[MD_Willington_1976]

Oh wahtever... jeez everything is deadly now...

[wideminded]

I think picric acid used to have some medical uses a very long time ago. I once read that it was applied to the skin of some people who had been burned in the Hindenburg diaster.

[Joe 6-pack]

"The sample discovered on the basement shelf dated back to around World War I."

I don't feel so bad about the state of my storage shed anymore...

[Mila]

When I worked in the chemistry department of a hospital lab, I used picric acid to make the reagent I used in performing a test to determine levels of blood creatinine. I remember the crystals as being a yellow color. I wonder if they still do that test, or if by now it’s passe.

[jordan8]

Picric acid was the first high explosive in standard use for artillery shells. The inside of the shells had to be coated to prevent the PA from coming into contact with the metal and forming primary explosive salts. It is the equal of TNT. PA and its fumes are somewhat poisonous. Picric acid was used throughout WW2 and perhaps beyond by some countries, particularly as filler for land mines and as a bulk explosive. You could probably have found examples of it in Vietnam. I think the U.S. didn’t produce it in quantity during WW2 because of its negative qualities and because other explosives were cheaper and easier to make.