What caused the Mad Hatter to go mad?

Jeff Imparato Dear Straight Dope: In a discussion of the recent Nicor debacle, the effects of mercury came up, namely that overexposure causes insanity. "In fact," I said, "that's the origin of the phrase 'mad as a hatter,' since people who made hats were exposed to mercury in the course of their work, and it was thus common for aging hatters to go mad." Someone else disagreed, saying that it was the people who wore the hats who were the "mad hatters," because of exposure to mercury residue on the hats.

Can you straighten out this disagreement for us? €” Don Blaheta The most famous Mad Hatter, of course, is the one from the Mad Tea Party in Alice in Wonderland, the partner of the March Hare. Both mad, of course.

But Lewis Carroll did not invent the phrase, although he did create the character. The phrases "mad as a hatter" and "mad as a March hare" were common at the time Lewis Carroll wrote (1865 was the first publication ... more.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.