{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,5]],"date-time":"2026-09-05T09:53:04Z","timestamp":1788601984977,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":0,"publisher":"Project MUSE","issue":"3","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["pbm"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2001,6]]},"abstract":"<jats:p xml:lang=\"en\">\n\nIt is well known that Abraham Lincoln took a medicine called\n\"blue mass\" or \"blue pill,\" commonly prescribed in the 19th century. What\nis now hardly known is that the main ingredient of blue mass was finely\ndispersed elemental mercury. As his friends understood, mercury was often\nprescribed for melancholy or \"hypochondriasis,\" a condition Lincoln\nfamously endured. Mercury in the form of the blue pill is a potential\nneurotoxin, which we have demonstrated by recreating and testing the\nrecipe. We present the testimony of many of Lincoln's contemporaries\nto suggest that Lincoln suffered the neurobehavioural consequences of\nmercury intoxication but, perhaps crucial to history, before\nthe main years of his presidency; he was astute enough to recognize the\neffects and stop the medication soon after his inauguration.\n\n<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1353\/pbm.2001.0048","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,2,7]],"date-time":"2007-02-07T02:46:45Z","timestamp":1170816405000},"page":"315-332","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Abraham Lincoln's Blue Pills: Did Our 16th President Suffer from Mercury Poisoning?"],"prefix":"10.1353","volume":"44","author":[{"given":"Norbert","family":"Hirschhorn","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Robert G.","family":"Feldman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ian","family":"Greaves","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"147","container-title":["Perspectives in Biology and Medicine"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","deposited":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,19]],"date-time":"2024-01-19T17:45:11Z","timestamp":1705686311000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/muse.jhu.edu\/article\/26064"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2001,6]]},"references-count":0,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2001,6]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1353\/pbm.2001.0048","relation":{},"ISSN":["1529-8795"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1529-8795","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2001,6]]}}}