A university library in Denmark has found three of its rare books were poisonous
丹麦一所大学的图书馆发现了三本有毒的善本书籍
THREE rare historic books on the shelves of a Denmark university library have been found to be poisonous. But it wasn’t because the texts were considered toxic.
有三本放在丹麦一所大学的图书馆的书架上的罕见的历史书籍被发现有毒。但这可不是说它们的内容有毒。
OLD books contain many secrets. Myths. Legends. Plots. Scandals. But researchers in Denmark seeking invisible writings found something completely unexpected: poison.
University of Southern Denmark researchers have published an article in The Conversation detailing the deadly discovery.
旧书有着很多秘密、谜团、传奇、剧情和丑闻。但丹麦的寻找古书中隐形字迹的研究者们却有着一个出人意料的发现：毒药。
丹麦南方大学的研究者们在“谈话”杂志上发表了一篇文章，详细描述了这一致命的发现。
The three rare books from the 16th and 17th century were undergoing x-ray fluorescence analysis. The idea was the radiation from the x-ray could discern different chemicals in their pages and bindings — and hopefully uncover lost texts.
对这三本来自16和17世纪的善本书籍正在进行X射线荧光分析。这一想法是想用射线的辐射来分辨书页中和封皮中的不同的化学成分，没准儿还能发现些失踪的内容呢。
Other books in the library had previously been found to have used recycled fragments of much older parchments — such as Roman and canonical law — in their bindings. So the university was looking for more.
图书馆里的其它书籍以前就发现过使用了了更古老书籍的羊皮纸的回收碎片，如罗马法和典范律的书籍，都在封皮中发现的。因此大学就想找更多这样的书籍。
“We tried to identify the Latin texts used, or at least read some of their content,” the researchers write. “But then we found that the Latin texts in the covers of the three volumes were hard to read because of an extensive layer of green pigment which obscures the old handwritten letters.”
“我们想试着辨别出那些拉丁文内容，或至少能读出一些内容，”研究人员写到。“但然后我们发现这三本书的封面上的拉丁文无法阅读，因为有一大层绿色颜料遮盖住了那些旧的手写笔迹。”
The books were taken to the lab for more intensive analysis intended to peer through the paint to find the chemicals of the print below.
But the analysis threw back an unexpected result. The green stains were arsenic. And it was as toxic as the day it was put there.
这些书后来被带到实验室以进行进一步的分析，并想因此透过油漆找出下面文字的化学成分。但获得的分析结果出乎意料。那绿色颜料是砒霜，而且它现在与当时放上去时的毒性一样厉害。
“This chemical element is among the most toxic substances in the world and exposure may lead to various symptoms of poisoning, the development of cancer and even death,” the researchers write.
研究人员写到：“这种化学元素是世界上最毒的物质之一，碰上它将会导致各种中毒症状，癌变的发生，甚至死亡。”
Arsenic was a common component of the ‘Paris green’ paints and lacquers of the 19th century.
砒霜是十九世纪‘巴黎绿’颜料和漆料的常见成分。
“In its heyday, all types of materials, even book covers and clothes, could be coated in Paris green for aesthetic reasons. Of course, continuous skin contact with the substance would lead to symptoms of exposure.”
“在其全盛时代，各种各样的材料，甚至是书籍的封面和衣服，都会因审美的原因而涂上‘巴黎绿’颜料。当然，皮肤持续接触有毒物质就会导致中毒症状出现。”
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