Editing Mad Hatter (section)

===Etymology===
[[Mercury (element)|Mercury]] was used in the manufacturing of felt hats during the 19th century, causing a high rate of [[mercury poisoning]] among those working in the hat industry.{{sfn|Myers|2003|p=276}} Mercury poisoning causes neurological damage, including slurred speech, memory loss, and tremors, which led to the phrase "[[mad as a hatter]]".{{sfn|Myers|2003|p=276}} In the [[Victorian era|Victorian age]], many workers in the textile industry, including hatters, sometimes developed illnesses affecting the nervous system, such as central nervous system (CNS) tuberculosis, which is portrayed in novels like ''[[Alton Locke]]'' by [[Charles Kingsley]] and ''[[North and South (Gaskell novel)|North and South]]'' by [[Elizabeth Gaskell]], which [[Lewis Carroll]] had read. Many such workers were sent to Pauper Lunatic Asylums, which were supervised by Lunacy Commissioners such as Samuel Gaskell and [[Robert Wilfred Skeffington Lutwidge]], Carroll's uncle. Carroll was familiar with the conditions at asylums and visited at least one, the Surrey County Asylum, himself, which treated patients with so-called [[Moral treatment|non-restraint methods]] and occupied them, amongst others, in gardening, farming and hat-making.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|last1=Kohlt|first1=Franziska|title='The Stupidest Tea-Party in All My Life': Lewis Carroll and Victorian Psychiatric Practice|journal=Journal of Victorian Culture|date=26 April 2016|volume=22|issue=2|pages=147–167|doi=10.1080/13555502.2016.1167767}}</ref> Besides staging theatre plays, dances and other amusements, such asylums also held tea-parties.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Tuke|first1=Samuel|title=Description of the Retreat, an institution near York, for insane persons of the Society of Friends : containing an account of its origin and progress, the modes of treatment, and a statement of cases|date=1813|location=York|page=111|url=https://archive.org/stream/2575045R.nlm.nih.gov/2575045R#page/n111/mode/2up/search/tea|publisher=Philadelphia : Published by Isaac Peirce ...}}</ref>