Recently a friend of mine told me about an interesting old story about a man who bought Napoleon Bonaparte's hat. I love antiques and their history. So, after our conversation, he sent me this article Bryan Goldberg. I was very enthusiastic and interested when I read it. Other people will think why a person bought such an expensive hat, but I think otherwise because it's a whole story. And to all those who are at least something like me, I recommend you read it.

Cocked hats such as Napoleon’s (or Nelson’s) were made of felt. Good-quality felt in Napoleon’s time was made of beaver fur, which has the advantage that the individual hairs have microscopic barbs on them, which mean that they can easily be matted into a durable lustrous felt. Cheap hatting felt was (and still is) made from rabbit fur, which has no such barbs and needs chemical treatment to make it felt. In the 18th and 19th centuries the chemical used was mercury, which gave very many hatters chronic mercury poisoning; the symptoms include inflammation of the mouth and lips, muscle tremors, and mental and behavioural changes. This syndrome was so common in the trade that it was known as ‘hatter’s shakes’, and may be the inspiration for the character of the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland.