[Ansteorra] Shenanigans II: Electric Boogaloo

[Tim McDaniel]

On Wed, 17 Feb 2010, Stefan li Rous <StefanliRous at austin.rr.com> wrote:
> Which industries using urine or urine byproducts do you see a high
> fatality [rate] in?

Late medieval warfare onward, and gunpowder handling in general.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_nitrate>:

     Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula
     KNO3.  A naturally occurring mineral source of nitrogen, KNO3
     constitutes a critical oxidizing component of black
     powder/gunpowder.  In the past it was also used for several kinds
     of burning fuses, including slow matches.  Potassium nitrate
     readily precipitates from mixtures of salts, and decomposing urine
     was the main commercial source of the nitrate ion, through various
     means, from the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern era through the
     19th century.


Not a *high* fatality rate, but at least one: a conversation I once
had at a party with a couple who had been researching medieval
suicide.  The gentleman said that he had been trying to read a record,
but at first glance made out little more than the word "hanged" and
then the word "drowned".  He eventually puzzled out the hand and the
meaning.  Yeah, you need privacy to kill yourself, and in a medieval
society the only possible privacy was in the privy ...  _but make
damned sure you have a stout rope_!

Daniel de Lindo Colonia
-- 
Tim McDaniel, tmcd at panix.com