The Cruise of the Snark, and a little detective work

I am on a South Seas reading binge, and just finished The Cruise of the Snark by Jack London. The trail that led me to this book was A Kauai Reader, which I picked up on Kauai when we were there in late May. There is a wonderful story by Jack London called "Koolau the Leper", which led me to South Sea Tales, where I found out that Jack London and his wife Charmian set out on a little sailboat to explore the Pacific for two years. Naturally I wanted to hear *that* story, so that's how I ended up with "The Cruise of the Snark".

And *that* book has led me to The Narrative Press, which has all kinds of fascinating true first-person accounts of adventure and exploration. Their books are rather expensive, but I'm just dying to read them all. I have a few more in my South Seas library to get through first though.

Anyway, at the end of The Cruise of the Snark", Jack London talks about the terrible "Solomon Sores" that everyone suffers from, everyone who visits the Solomon Islands, that is. (You can read that chapter online here.) The sores are yaws, and he treats them by applying "corrosive sublimate" and hydrogen peroxide.

Later on he describes a terrible swelling of his hands and feet, and thickening of the skin on his palms/soles and his nails. The symptoms are so bad that he can no longer hold anything, and has to abandon the voyage on his beloved sailboat and return to California, first spending half a year convalescing in Australia. He never finds out the cause for his critical condition, but muses that it could be due to the effects of exposure to so much strong tropical UV light.

He was never the same after that, and died painfully a few years later of kidney failure at the tragically young age of 40.

I finished the book last night and wanted to know more about the Solomon Islands, yaws, and what was this "corrosive sublimate" stuff that he was applying to his sores anyways?

It turns out that "corrosive sublimate" is mercury chloride, one of the most toxic and poisonous forms of mercury, easily absorbed through the skin.

Mercury chloride "...may cause severe gastrointestinal irritation, renal failure, and death ...resulting from shock, renal damage, severe gastrointestinal damage or kidney failure. Chronic symptoms include increased salivation, bleeding gums and loosening of the teeth.

Dermal contact with mercuric chloride may cause dermatitis and neurological effects...Other symptoms include swelling and irritation of the hands, feet, cheeks and nose, hair loss, irritability, insomnia, and profuse perspiration which may lead to dehydration. Chronic exposure through absorption is usually the result of regular applications of topical ointments containing mercuric chloride."

So it seems that it was the "corrosive sublimate" that was the leading factor in Jack London's death! Jack had been plagued by a vast number of health problems since his return from the South Seas, including stomach disturbances, ravaging uremia, and failing kidneys. His death certificate from 1916 states that he died of uremic poisoning, which means that your kidneys can no longer filter your blood and you die of your own backed up toxins.

Fascinating stuff, but so sad. I'm certainly not the first person to figure this out, but it was so interesting while I was researching it last night that I didn't get to bed until 1:30am. Aaargh. Love the internet, hate the internet. Good for my brain, bad for sleeping.