Wikipedia Trail: From "Mark Twain" to "Cyanogen"

I decided to start my Wikipedia Trail on Mark Twain, one of the authors I read about for my reading notes this week. I knew already that that name was just his pen name and that his real name was actually Samuel Langhorne Clemens. What I didn't know was that he was born right after Halley's comet and predicted that he would also "go out with it" and died after it had returned in 1910. 

Because of my curiosity I then decided to click the link for Halley's Comet. I personally didn't know much about Halley's Comet or comets in general, but I learned that it comes every 74-79 years to a point where it is visible to the naked eye. Its next predicted arrival date is July 28th of 2061 so I hope I'm around to see it.

Since i didn't know much about comets, I decided it was only right to try looking into that term. While gazing upon the beautiful images, I learned that they are "small Solar System bodies" that often release gasses that characterize the "tail." Interestingly enough comets also have been theorized to have brought water to Earth, which eventually gave life to some our most primitive teklites and australites. What i found also was that there is a phobia of comets also, due to Halley's Comet analysis finding potency of cyanogen which scared people into buying gas masks, and hilariously enough "anti-comet pills" and "anti-comet umbrellas."

After looking into cyanogen, it was easy to see why people were so scared of the comet. It can cause eye and respiratory irritation. Overtime it can then cause headache, nausea, dizziness, rapid pulse, loss of consciousness, convulsions, and death, depending on exposure.

With this trail I found it funny how I started with a positive note and wanted to look into Mark Twains life, but then ended up looking into cyanogen (relative to cyanide gas) and was then staring at what seemed like death. It was an interesting start that had a doom-ish feel at the end.