Theatrical exhibition ‘The Power of Poison’ to open at Witte Museum

May 20, 2022

SAN ANTONIO – A brand new exhibit known as “The Power of Poison” is coming to the Witte Museum.

The theatrical exhibit will take company via the mist and vines of Colombia’s Chocó Forest.

Visitors shall be in a position to discover poison’s function in nature, legend and human well being with interactive instruments like an enchanted e book.

The enchanted e book resembles an historical botanical quantity and shows animations of well-known toxic plant species, together with belladonna and monkshood.

A household discovers the venomous Eyelash Pit Viper, which is known as for the perimeter of scales that seem to be “eyelashes,” within the Power of Poison Exhibition at the Witte Museum. (Witte Museum)

There’s additionally a life-sized scene of the Mad Hatter from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland,” which tells the story behind the saying “mad as a hatter.”

“Visitors of all ages will enjoy the interactive exhibits while exploring how poison can both harm and heal in the exhibition’s immersive galleries: Poison in Nature, Texas Tales, Poison in Myth & Legend, Detecting Poison, Victims and Villians, and Poison for Good,” a press launch states.

The saying “mad as a hatter” dates again to the nineteenth century when mercuric nitrate was used within the millinery trade to flip fur into felt. Hatters working in poorly ventilated factories breathed in poisonous fumes, and extended publicity led to mercury poisoning with signs — equivalent to trembling, reminiscence loss, melancholy, irritability, and nervousness — which can be nonetheless described as “mad hatter’s disease.” (Witte Museum)

“The Power of Poison” is an elaborate exhibition organized by the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

It shall be open to the general public beginning Saturday, May 21.

The Witte Museum is situated at 3801 Broadway Street and free parking is on the market within the adjoining Brackenridge Park Parking Garage.

May 20, 2022