# White lead

**Cerussa*; ceruse*

**Known today as.** Basic lead carbonate.

Kind: Mineral  
Poisoning: Mercury, arsenic, lead, and antimony (https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/poisons/heavy-metal)  
Toxic: yes

> **Caution.** Poisonous.

## What was it used for?

Cooling and drying in ointments for burns and ulcers; and, notoriously, a whitening paint for the face.

## What does modern science say?

A cumulative poison; lead causes damage to the brain, kidneys, and blood.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **lead carbonate**: 

**Mechanism.** Lead displaces calcium and zinc in enzymes and the nerves; in children it lowers intelligence at any dose.

**Dose.** No safe level; chronic poisoning from paint and cosmetics.

**Standing.** Banned in paint across most of the world; the cosmetic use that whitened the faces of the Elizabethans killed slowly.

## What lore surrounds it?

White lead had a long career as Venetian ceruse, the whitening face paint associated above all with Elizabeth I, whose decades of use are often blamed for the hair loss and skin damage of her later years. Its part in her death is circumstantial: she refused examination by her physicians and no post-mortem was made, so lead poisoning stands beside cancer and pneumonia as an unproven candidate.

## What did the older authorities say?

**Theophrastus.** Describes its manufacture from lead exposed to the fumes of vinegar.

## Sources

- Theophrastus, *On Stones*.
- Pliny, *Natural History* XXXIV.
- Ancient Origins, “Was Queen Elizabeth I Killed by her Poisonous White Makeup?”
- Needleman, H. (2004). “Lead poisoning.” *Annual Review of Medicine* 55.

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*White lead.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-09-25. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/white-lead

Historical description, not medical advice.