Edgar Allan Poe: Heavy Metal Poisoning

638 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Heavy Metal Poisoning death cause

Most people think they know how Edgar Allan Poe met death. Alcohol, right? Actually, no, Edgar Allan Poe was killed by the toxic heavy metal poisoning, Heavy metal poisoning is the toxic accumulation of heavy metals, such as lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium, in the soft tissue of the body. Toward the end of Poe's life, he showed all the signs of heavy metal poisoning. Another theory of his death is rabies. That, however, is not true.

To begin with, when tested, Edgar Allan Poe had elevated levels of heavy metals, specifically mercury, in his hair. Heavy metals can come from industrial exposure, air or water pollution, foods, and medicine. In 1849, Poe was exposed to a cholera epidemic, his doctor prescribed calomel (mercury chloride). In the article "The (Still) Mysterious death of Edgar Allan Poe," Chris Semtner says, "The levels of mercury found in Poe's hair, even at their highest, are still 30 times below the level consistent with mercury poisoning." Even though the tests proved this, Poe had been exposed to heavy metals throughout his life. This long-term exposure, along with his alcohol problem, could have caused kidney/organ failure. Medicine in the 1800s was not as advanced as modern medicine. The doctors only …show more content…

Rabies is a deadly virus spread to people from the saliva of infected animals. The symptoms of rabies are perspiring heavily, shouting at nothing, and hallucination. Poe's doctor, Dr. Henry Wilde, said, "[Poe] had all the features of encephalitic rabies." While in the hospital, Pow was very confused and belligerent, he soon died. He had no bites or scratches, however, rabies can take up to a year to show symptoms. He could have been infected by cats, since he was fond of and had many of them. However, if he did die of rabies, the doctors would have known automatically and wouldn't rule cause of death "unknown." In the 19th century, the rabies virus was very common, all dogs had to be

Show More
Related

  • Who Was Responsible For Edgar Allan Poe's Death

    541 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allen Poe didn’t die from any other disease(s). Evidence shows that he was at a public house where he died. If he died from some disease then people would have alerted police or the bar keep. Edgar any many injuries to the head which was caused from beating. Snodgrass, someone who knew Edgar, talked a lot about Edgar’s binge drinking. So we can conclude that he was drunk when he was killed..

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe Cooping Theory

    607 Words  | 2 Pages

    I do not believe Poe died from carbon monoxide poisoning, heavy metal poisoning or rabies. Hair samples were taken and tested for both carbon monoxide poisoning and heavy metal poisoning. Carbon monoxide poisoning resulted inconclusive while the heavy metal test showed it was 30 times lower than Mercury poisoning. Rabies was not a likely theory as Poe had no animal bites found on his body. He remained thirsty and drinking water until his death while in the hospital and people who have been infected with rabies have hydrophobia. Because of these facts, those theories are easily disproven.

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe Rabies Essay

    663 Words  | 2 Pages

    Scientist had thought that Poe had a severe case of the flu, which is right but it is now known as Encephalitis and Meningitis. Poe’s symptoms are similar to rabies to but there is an explanation for that. Poe did have rabies, which later on progressed into an illness that had spread into his blood. Encephalitis can be caused by rabies from any animal including insects like mosquitos. By the facts that we know, rabies do not have to show a bite-mark, not all of them are visible to human eye, so therefor Poe could have had rabies. How likely is to get bitten from a tick or a mosquito out in the wilderness traveling? It is very likely so Poe did have rabies, but he didn’t die of rabies he died from encephalitis or meningitis. Twenty-six years later after Poe had died they had decided to honor Poe by making a monument for him. When they had reburied him they had found a chunk of his brain (or a lump), scientist had found out that brain tumors don’t decay. A tumor is swelling of the body caused by abnormal growth of tissue. The swollen brain would be an explanation for this because meningitis and encephalitis is a bacterial disease that affects the brain and the spinal cord. Another reason people believe Poe died was from alcoholism. Joseph Walker thought Poe was drunk and had consumed too much alcohol. Yes Poe was found outside of a bar, but you don’t have to go to a bar to just drink. Also impaired judgment is a symptom to meningitis and encephalitis, which can explains why Poe had looked drunk. We know that Poe was an alcoholic before, so we can state that Poe could have had some drinks before hand and had made his sickness progress. People with alcoholism are at more high risk when they get meningitis or encephalitis, which could even cause death. If Poe had been drinking while he had contacted rabies and had gotten meningitis or encephalitis this is

    Read More

  • Examples Of Schizophrenia In The House Of Usher

    1924 Words  | 4 Pages

    His life has the same effect on people as his fiction. One can never be too sure of the accuracy of events, nor the reasons behind them. Poe died at the young age of forty. His death is one of the biggest puzzles in American history. Some critics claim he was drunk, others say he was drugged, and now a new wave say he was trying to commit suicide.

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe's Cooping Theory

    1232 Words  | 3 Pages

    Poe could have died of alcohol poisoning, but doesn't explain his five-day disappearance and his change of clothing. Since alcohol has been a big problem in his life, Edgar could have just been tempted to drink after not having it for a while and just got out of hand. The alcohol theory was propagated by Snodgrass after Poe's death. Snodgrass was a member of the temperance movement and gave lectures across the country. Snodgrass said binge drinking caused the death of Edgar Allan Poe.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay: The Death Of Edgar Allan Poe

    438 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the article “The Murder of Edgar Allan Poe”by Douglas MacGowan, it stated that the cooping gang would compel people to drink whiskey. Also sometimes the whiskey was mixed with other drugs .According to this evidence it shows that he could’ve been drunk from all the alcohol that the gang gave him.In addition it tells us that he may have been on other drugs that he wasn’t supposed to compel . Also in the article “Poe's Death Is Rewritten as Case of Rabies”by Dr.Bentiz, it says that Poe refused alcohol and could only drink water. It also says that Poe wasn’t drunk but, a glass of wine would make him violent. This evidence shows us that he doesn't like alcohol but, sulfur dioxide is in wine and that is a toxic gas. So it would make him act a lot diffrent then he should be acting like. Another article “Poe’s Final Days by K.Silverman” talked about how on October 4 he was unconscious and his face was pale. When Poe was drunk he was abusive and very ungrateful. In fact, Dr.Snodgrass also attributed his death to a lethal amount of alcohol. According to this evidence it shows that the ingredients of wine could possibly make him violent. It also shows us that wine is not good for your body and you shouldn’t drink it. It also could’ve been rabies since he had a cat he could’ve died from

    Read More

  • Biography of Edgar Allan Poe

    11901 Words  | 24 Pages

    ...of evidence points to the fact that he began to drink and fell into the hands of a gang of repeaters who probably gave him drugged liquor and voted him. On October third he was found by Dr. James E. Snodgrass, an old friend, in a, horrible condition at a low tavern in Lombard Street. Summoning a relative of Poe, Dr. Snodgrass had the now unconscious and dying poet taken in a carriage to the Washington Hospital and put into the care of Dr. J. J. Moran, the resident physician. Several days of delirium ensued with only a few intervals of partial consciousness. He called repeatedly for one "Reynolds," and gave vent to every indication of utter despair. Finally on Sunday morning, October 7, 1849, "He became quiet and seemed to rest for a short time. Then, gently, moving his head, he said, 'Lord help my poor soul.'" As he had lived so he died—in great misery and tragedy.

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe's Dementia

    1336 Words  | 3 Pages

    Dementia is a disease that affects the brain’s function of thinking and behavior, and in some cases language and judgment. The disease was proven to interfere with the ability to control emotions and behavior, which explains Poe’s self-destructive mind that lead to his attempt of suicide preceding his wife, Virginia’s, death.(NINDS 1) Poe’s dementia was progressive, meaning that his condition worsened throughout his life. A combination of Poe’s drinking habits and a manic depression could have contributed to this. The slight differences in Poe’s writing demonstrate the progression of mental decline. For example, his writing progresses from his early writing’s appreciation of tragic mysteries of life to an almost pure obsession of death.(Merriman 1)

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe's The Black Cat: Substance Abuse

    1125 Words  | 3 Pages

    Substance abuse plays a role in more than one of Poe's works. In the black cat alcohol drives the narrator to rip out his cats eye with with a pen and then hang the cat in guilt of what he had done. The narrator was a kind hearted man who loved animals and would do nothing to hurt them until he started to drink. He became an angrier person, always getting enraged with the people and creatures around him and his personality changed for the worse. Substance abuse changed him and drove him to be a different person than he really was. After killing the cat he felt little to no remorse for the deed he had committed and went back to his drinking and partying.Eventually his drinking led him to kill his wife, substance abuse changed him into a cold hearted man who could rationalize killing his wife and getting away with it.

    Read More

  • The Life And Death Of Edgar Allan Poe

    1437 Words  | 3 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of actress Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe and actor David Poe, Jr. His father abandoned the family in 1810, and his mother died of tuberculosis when he was only two, so Poe was taken into the home of John Allan, a successful tobacco merchant in Richmond, Virginia. Although his middle name is often misspelled as "Allen," it is actually "Allan" after this family. After attending the Misses Duborg boarding school in London and Manor School in Stoke Newington, London, England, Poe moved back to Richmond, Virginia, with the Allans in 1820. Poe registered at the University of Virginia in 1826, but only stayed there for one year. He was estranged from his foster father at some point in this period over gambling debts Poe had acquired while trying to get more spending money, and so Poe enlisted in the United States Army as a private using the name Edgar A. Perry on May 26, 1827. That same year, he released his first book, Tamarlane and Other Poems. After serving for two years and attaining the rank of Sergeant-major, Poe was discharged. In 1829, Poe's foster mother Frances Allan died and he published his second book, Al Aaraf. As per his foster mother's deathwish, Poe reconciled with his foster father, who coordinated an appointment for him to the United States Military Academy at West Point. His time at West Point was ill-fated, however, as Poe supposedly deliberately disobeyed orders and was dismissed. After that, his foster father repudiated him until his death in March 27, 1834.

    Read More

  • The Life of Edgar Allan Poe

    859 Words  | 2 Pages

    The life of Edgar Allan Poe, was stuffed with tragedies that all affected his art. From the very start of his writing career, he adored writing poems for the ladies in his life. When he reached adulthood and came to the realization of how harsh life could be, his writing grew to be darker and more disturbing, possibly as a result of his intense experimenting with opium and alcohol. His stories continue to be some of the most frightening stories ever composed, because of this, some have considered this to be the reason behind these themes. Many historians and literature enthusiasts have presumed his volatile love life as the source while others have credited it to his substance abuse. The influence of his one-of-a-kind writing is more than likely a combination of both theories; but the main factor is the death of many of his loved ones and the abuse which he endured. This, not surprisingly, darkened his perspective considerably.

    Read More

  • The Mysterious Death of Edgar Allen Poe

    1944 Words  | 4 Pages

    On September 28, 1849, Edgar Allan Poe arrived in Baltimore, Maryland to take a train to Philadelphia. What was supposed to be a brief stop over turned into an eternity. What caused the death of "the father of the detective story"? The possible scenarios surrounding the events that lead up to his death are the cause of many magazine articles, books, and even recent medical studies. Although no one really knows what happened to Edgar Alan Poe, there are over twenty different theories about what might have happened to him. I will discuss the four major theories of what Edgar Allan Poe's cause of death was.

    Read More

  • once upon a midnight dreary

    565 Words  | 2 Pages

    Edgar Allan Poe had a devastating childhood and a dark life as an adult. He was born January 19,1809, under the name of Edgar Poe. His father soon abandoned Poe and his fate is unknown. When Poe was two years old his mother died. John Allan who was part of the Ellis and Allan Tobacco Merchants then adopted him. Poe attended many schools because he could never manage to stay in one school very long. In 1826, he went to the University of Virginia for not even one year and was kicked out because he never paid his gambling debts. Poe started living a dark life after he was kicked out because he had to live on the streets. He married his 13-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm in 1836. He was happy until 1847 when Virginia Clemm died. He was so unhappy that a year later he attempted suicide. The circumstances of Poe’s death remain a mystery. But after a visit to Norfolk and Richmond for lectures, he was found in Baltimore in a pitiable condition and taken unconscious to a hospital where he died on Sunday, October 7, 1849. He was buried in the yard of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland.

    Read More

  • The Insane Effects of Alcohol Abuse in Edgar Allan Poe´s The Black Cat

    1276 Words  | 3 Pages

    In "The Black Cat," the author, Edgar Allan Poe, uses a first person narrator who is portrayed as a maniac. Instead of having a loving life with his wife and pets, the narrator has a cynical attitude towards them due to his mental instability as well as the consumption of alcohol. The narrator is an alcoholic who takes out his own insecurities on his family. It can be very unfortunate and in some cases even disastrous to be mentally unstable. Things may take a turn for the worst when alcohol is involved, not only in the narrator's case, but in many other cases as well. Alcohol has numerous affects on people, some people may have positive affects while others, like the narrator in "The Black Cat," may have negative affects like causing physical and mental abuse to those he loved. The combination of the narrator's mental instability along with the consumption of alcohol caused the narrator to lose control of his mind as well as his actions leading him to the brink of insanity. Though the narrator is describing his story in hopes that the reader feels sympathy towards him, he tries to draw the attention to his abuse of alcohol to demonstrate the negative affects that it can take on your life as well as destroy it in the end.

    Read More

  • Edgar Allan Poe's Obsession with Death

    690 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout Edgar Allan Poe’s life, death was a frequent visitor to those he loved around him. When Poe was only 3 years old, his loving mother died of Tuberculosis. Because Poe’s father left when he was an infant, he was now an orphan and went to live with the Allan’s. His stepmother was very affectionate towards Edgar and was a very prominent figure in his life. However, years later she also died from Tuberculosis, leaving Poe lonely and forlorn. Also, later on, when Poe was 26, he married his cousin 13-year-old Virginia, whom he adored. But, his happiness did not last long, and Virginia also died of Tuberculosis, otherwise known as the Red Death, a few years later. After Virginia’s death, Poe turned to alcohol and became isolated and reckless. Due to Edgar Allan Poe’s loss of those he cared for throughout his life, Poe’s obsession with death is evident in his works of “The Tell-Tale Heart”, “The Black Cat”, and “The Fall of the House of Usher”, in which in all three death is used to produce guilt.

    Read More

More about Edgar Allan Poe: Heavy Metal Poisoning

Open Document