24. A Quest for Immortality That Backfired
In pursuit of immortality, Chin Shi Huang solicited the advice and assistance of numerous philosophers, alchemists, opportunists, sketchy characters, and outright charlatans. One of them gave the First Emperor mercury pills, which he claimed were a life-prolonging intermediate step in his research for immortality drugs. Using them every day should tidy Chin Shi Huang over until the Life Elixir was ready. Chin Shi Huang swallowed mercury every day, gradually poisoned himself, and gradually grew insane. He turned into a recluse who concealed himself from all but his closest courtiers and spent much of his time listening to songs about “Pure Beings”.
Many of the First Emperor’s crazier and more brutal decisions, such as the burial of scholars and burning of books, were probably caused by the mercury pills. Rather than prolong his life, Chin Shi Huang gave himself a nasty dose of mercury poisoning. It made him literally crazy, and finished him off at the relatively young age of 49. It happened during one of his tours of the provinces, when he dropped dead inside his spacious imperial carriage – a miniature house on wheels – on September 10th, 210 BC.