"Mad as a Hatter"
During the 19th Century and earlier, hats made of
beaver were all the fashion rage. The pelts were soft and easy to
work with. The beaver made exceptional hats. There was not,
however, enough beaver pelts to keep up with the demand for
hats.
It was discovered that rabbit pelts would also work in the
making of hats. They were cheap and plentiful. The only problem
with them was that they had very short hairs that required special
treatment. In order to work with these pelts the hatters would use
mercurous nitrate to treat the pelts in a process know as
‘carroting’.
In order to do this the hatters kept a heated solution of the
substance on hand for the treatment. Mercurous nitrate was not
thought to be a problem to work with since it was inorganic.
However in the poorly ventilated areas of the shops where it was
often used, it was indeed toxic.
Hatters would often suffer from the toxic fumes with which they
had unwittingly poisoned themselves. They would develop signs of
paranoia and tremble and drool on themselves. Many times they would
have other delusional moments and walk around muttering to
themselves. All of this gave rise to the term, "mad as a
hatter".
It would have been well for others if these symptoms had stayed
with the hatters. But , alas, the hatter’s customers often would
suffer some of the same signs as the hatters from wearing the
mercury treated hats. And so it was that those that associated with
the hatters became mad also.
Now if you dare you too can enter into the hatter’s den with the
geocache ‘Mad Hatter 3’. But beware, the same fate that awaited
those who associated with the hatters may also await you if you
participate in the madness of this adventure. Now if you dare, you
can stare deeply into the madness of the hatter and see if you can
find the Mad Hatter’s cache. Proceed with caution! If you should
feel yourself starting to lose sense of reason, muttering,
trembling with frustration, or drooling on your paper, perhaps you
should consider turning back and letting it go!
To log this cache 1st solve the puzzle and get the cache
coordinates. The listed coordinates at the top of the page are
not the correct coordinates.
2nd at the cache site, find the answer to the question, Who was
the Hatter and what was the name of his son?
3rd to get credit for this cache you must email me the name of
the hatter and the name of his son. Most importantly include the
correct last 3 digits of the N coordinates.
Do not post the information on the site or it will be deleted.
The coordinates are the most important thing you have to send me
because the other information can be discovered various ways.