Fear and attraction. Poison in urban imagination. Chile, 1880-1920

Abstract

During the second half of the 19th century, the increased circulation of goodsand manufactures, most of them derived from new productive processes, contributed topicture poison as a dormant risk of the material world in early modernity. This studyexplores poison embedded in those things and focusses on the fear and attraction theyinspired in Chilean urban society. Specifically, is reviews poison and its main featuresin the context of consumer society, considering the connexions poison contributed toestablish between justice and science, through judicial institutions and toxicologicalexpertise. From a broader perspective, this study aims to explore the status of materialculture, its relationship with scientific practice, and the role of latter one in its meanings.