Harry Hands

It is with some surprise, and a great deal of regret, that we learn of the passing of Sir Harry Hands (born Warwickshire, 1860). Recognised with Knighthood in 1919, Hands achieved many things in his long and fruitful life, not least his revolutionising of the chocolate production industry in the early 1900s.

Hands observed the molten-chocolate-flow-control methods in place in the major confectionery companies of the time. In character with his ever-unceasing pragmatism, Hands deduced that with the astute placement of a magnetic lattice, particles of chocolate making up a flow could be accelerated and focussed. Chocolate production was radicalised forever. With the greater control and speed achieved, more intricate designs were possible, there was less waste and the production rates of most factories tripled overnight.

The new method was not without its problems. Magnets have a negligible effect on chocolate. Realising this, Hands mixed very fine iron powder with the chocolate to give it the required physical properties. Once the concentrations of iron were such that the taste of blood wasn't noticeable, Hands had perfect solutions: a suspension of iron particles in a viscous brown liquid and an answer to his problem.

Handily, the iron industry was booming just at the right time for Hands. Iron was in plentiful supply. In fact, there was even enough of it to go about pouring it into molten chocolate by the bucket load.

Due to the limitations of medical science at the time, not even Hands could anticipate the consequences of the increased human iron intake encouraged by his chocolate. Amongst these consequences was Pantothenate Kinase Associated Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation (PKAN/NBIA1). It is still strongly debated as to whether this disease leads to iron accumulation in the brain or is caused by it, but, unfortunately for Hands, people consuming magnetic-lattice-produced chocolate were statistically at a far greater risk of the characteristic symptoms of NBIA1: toe walking, seizures, rigidity, weakness, dementia and early death.

People soon began to realise they got a whole lot more than they paid for when they bought a chocolate bar.

News spread across the continent and eventually to America. By the late 1930s most chocolate factories were aware of the dangers of Hands' procedure and had stopped using it. Blinded by greed and the benefits of magnetic lattice production over regular production, a handful of production lines ignored the medical advice they were given by the government and carried on regardless.

In Pennsylvania, 1937, factory workers at the Hershey Chocolate Corporation found out that they had been duped. This left a bitter aftertaste. A long and ultimately violent strike ensued. To this day the strike is still seen as a stand against unfair pay rates, but - if you take a closer look - there is a particular derelict factory in Pennsylvania which is suspiciously rusty.

Sir Harry had suffered from muscle degeneration for many decades before finally succumbing last winter, admittedly at a rather advanced age. He leaves a grandchild, several great-grandchildren and an unfinished Toblerone.

Sources:
Wikipedia - Harry Hands
Wikipedia - Magnetic Lattice
Wikipedia - Pantothenate Kinase Associated Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation
Wikipedia - Pennsylvania Chocolate Workers' Strike, 1937