Lead (pronounced /ˈlɛd/) is a main-group element with symbol Pb (Latin: plumbum) and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal, also considered to be one of the heavy metals.
Lead is used in building construction, lead-acid batteries, bullets and shot, weights, and is part of solder, pewter, fusible alloys and radiation shields. Lead has the highest atomic number of all stable elements, although the next element, bismuth, has a half-life so long (longer than the estimated age of the universe) it can be considered stable. Like mercury, another heavy metal, lead is a potent neurotoxin that accumulates in soft tissues and bone over time. Lead poisoning was documented in ancient Rome, Greece, and China.
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When you place a macro-lens up to tiny (some faces are 1/4-1/2 the size or our small fingernail) lead toy figures and find the chinks and gaps left from the original paint wearing off, you begin to form apprehension in your mind about the heads and bodies of these figures going into small mouths...
...not contemporary mouths, because the continuation of these toys as artifacts is mostly controlled and regulated by collectors, dealers, and enlightened parents and individuals. Rather, it's easier to imagine the teeth of kids from the 19th and early 20th centuries chomping down, feeling the soft, slightly sweet surface give way.
When you look at these artifacts, you almost wonder if it was the lead that handed us so many irritable, aggressive crazies with stomach ulcers and other digestive tract disorders, or was it the drama of the inscrutable expressions on the tiny faces...faces only a kids eyes could see in sharp focus.
all content © 2008 Gary Justis