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Jackie Ralston's avatar

Pretty sure lead oxide was used in makeup back in the 18th century too. No wonder so many in the nobility were off their nut.

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Geoff Anderson's avatar

Indeed. Lead is a byproduct of gold and silver smelting, so there was a lot of it (that is also why alchemists thought that transmuting lead to gold was possible) and as a soft metal that is very workable, it found its way into a ton of common uses.

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