing to be more careful when using Google images.)

Just to clarify - I didn't Google, I truly memorized seeing it on this very forum before and Rob Wick declaring it as what it was (as I said he deserves the prize!).

(08-24-2018 08:41 AM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote:  Just to clarify - I didn't Google, I truly memorized seeing it on this very forum before and Rob Wick declaring it as what it was (as I said he deserves the prize!).

You are correct, Eva. I asked the same question 6 years ago, and Rob got it. I shall also send him a copy. Eva, you have a terrific memory. Kudos!

My mother uses to say I always remember the things no one needs (= trivia). Unfortunately I forget a lot of what I should memorize (and unfortunately I never got the chance to participate in" Who wants to be a millionaire" - but then again money can't pay most of the best things in life...)