History of poison
Encyclopedia
The history of poison
stretches from before 4500 BC to the present day
. Poisons have been used for many purposes across the span of human existence, most commonly as weapon
s, anti-venoms, and medicine
s. Poison has allowed much progress in branches, toxicology
, and technology
, among other sciences.
Poison was discovered in ancient times, and was used by ancient tribes and civilizations as a hunting tool to quicken and ensure the death of their prey or enemies. This use of poison grew more advanced, and many of these ancient peoples began forging weapons designed specifically for poison enhancement. Later in history, particularly at the time of the Roman Empire
, one of the more prevalent uses was assassination
. As early as 331 BC, poisonings executed at the dinner table or in drinks were reported, and the practice became a common occurrence. The use of fatal substances was seen among every social class; even the nobility
would often use it to dispose of unwanted political or economic opponents.
In Medieval
Europe, poison became a more popular form of killing, though cures surfaced for many of the more widely known poisons. This was stimulated by the increased availability of poisons; shops known as apothecaries, selling various medicinal wares, were open to the public, and from there, substances that were traditionally used for curative purposes were employed for more sinister means. At approximately the same time, other areas of the world were making great advances in terms of poison; Arabs had successfully made arsenic odorless and transparent, making assassinations impossible to detect. This "poison epidemic" was also prevalent in parts of Asia
at this time, as well.
Over the centuries, the use of poisons for devious means and harmful purposes continued to escalate. The means for curing these poisons also continued to advance, but new poisons surfaced and became popular among criminals. In the present day, poisoning by harmful intent is less prevalent, and the risk of accidental poisoning now exists more in everyday substances and products. In addition, its use has widened exponentially; poison is often used as a pesticide
, disinfectant, cleaning solution, or preservative
, among others. Despite this, the first use of poison—as a hunting tool—still remains in remote parts of developing countries, especially those in Africa
, South America
, and Asia.
Archaeological
findings prove that while ancient mankind
used conventional weapons such as axes and clubs, and later swords, they sought more subtle, destructive means of causing death
—something that could be achieved through poison.
Grooves for storing or holding poisons such as tubocurarine
have been found in their hunting weapons and tools, showing that early humans had discovered poisons of varying potency and applied them to their weapons. Some speculate that this use and existence of these strange and noxious substances was kept secret within the more important and higher-ranked members of a tribe
or clan
, and were seen as emblems of a greater power. This may have also given birth to the concept of the stereotypical "medicine man
" or "witch doctor
".
Once the use and danger of poison was realized, it became apparent that something and or tim
had to be done. Mithridates VI
, King of Tim
(an ancient Hellenistic state of northern Anatolia
), from around 114–63 BC, lived in constant fear of being assassinated through poison. He became a hard-working pioneer in the search for a cure for poisons. In his position of power, he was able to test poisons on criminals facing execution, and then if there was a possible antidote. He was paranoid to the point that he administered daily amounts of poisons in an attempt to make himself immune to as many poisons as he could. Eventually, he discovered a formula that combined small portions of dozens of the best-known herbal remedies of the time, which he named Mithridatium. This was kept secret until his kingdom was invaded by Pompey the Great
, who took it back to Rome. After being defeated by Pompey
, Mithridates' antidote prescriptions and notes of medicinal plants were taken by the Romans and translated into Latin.
Pliny the Elder
describes over 7000 different poisons. One he describes as "The blood of a duck found in a certain district of Pontus, which was supposed to live on poisonous food, and the blood of this duck was afterwards used in the preparation of the Mithridatum, because it fed on poisonous plants and suffered no harm."
Poisoned weapons were used in ancient India, and war tactics in ancient India
have references to poison. A verse in Sanskrit reads "Jalam visravayet sarmavamavisravyam ca dusayet," which translates to "Waters of wells were to be mixed with poison and thus polluted."
Chānakya
(c. 350–283 BC), also known as Kautilya, was adviser and prime minister
to the first Maurya
Emperor Chandragupta
(c. 340–293 BC). Kautilya suggested employing means such as seduction, secret use of weapons, and poison for political gain. He also urged detailed precautions against assassination—tasters for food and elaborate ways to detect poison. In addition, the death penalty for violations of royal decrees was frequently administered through the use of poison.
knowledge and use of poisons can only be dated back to approximately 300 BC. However, it is believed that the earliest known Egyptian pharaoh
, Menes
, studied the properties of poisonous plants and venoms, according to early records.
After this, however, evidence of knowledge of poison in Ptolemaic Egypt can be traced to the writings of an ancient alchemist, Agathodiamon (100BC approx.), who spoke of an (unidentified) mineral that when mixed with natron
produced a 'fiery poison'. He described this poison as 'disappearing in water', giving a clear solution. Emsley speculates that the 'fiery poison' was arsenic trioxide, the unidentified mineral having to have been either realgar
or orpiment
, due to the relation between the unidentified mineral and his other writings.
The Egyptians are also thought to have come into knowledge about elements such as antimony
, copper
, crude arsenic
, lead
, opium
, and mandrake
(among others). Other such secrets were revealed in papyri
. Egyptians are now thought to be the first to properly master distillation
, and to manipulate the poison that can be retrieved from peach kernels.
Finally, Cleopatra is said to have poisoned herself with an asp after hearing of Marc Antony's demise. Prior to her death, she was said to have sent many of her maidservants to act as guinea pigs to test different poisons, including belladonna, henbane
, and the strychnine
tree's seed.
In Roman times, poisoning carried out at the dinner table or common eating or drinking area was not unheard of, or even uncommon, and was happening as early as 331 BC. These poisonings would have been used for self-advantageous reasons in every class of the social order. The writer Livy
describes the poisoning of members of the upper class and nobles of Rome
, and Roman emperor Nero
is known to have favored the use of poisons on his relatives, even hiring a personal poisoner. His preferred poison was said to be cyanide
.
Nero's predecessor, Claudius
, was allegedly poisoned with mushrooms or alternatively poison herbs. However, accounts of the way Claudius died vary greatly. Halotus
, his taster, Xenophon, his doctor, and the infamous poisoner Locusta
have all been accused of possibly being the administrator of the fatal substance, but Agrippina
, his final wife, is considered to be the most likely to have arranged his murder and may have even administered the poison herself. Some report that he died after prolonged suffering following a single dose at his evening meal, while some say that he recovered somewhat, only to be poisoned once more by a feather dipped in poison which was pushed down his throat under the pretense of helping him to vomit, or by poisoned gruel or an enema. Agrippina is considered to be the murderer, because she was ambitious for her son, Nero
, and Claudius had become suspicious of her intrigues.
and witchcraft
, there were sellers and suppliers of potion
s and poisons, known as apothecaries. Despite the fact that the medicinal uses of poisons were now known, it was no secret that people bought poisons for less useful and lawful reasons. The alchemists who worked in these apothecaries suffered a considerable risk to their health, working so invariably close to poisonous substances. At the same time, in other areas of the world, the technological advancement of poisons was expanding, and in the Arab
nations, some had succeeded in making arsenic transparent, odourless and tasteless when applied to a drink, a method which would allow poison murderers to remain undetected for at least one millennium.
An excerpt from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales
, a text that existed sometime in the 14th century to the 15th century describes a killer buying poison from an apothecary to rid a rat
infestation:
This is one example of work of literature
related to poison; poisons and potions were a very popular subject particularly in fiction, such as in Shakespeare's works. There were also academic texts discussing the subject, and both non-fiction
and fiction
were written for the most part by monk
s, whose knowledge
and wisdom
were respected, and as such authored a large portion of published works on the subject.
One example of a non-fiction work is The Book of Venoms, a book describing the known poisons of the time, their effects and uses, written by Magister Santes de Ardoynis in 1424. It also recommended the best known treatments for a given poison.
Despite this, it is considered probable that these factual works were not released to the public
, but kept within appropriate learned circles for study and research.
and rumors
about poisons, and use of them for purposes that were distasteful to the public. This caused a level of paranoia
within areas of the societies of England
and Europe
. This wave of concern was furthered by the availability of "medicine" potent enough to be lethal when secretly administered in sufficient quantity—it provided an easy way to kill, and one which was subtle, quiet, and generally allowed the criminal to remain undetected.
Perhaps it was this wave of paranoia that swept the streets, or the public need for answers about these toxins, but books about ways of counteracting poisons became sought for, and fed off the mounting anxiety, even though generally being wholly inaccurate.
Naturally, crafty book salesmen would have sought to inflame the issue as a marketing ploy, and exaggerate the risk so that people would buy their books in search of a non-existent security. Other salesmen such as jewelry traders offering a supposedly poison-weakening amulet
, or a doctor
selling a magical cure would have profited greatly in such times of doubt.
The information the public craved was kept from them, a treasure only for scholars and scientists, and so the public was left to make their own assumptions.
. He made discoveries relating to a mercury chloride called corrosive sublimate. An ointment derived from this sublimate was used to cure what Rhazes described as 'the itch
', which is now referred to as scabies
. This proved an effective treatment because of mercury's poisonous nature and ability to penetrate the skin, allowing it to eliminate the disease and the itch.
In India, the troubled 14th and 15th centuries in Rajasthan
saw invasions in the Rajput
heartlands. Rajput women practiced a custom of jauhar ( literally the taking of life) when their sons, brothers, or husbands faced certain death in battle. Jauhar was practiced within the Kshatriya
warrior class to avoid the fate of subservience, slavery, rape, or slaughter at the hands of the invading forces.
, the use of poisons for unlawful and reprehensible intentions had peaked; it was arguably becoming any assassin or murderer's essential tool. This peaking of poison's popularity within crime syndicates and circles would probably have been due at least in part to the new discoveries that were then being made about poison.
Italian alchemists for one were, in the 14th and 15th century, realizing the potential of the combining of poisonous substances to create even more potent brews than the ones that had been put together, and other new properties of poison were becoming clearer. A science of the study was forming, something today known as toxicology.
So prominently used for homicide in society was poison that one would be fearful even to attend a dinner party for fear of having the food or drink poisoned by either the host or perhaps one of the guests.
Cesare Borgia
was the son of Pope Alexander VI
, perhaps one of the most disputed popes in regards to legitimacy, having used his power to promote his five sons to high titles. He was thought to be a hostile and ruthless man, and was avoided and feared. Borgia was notorious not only for being the son of a very controversial man, but also because he was thought to be a poison-wielding murderer. In the following quote, Apollinaire describes what he believes is a kind of 'Borgia Recipe' used for the disposing of victims:
After the death of Cesare Borgia's father, many rumors circulated proposing several theories about the cause, although most ended with the Pope having died in some horrible way involving murder, usually by poisoning. Apollinaire's idea was that the pope was poisoned by wine which was in fact intended for another at the dinner table, Cardinal de Corneto. Sanuto held a similar theory, except that it involved a box of sweetmeats, instead of wine. Whatever the case, the death of the pope elicited little mourning, which was expected after the debased standards of his tenure. Historical evidence suggests that the pope was indeed poisoned in some way; when his body was exhibited, it was in a shocking state of decomposition. To reduce suspicion, it was only on display at night by candlelight.
including Venice
and Rome, there were actual schools teaching the ways of poison and the 'art' which had been born.
Earlier, in the fifteenth century, a guild of alchemists and poisoners known as the Council of Ten was formed. This cult
of poison-wielding assassins carried out contracts for people who paid them enough money, and usually anyone contracted for death ended up slain, killed by an undetected dose of lethal substances of varying description.
One 'very strong mixture' used in the book is the Veninum Lupinum, which consists of a mix of aconite
, taxus baccata
, caustic lime, arsenic
, bitter almonds and powdered glass
mixed with honey. The overall product is a pill
approximately the size of a walnut
.
, where criminal poisoning was becoming more and more frequent. It is estimated that in the 1570s that there would have been about thirty thousand people in Paris
alone using poison or having some connection to poison in an illegal or immoral way. It was becoming something of which was described as a 'plague' or 'epidemic'.
And this epidemic, while obviously contributing greatly to the death toll, was also greatly affecting citizens who had no connection to poison.
Many people, nobles especially, were becoming extremely afraid of poisoning. They would attend dinner parties of only the most trusted, and hired only hand-picked servants.
Several instances very famous or high-born people who were very afraid of poisoning are both Henrietta Anne of England and Henry IV
.
The princess Henrietta Anne of England was so fearful and aware of poisoning that she instantly made the assumption that she had been poisoned when she was afflicted with a peritonitis due to a duodenal ulcer, while Henry IV, while making a visit to the Louvre
, was recorded to have eaten only eggs that he had cooked himself, and drank only water that he had poured for himself.
Later, in 1662, Louis XIV limited the sale of poisons within apothecaries, and certain poisons were not to be sold, except to people whom the shopkeeper knew well to be trustworthy.
Trustworthy alchemists did, however, become hard to find during this period; many of them were con men, fooling both their patrons and the public at large into believing that Mercury
, thought then to be something of a 'core' element—one of which all others were invariably composed—was convertible into gold and other fine metals. While many took advantage of this belief, others genuinely, in the name of science, attempted to make gold out of less valuable and duller elements. Such of these alchemists were driven towards the same goal of attaining three objects of high desire within alchemical circles: the Philosopher's Stone
, able to change base metal
s into pure gold; the Elixir of Life
, which lengthened one's life expansively, and finally, the Alkahest
, a substance which was capable of dissolving anything. The pursuit of these goals, as fantastical, but scientifically supported as it was, retarded greatly the progress of alchemical science, as these goals were ultimately impossible to realize.
became so astounded with the number of poison-related confessions that they had listened to that they decided to inform the king about how bad the 'epidemic' of poison actually was. In response to this, the king organized an order dedicated to the investigation of poisonings called the Chambre Ardente
, and the investigation itself became known as the affaire des poisons
.
Despite the fact that the inquisitors had been sponsored by the sovereign himself, they failed to catch many of the worst and most murderous poisoners, in whom probably had many connections in which were employed to evade punishment. However, in the life of the order, approximately 442 persons were caught and received punishment.
The work of this order did cause a backfiring, or side effect that was a magnifying in the interest of poison and how to use them, and, inexplicably, many people actually became actively involved in poison after the birth of an order made to reduce poisonings.
Spain
was notable for the fact that it had, by some means or another, committed several failed attempts at the disposal of Queen Elizabeth of England.
One person named Dr. Rodrigo Lopez
, a Jewish physician, was called on by Spain to kill the queen, but he was caught and then later hanged, drawn and quartered for the act, though Elizabeth herself and Robert Cecil
doubted his guilt. It is thought that some aspects, specifically a character, of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice
may refer to or have been inspired by this Dr. Lopez.
After this particular incident, the queen's food had to be tasted for poisoning, and greater security was put into effect. She was even known to have taken antidotes on a weekly basis for protection.
Conversely, royal assassination attempts by poison were also domestic in Spain, with several people and groups wanting to kill the monarchs. One successful attempt at this (probable one of few in Europe) was the poisoning of Marie Louise, the wife of Carlos II
, who died suddenly in September 1689.
, and was still labeled as an epidemic of sorts. Poison was still considered one of the easiest and simplest ways to commit murder.
However, several changes occurred in the Victorian era, such as the rise of the life insurance
industry
, which made poisoning the "fashionable" crime, considering the guaranteed and lucrative profit in the killing of a life-ensured relative with a large price on their head.
But as the move into the 1900s occurred, the technology of preventing poisoning became better and more efficient, and criminal poisoning become much more difficult than in previous centuries.
It had to be made cleaner and better planned to match the ever-advancing technologies employed against would-be poisoners.
However, because of a wider range of educated people, more people were able to understand how to use poison and were intelligent or skilled enough to plan out a logical poison-induced murder, whereas in past times, usually only a select few knowledgeable people knew enough to conduct a successful homicide.
by captured agents of the Resistance as a means of suicide to escape the heinous torture of their enemies. Nazi war leader Hermann Goering even used it to kill himself the night before he was supposed to be hanged during the Nuremberg Trials
. Adolf Hitler
had also taken a pill of cyanide
but he bit down on the capsule and shot himself in the right temple shortly before the fall of Berlin along with his wife, Eva Braun
.
However, new poisons became more frequently used to outmatch the knowledge of the current toxicology field of science. In this way, wielding a new and unknown poison, a poisoner could kill someone, and the death might be mistaken as an unfortunate case of a rare illness
. This put a new strain on toxicology and other branches dealing with poison, and toxicologists were forced to work hard to keep up with the criminals who were using poisons that they had never previously encountered.
In the late 20th century, an increasing number of products used for everyday life proved to be poisonous. The risk of being poisoned nowadays lies more in the accidental factor, where poison be induced or taken by accident. These problems occur more frequently in children, and poisoning is the 4th most common cause of death within young people. Accidental ingestions are most common in children less than 5 years old.
However, hospital
and emergency facilities are much enhanced compared to the first half of the 20th century and before,
and antidotes are more available.
Antidotes have been found for many poisons, and the antidotes for some of the most commonly known poisons are shown in the table below:
However, poison still exists as a murderous entity today, but it is not as popular form of conducting murder as it used to be in past times, probably because of the wider range of ways to kill people and other factors that must be taken into consideration. One of the more recent deaths by poisoning was that of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko
in 2006 from lethal polonium-210
radiation poisoning
.
s, have been known to be used in some form since about 2500 BC. However, the use of pesticides has increased staggeringly from 1950, and presently approximately 2.5 million
tons of industrial pesticides are used each year. Other poisons can also be used to preserve foods
and building material.
In Africa, certain arrow poisons are made using floral ingredients, such as of that taken from the plant Acokanthera. This plant contains ouabain
, which is a cardiac glycoside, oleander
, and milkweeds.
Poisoned arrows are also still used in the jungle areas of Assam
, Burma and Malaysia. The ingredients for the creation of these poisons are mainly extracted from plants of the Antiaris
, Strychnos
and Strophanthus genera, and Antiaris toxicaria (a tree of the mulberry
and breadfruit
family), for example, is used in the Java island of Indonesia, as well as several of its surrounding islands.
The juice or liquid extracts are smeared on the head of the arrow, and inflicts the target paralysis
, convulsions and/or cardiac arrest
, virtually on strike due to the speed in which the extracts can affect a victim.
As well as plant based poisons, there are others that are made that are based on animals. For example, the larva or pupae of a beetle
genus of the Northern Kalahari Desert
is used to create a slow-acting poison that can be quite useful when hunting. The beetle itself is applied to the arrow head, by squeezing the contents of the beetle right onto the head. Plant sap is then mixed and serves as an adhesive
. However, instead of the plant sap, a powder
made from the dead, eviscerated larva can be used.
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
stretches from before 4500 BC to the present day
Present day
The term "present day" is used to describe the approximate period of time that surrounds the present. Depending on the context, this period may be as narrow as referring to the immediate moment, or as broad as referring to the current year or decade...
. Poisons have been used for many purposes across the span of human existence, most commonly as weapon
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
s, anti-venoms, and medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
s. Poison has allowed much progress in branches, toxicology
Toxicology
Toxicology is a branch of biology, chemistry, and medicine concerned with the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms...
, and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
, among other sciences.
Poison was discovered in ancient times, and was used by ancient tribes and civilizations as a hunting tool to quicken and ensure the death of their prey or enemies. This use of poison grew more advanced, and many of these ancient peoples began forging weapons designed specifically for poison enhancement. Later in history, particularly at the time of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, one of the more prevalent uses was assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
. As early as 331 BC, poisonings executed at the dinner table or in drinks were reported, and the practice became a common occurrence. The use of fatal substances was seen among every social class; even the nobility
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
would often use it to dispose of unwanted political or economic opponents.
In Medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
Europe, poison became a more popular form of killing, though cures surfaced for many of the more widely known poisons. This was stimulated by the increased availability of poisons; shops known as apothecaries, selling various medicinal wares, were open to the public, and from there, substances that were traditionally used for curative purposes were employed for more sinister means. At approximately the same time, other areas of the world were making great advances in terms of poison; Arabs had successfully made arsenic odorless and transparent, making assassinations impossible to detect. This "poison epidemic" was also prevalent in parts of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
at this time, as well.
Over the centuries, the use of poisons for devious means and harmful purposes continued to escalate. The means for curing these poisons also continued to advance, but new poisons surfaced and became popular among criminals. In the present day, poisoning by harmful intent is less prevalent, and the risk of accidental poisoning now exists more in everyday substances and products. In addition, its use has widened exponentially; poison is often used as a pesticide
Pesticide
Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...
, disinfectant, cleaning solution, or preservative
Preservative
A preservative is a naturally occurring or synthetically produced substance that is added to products such as foods, pharmaceuticals, paints, biological samples, wood, etc. to prevent decomposition by microbial growth or by undesirable chemical changes....
, among others. Despite this, the first use of poison—as a hunting tool—still remains in remote parts of developing countries, especially those in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, and Asia.
Origins of poison
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
findings prove that while ancient mankind
Human evolution
Human evolution refers to the evolutionary history of the genus Homo, including the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct species and as a unique category of hominids and mammals...
used conventional weapons such as axes and clubs, and later swords, they sought more subtle, destructive means of causing death
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
—something that could be achieved through poison.
Grooves for storing or holding poisons such as tubocurarine
Tubocurarine
Tubocurarine is a neuromuscular-blocking drug or skeletal muscle relaxant in the category of non-depolarizing neuromuscular-blocking drugs, used adjunctively in anesthesia to provide skeletal muscle relaxation during surgery or mechanical ventilation...
have been found in their hunting weapons and tools, showing that early humans had discovered poisons of varying potency and applied them to their weapons. Some speculate that this use and existence of these strange and noxious substances was kept secret within the more important and higher-ranked members of a tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
or clan
Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clan members may be organized around a founding member or apical ancestor. The kinship-based bonds may be symbolical, whereby the clan shares a "stipulated" common ancestor that is a...
, and were seen as emblems of a greater power. This may have also given birth to the concept of the stereotypical "medicine man
Medicine man
"Medicine man" or "Medicine woman" are English terms used to describe traditional healers and spiritual leaders among Native American and other indigenous or aboriginal peoples...
" or "witch doctor
Witch doctor
A witch doctor originally referred to a type of healer who treated ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft. It is currently used to refer to healers in some third world regions, who use traditional healing rather than contemporary medicine...
".
Once the use and danger of poison was realized, it became apparent that something and or tim
had to be done. Mithridates VI
Mithridates VI of Pontus
Mithridates VI or Mithradates VI Mithradates , from Old Persian Mithradatha, "gift of Mithra"; 134 BC – 63 BC, also known as Mithradates the Great and Eupator Dionysius, was king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia from about 120 BC to 63 BC...
, King of Tim
TIM
Tim may refer to:Names*Timothy or Tim, for short*Tim , the Australian moviePeople*Tim, the Oldenburg Baby, abortion survivor*Tim , popular K-pop solo singer*Tiny Tim , American singer, ukulele player, and musical archivist...
(an ancient Hellenistic state of northern Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
), from around 114–63 BC, lived in constant fear of being assassinated through poison. He became a hard-working pioneer in the search for a cure for poisons. In his position of power, he was able to test poisons on criminals facing execution, and then if there was a possible antidote. He was paranoid to the point that he administered daily amounts of poisons in an attempt to make himself immune to as many poisons as he could. Eventually, he discovered a formula that combined small portions of dozens of the best-known herbal remedies of the time, which he named Mithridatium. This was kept secret until his kingdom was invaded by Pompey the Great
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
, who took it back to Rome. After being defeated by Pompey
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...
, Mithridates' antidote prescriptions and notes of medicinal plants were taken by the Romans and translated into Latin.
Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
describes over 7000 different poisons. One he describes as "The blood of a duck found in a certain district of Pontus, which was supposed to live on poisonous food, and the blood of this duck was afterwards used in the preparation of the Mithridatum, because it fed on poisonous plants and suffered no harm."
India
Indian surgeon Sushruta defined the stages of slow poisoning and the remedies of slow poisoning. He also mentions antidotes and the use of traditional substances to counter the effects of poisoning.Poisoned weapons were used in ancient India, and war tactics in ancient India
History of India
The history of India begins with evidence of human activity of Homo sapiens as long as 75,000 years ago, or with earlier hominids including Homo erectus from about 500,000 years ago. The Indus Valley Civilization, which spread and flourished in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent from...
have references to poison. A verse in Sanskrit reads "Jalam visravayet sarmavamavisravyam ca dusayet," which translates to "Waters of wells were to be mixed with poison and thus polluted."
Chānakya
Chanakya
Chānakya was a teacher to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta , and the first Indian emperor generally considered to be the architect of his rise to power. Traditionally, Chanakya is also identified by the names Kautilya and VishnuGupta, who authored the ancient Indian political treatise...
(c. 350–283 BC), also known as Kautilya, was adviser and prime minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
to the first Maurya
Maurya Empire
The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in ancient India, ruled by the Mauryan dynasty from 321 to 185 BC...
Emperor Chandragupta
Chandragupta Maurya
Chandragupta Maurya , was the founder of the Maurya Empire. Chandragupta succeeded in conquering most of the Indian subcontinent. Chandragupta is considered the first unifier of India and its first genuine emperor...
(c. 340–293 BC). Kautilya suggested employing means such as seduction, secret use of weapons, and poison for political gain. He also urged detailed precautions against assassination—tasters for food and elaborate ways to detect poison. In addition, the death penalty for violations of royal decrees was frequently administered through the use of poison.
Egypt
Unlike many civilizations, records of EgyptianAncient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
knowledge and use of poisons can only be dated back to approximately 300 BC. However, it is believed that the earliest known Egyptian pharaoh
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
, Menes
Menes
Menes was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh of the early dynastic period, credited by classical tradition with having united Upper and Lower Egypt, and as the founder of the first dynasty ....
, studied the properties of poisonous plants and venoms, according to early records.
After this, however, evidence of knowledge of poison in Ptolemaic Egypt can be traced to the writings of an ancient alchemist, Agathodiamon (100BC approx.), who spoke of an (unidentified) mineral that when mixed with natron
Natron
Natron is a naturally occurring mixture of sodium carbonate decahydrate and about 17% sodium bicarbonate along with small quantities of household salt and sodium sulfate. Natron is white to colourless when pure, varying to gray or yellow with impurities...
produced a 'fiery poison'. He described this poison as 'disappearing in water', giving a clear solution. Emsley speculates that the 'fiery poison' was arsenic trioxide, the unidentified mineral having to have been either realgar
Realgar
Realgar, α-As4S4, is an arsenic sulfide mineral, also known as "ruby sulphur" or "ruby of arsenic". It is a soft, sectile mineral occurring in monoclinic crystals, or in granular, compact, or powdery form, often in association with the related mineral, orpiment . It is orange-red in colour, melts...
or orpiment
Orpiment
Orpiment, As2S3, is a common monoclinic arsenic sulfide mineral. It has a Mohs hardness of 1.5 to 2 and a specific gravity of 3.46. It melts at 300 °C to 325 °C...
, due to the relation between the unidentified mineral and his other writings.
The Egyptians are also thought to have come into knowledge about elements such as antimony
Antimony
Antimony is a toxic chemical element with the symbol Sb and an atomic number of 51. A lustrous grey metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite...
, copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, crude arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
, lead
Lead
Lead is a main-group element in the carbon group with the symbol Pb and atomic number 82. Lead is a soft, malleable poor metal. It is also counted as one of the heavy metals. Metallic lead has a bluish-white color after being freshly cut, but it soon tarnishes to a dull grayish color when exposed...
, opium
Opium
Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...
, and mandrake
Mandrake (plant)
Mandrake is the common name for members of the plant genus Mandragora, particularly the species Mandragora officinarum, belonging to the nightshades family...
(among others). Other such secrets were revealed in papyri
Papyrus
Papyrus is a thick paper-like material produced from the pith of the papyrus plant, Cyperus papyrus, a wetland sedge that was once abundant in the Nile Delta of Egypt....
. Egyptians are now thought to be the first to properly master distillation
Distillation
Distillation is a method of separating mixtures based on differences in volatilities of components in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation is a unit operation, or a physical separation process, and not a chemical reaction....
, and to manipulate the poison that can be retrieved from peach kernels.
Finally, Cleopatra is said to have poisoned herself with an asp after hearing of Marc Antony's demise. Prior to her death, she was said to have sent many of her maidservants to act as guinea pigs to test different poisons, including belladonna, henbane
Henbane
Henbane , also known as stinking nightshade or black henbane, is a plant of the family Solanaceae that originated in Eurasia, though it is now globally distributed.-Toxicity and historical usage:...
, and the strychnine
Strychnine
Strychnine is a highly toxic , colorless crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine causes muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia or sheer exhaustion...
tree's seed.
Rome
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
describes the poisoning of members of the upper class and nobles of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, and Roman emperor Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
is known to have favored the use of poisons on his relatives, even hiring a personal poisoner. His preferred poison was said to be cyanide
Cyanide
A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....
.
Nero's predecessor, Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
, was allegedly poisoned with mushrooms or alternatively poison herbs. However, accounts of the way Claudius died vary greatly. Halotus
Halotus
Halotus was a servant to the Roman Emperor Claudius , the fourth member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. He served Claudius as a taster and as a chief steward, and it was because of his occupation, which entailed close contact with Claudius at all times, that he is and was a suspect in the murder of...
, his taster, Xenophon, his doctor, and the infamous poisoner Locusta
Locusta
Locusta was a Roman serial killer during the 1st century AD.Locusta was born in the Roman province of Gaul. In AD 54, she may have been hired by Agrippina the Younger to kill the Emperor Claudius, possibly with a poisoned dish of mushrooms. In 55, she was convicted of poisoning another victim...
have all been accused of possibly being the administrator of the fatal substance, but Agrippina
Agrippina the Younger
Julia Agrippina, most commonly referred to as Agrippina Minor or Agrippina the Younger, and after 50 known as Julia Augusta Agrippina was a Roman Empress and one of the more prominent women in the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
, his final wife, is considered to be the most likely to have arranged his murder and may have even administered the poison herself. Some report that he died after prolonged suffering following a single dose at his evening meal, while some say that he recovered somewhat, only to be poisoned once more by a feather dipped in poison which was pushed down his throat under the pretense of helping him to vomit, or by poisoned gruel or an enema. Agrippina is considered to be the murderer, because she was ambitious for her son, Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
, and Claudius had become suspicious of her intrigues.
Middle Ages
Later, in Europe during the Middle Ages, when the nature of poisons were known better than simply as magicMagic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
and witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
, there were sellers and suppliers of potion
Potion
A potion is a consumable medicine or poison.In mythology and literature, a potion is usually made by a magician, sorcerer, dragon, fairy or witch and has magical properties. It might be used to heal, bewitch or poison people...
s and poisons, known as apothecaries. Despite the fact that the medicinal uses of poisons were now known, it was no secret that people bought poisons for less useful and lawful reasons. The alchemists who worked in these apothecaries suffered a considerable risk to their health, working so invariably close to poisonous substances. At the same time, in other areas of the world, the technological advancement of poisons was expanding, and in the Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
nations, some had succeeded in making arsenic transparent, odourless and tasteless when applied to a drink, a method which would allow poison murderers to remain undetected for at least one millennium.
An excerpt from Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century. The tales are told as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at...
, a text that existed sometime in the 14th century to the 15th century describes a killer buying poison from an apothecary to rid a rat
Rat
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...
infestation:
This is one example of work of literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
related to poison; poisons and potions were a very popular subject particularly in fiction, such as in Shakespeare's works. There were also academic texts discussing the subject, and both non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
and fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
were written for the most part by monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s, whose knowledge
Knowledge
Knowledge is a familiarity with someone or something unknown, which can include information, facts, descriptions, or skills acquired through experience or education. It can refer to the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject...
and wisdom
Wisdom
Wisdom is a deep understanding and realization of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to apply perceptions, judgements and actions in keeping with this understanding. It often requires control of one's emotional reactions so that universal principles, reason and...
were respected, and as such authored a large portion of published works on the subject.
One example of a non-fiction work is The Book of Venoms, a book describing the known poisons of the time, their effects and uses, written by Magister Santes de Ardoynis in 1424. It also recommended the best known treatments for a given poison.
Despite this, it is considered probable that these factual works were not released to the public
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...
, but kept within appropriate learned circles for study and research.
Public reaction
If the truth was kept from the public, it did not prevent the spawning of folkloreFolk-Lore
Folk-Lore was released in 2002 by Celtic metal band Cruachan.-Track listing:#"Bloody Sunday" – 4:15#"The Victory Reel" – 1:21#"Death of a Gael" – 5:38#"The Rocky Road to Dublin" – 3:07#"Ossian's Return" – 4:44...
and rumors
Rumors
Rumors is a farcical play by Neil Simon.At its start, several affluent couples gather in the posh suburban residence of a couple for a dinner party celebrating their hosts' tenth anniversary. When they arrive, they discover there are no servants, the hostess is missing, and the host - the deputy...
about poisons, and use of them for purposes that were distasteful to the public. This caused a level of paranoia
Paranoia
Paranoia [] is a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself...
within areas of the societies of England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. This wave of concern was furthered by the availability of "medicine" potent enough to be lethal when secretly administered in sufficient quantity—it provided an easy way to kill, and one which was subtle, quiet, and generally allowed the criminal to remain undetected.
Perhaps it was this wave of paranoia that swept the streets, or the public need for answers about these toxins, but books about ways of counteracting poisons became sought for, and fed off the mounting anxiety, even though generally being wholly inaccurate.
Naturally, crafty book salesmen would have sought to inflame the issue as a marketing ploy, and exaggerate the risk so that people would buy their books in search of a non-existent security. Other salesmen such as jewelry traders offering a supposedly poison-weakening amulet
Amulet
An amulet, similar to a talisman , is any object intended to bring good luck or protection to its owner.Potential amulets include gems, especially engraved gems, statues, coins, drawings, pendants, rings, plants and animals; even words said in certain occasions—for example: vade retro satana—, to...
, or a doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
selling a magical cure would have profited greatly in such times of doubt.
The information the public craved was kept from them, a treasure only for scholars and scientists, and so the public was left to make their own assumptions.
Later imperial Asia
Despite the negative effects of poison, which were so evident in these times, cures were being found in poison, even at such a time where it was hated by the most of the general public. An example can be found in the works of Iranian born Persian physician, philosopher, and scholar Rhazes, writer of Secret of Secrets, which was a long list of chemical compounds, minerals and appratus, the first man to distil alcohol and use it as an anti-septic, and the person who suggested mercury be used as a laxativeLaxative
Laxatives are foods, compounds, or drugs taken to induce bowel movements or to loosen the stool, most often taken to treat constipation. Certain stimulant, lubricant, and saline laxatives are used to evacuate the colon for rectal and/or bowel examinations, and may be supplemented by enemas under...
. He made discoveries relating to a mercury chloride called corrosive sublimate. An ointment derived from this sublimate was used to cure what Rhazes described as 'the itch
Itch
Itch is a sensation that causes the desire or reflex to scratch. Itch has resisted many attempts to classify it as any one type of sensory experience. Modern science has shown that itch has many similarities to pain, and while both are unpleasant sensory experiences, their behavioral response...
', which is now referred to as scabies
Scabies
Scabies , known colloquially as the seven-year itch, is a contagious skin infection that occurs among humans and other animals. It is caused by a tiny and usually not directly visible parasite, the mite Sarcoptes scabiei, which burrows under the host's skin, causing intense allergic itching...
. This proved an effective treatment because of mercury's poisonous nature and ability to penetrate the skin, allowing it to eliminate the disease and the itch.
In India, the troubled 14th and 15th centuries in Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
saw invasions in the Rajput
Rajput
A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of western, central, northern India and in some parts of Pakistan. Rajputs are descendants of one of the major ruling warrior classes in the Indian subcontinent, particularly North India...
heartlands. Rajput women practiced a custom of jauhar ( literally the taking of life) when their sons, brothers, or husbands faced certain death in battle. Jauhar was practiced within the Kshatriya
Kshatriya
*For the Bollywood film of the same name see Kshatriya Kshatriya or Kashtriya, meaning warrior, is one of the four varnas in Hinduism...
warrior class to avoid the fate of subservience, slavery, rape, or slaughter at the hands of the invading forces.
Renaissance
By the RenaissanceRenaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
, the use of poisons for unlawful and reprehensible intentions had peaked; it was arguably becoming any assassin or murderer's essential tool. This peaking of poison's popularity within crime syndicates and circles would probably have been due at least in part to the new discoveries that were then being made about poison.
Italian alchemists for one were, in the 14th and 15th century, realizing the potential of the combining of poisonous substances to create even more potent brews than the ones that had been put together, and other new properties of poison were becoming clearer. A science of the study was forming, something today known as toxicology.
So prominently used for homicide in society was poison that one would be fearful even to attend a dinner party for fear of having the food or drink poisoned by either the host or perhaps one of the guests.
Borgia family
Cesare Borgia
Cesare Borgia , Duke of Valentinois, was an Italian condottiero, nobleman, politician, and cardinal. He was the son of Pope Alexander VI and his long-term mistress Vannozza dei Cattanei. He was the brother of Lucrezia Borgia; Giovanni Borgia , Duke of Gandia; and Gioffre Borgia , Prince of Squillace...
was the son of Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI , born Roderic Llançol i Borja was Pope from 1492 until his death on 18 August 1503. He is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his Italianized surname—Borgia—became a byword for the debased standards of the Papacy of that era, most notoriously the Banquet...
, perhaps one of the most disputed popes in regards to legitimacy, having used his power to promote his five sons to high titles. He was thought to be a hostile and ruthless man, and was avoided and feared. Borgia was notorious not only for being the son of a very controversial man, but also because he was thought to be a poison-wielding murderer. In the following quote, Apollinaire describes what he believes is a kind of 'Borgia Recipe' used for the disposing of victims:
After the death of Cesare Borgia's father, many rumors circulated proposing several theories about the cause, although most ended with the Pope having died in some horrible way involving murder, usually by poisoning. Apollinaire's idea was that the pope was poisoned by wine which was in fact intended for another at the dinner table, Cardinal de Corneto. Sanuto held a similar theory, except that it involved a box of sweetmeats, instead of wine. Whatever the case, the death of the pope elicited little mourning, which was expected after the debased standards of his tenure. Historical evidence suggests that the pope was indeed poisoned in some way; when his body was exhibited, it was in a shocking state of decomposition. To reduce suspicion, it was only on display at night by candlelight.
Council of Ten
By the 16th century, the use of poison had become an art of sorts, and, in several cities of ItalyItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
including Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and Rome, there were actual schools teaching the ways of poison and the 'art' which had been born.
Earlier, in the fifteenth century, a guild of alchemists and poisoners known as the Council of Ten was formed. This cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
of poison-wielding assassins carried out contracts for people who paid them enough money, and usually anyone contracted for death ended up slain, killed by an undetected dose of lethal substances of varying description.
Neopoliani Magioe Naturalis
Neopoliani Magioe Naturalis was a publication first printed just before 1590 that detailed the art of poisoning, and effective methods of using poison to commit homicide. The most effective way of killing someone with poison, according to the work, was by drugging someone's wine, a method that was very popular at the time.One 'very strong mixture' used in the book is the Veninum Lupinum, which consists of a mix of aconite
Aconitum
Aconitum , known as aconite, monkshood, wolfsbane, leopard's bane, women's bane, Devil's helmet or blue rocket, is a genus of over 250 species of flowering plants belonging to the buttercup family .-Overview:These herbaceous perennial plants are chiefly natives of the mountainous parts of the...
, taxus baccata
Taxus baccata
Taxus baccata is a conifer native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia. It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may be now known as the English yew, or European yew.-Description:It is a small-...
, caustic lime, arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
, bitter almonds and powdered glass
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
mixed with honey. The overall product is a pill
Pill (pharmacy)
A pill is a small, round, solid pharmaceutical oral dosage form that was in use before the advent of tablets and capsules. Pills were made by mixing the active ingredients with an excipient such as glucose syrup in a mortar and pestle to form a paste, then rolling the mass into a long cylindrical...
approximately the size of a walnut
Walnut
Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...
.
16th–18th centuries
By the end of the 16th century, the art and popularity of poison had moved from Italy to FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, where criminal poisoning was becoming more and more frequent. It is estimated that in the 1570s that there would have been about thirty thousand people in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
alone using poison or having some connection to poison in an illegal or immoral way. It was becoming something of which was described as a 'plague' or 'epidemic'.
And this epidemic, while obviously contributing greatly to the death toll, was also greatly affecting citizens who had no connection to poison.
Many people, nobles especially, were becoming extremely afraid of poisoning. They would attend dinner parties of only the most trusted, and hired only hand-picked servants.
Several instances very famous or high-born people who were very afraid of poisoning are both Henrietta Anne of England and Henry IV
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
.
The princess Henrietta Anne of England was so fearful and aware of poisoning that she instantly made the assumption that she had been poisoned when she was afflicted with a peritonitis due to a duodenal ulcer, while Henry IV, while making a visit to the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
, was recorded to have eaten only eggs that he had cooked himself, and drank only water that he had poured for himself.
Later, in 1662, Louis XIV limited the sale of poisons within apothecaries, and certain poisons were not to be sold, except to people whom the shopkeeper knew well to be trustworthy.
Trustworthy alchemists did, however, become hard to find during this period; many of them were con men, fooling both their patrons and the public at large into believing that Mercury
Mercury (element)
Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...
, thought then to be something of a 'core' element—one of which all others were invariably composed—was convertible into gold and other fine metals. While many took advantage of this belief, others genuinely, in the name of science, attempted to make gold out of less valuable and duller elements. Such of these alchemists were driven towards the same goal of attaining three objects of high desire within alchemical circles: the Philosopher's Stone
Philosopher's stone
The philosopher's stone is a legendary alchemical substance said to be capable of turning base metals into gold or silver. It was also sometimes believed to be an elixir of life, useful for rejuvenation and possibly for achieving immortality. For many centuries, it was the most sought-after goal...
, able to change base metal
Base metal
In chemistry, the term base metal is used informally to refer to a metal that oxidizes or corrodes relatively easily, and reacts variably with diluted hydrochloric acid to form hydrogen. Examples include iron, nickel, lead and zinc...
s into pure gold; the Elixir of Life
Elixir of life
The elixir of life, also known as the elixir of immortality and sometimes equated with the philosopher's stone, is a legendary potion, or drink, that grants the drinker eternal life and or eternal youth. Many practitioners of alchemy pursued it. The elixir of life was also said to be able to create...
, which lengthened one's life expansively, and finally, the Alkahest
Alkahest
Alkahest is a hypothetical universal solvent, having the power to dissolve every other substance, including gold. It was much sought after by alchemists for what they thought would be its invaluable medicinal qualities. The name is believed to have been invented by Paracelsus from Switzerland,...
, a substance which was capable of dissolving anything. The pursuit of these goals, as fantastical, but scientifically supported as it was, retarded greatly the progress of alchemical science, as these goals were ultimately impossible to realize.
Chambre Ardente
At a similar time to the ban of poisons, priests in Notre DameNotre Dame de Paris
Notre Dame de Paris , also known as Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France. It is the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedra of...
became so astounded with the number of poison-related confessions that they had listened to that they decided to inform the king about how bad the 'epidemic' of poison actually was. In response to this, the king organized an order dedicated to the investigation of poisonings called the Chambre Ardente
Chambre Ardente
A Chambre ardente was an extraordinary court of justice in Ancien Régime France, mainly held for the trials of heretics.The name is perhaps an allusion to the fact that the proceedings took place in a room from which all daylight was excluded, the only illumination being from torches, or there may...
, and the investigation itself became known as the affaire des poisons
Poison affair
The Affair of the Poisons was a major murder scandal in France which took place in 1677–1682, during the reign of King Louis XIV. During it, a number of prominent members of the aristocracy were implicated and sentenced on charges of poisoning and witchcraft...
.
Despite the fact that the inquisitors had been sponsored by the sovereign himself, they failed to catch many of the worst and most murderous poisoners, in whom probably had many connections in which were employed to evade punishment. However, in the life of the order, approximately 442 persons were caught and received punishment.
The work of this order did cause a backfiring, or side effect that was a magnifying in the interest of poison and how to use them, and, inexplicably, many people actually became actively involved in poison after the birth of an order made to reduce poisonings.
Spain
While criminals based in Italy and England were the first to introduce poison as a means of murder or harm, during this period the use of poison truly was spreading all over Europe.Spain
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
was notable for the fact that it had, by some means or another, committed several failed attempts at the disposal of Queen Elizabeth of England.
One person named Dr. Rodrigo Lopez
Rodrigo Lopez (physician)
Rodrigo Lopez was physician to Queen Elizabeth, and may have been an inspiration for Shakespeare's Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.He was born in Crato, Portugal and raised as a New Christian...
, a Jewish physician, was called on by Spain to kill the queen, but he was caught and then later hanged, drawn and quartered for the act, though Elizabeth herself and Robert Cecil
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC was an English administrator and politician.-Life:He was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Mildred Cooke...
doubted his guilt. It is thought that some aspects, specifically a character, of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
may refer to or have been inspired by this Dr. Lopez.
After this particular incident, the queen's food had to be tasted for poisoning, and greater security was put into effect. She was even known to have taken antidotes on a weekly basis for protection.
Conversely, royal assassination attempts by poison were also domestic in Spain, with several people and groups wanting to kill the monarchs. One successful attempt at this (probable one of few in Europe) was the poisoning of Marie Louise, the wife of Carlos II
Charles II of Spain
Charles II was the last Habsburg King of Spain and the ruler of large parts of Italy, the Spanish territories in the Southern Low Countries, and Spain's overseas Empire, stretching from the Americas to the Spanish East Indies...
, who died suddenly in September 1689.
19th and 20th centuries
The same trend continued through the Victorian eraVictorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
, and was still labeled as an epidemic of sorts. Poison was still considered one of the easiest and simplest ways to commit murder.
However, several changes occurred in the Victorian era, such as the rise of the life insurance
Life insurance
Life insurance is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of the insured person. Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or critical illness may also trigger...
industry
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
, which made poisoning the "fashionable" crime, considering the guaranteed and lucrative profit in the killing of a life-ensured relative with a large price on their head.
But as the move into the 1900s occurred, the technology of preventing poisoning became better and more efficient, and criminal poisoning become much more difficult than in previous centuries.
It had to be made cleaner and better planned to match the ever-advancing technologies employed against would-be poisoners.
However, because of a wider range of educated people, more people were able to understand how to use poison and were intelligent or skilled enough to plan out a logical poison-induced murder, whereas in past times, usually only a select few knowledgeable people knew enough to conduct a successful homicide.
Old poisons
Poison used in the past were also present in 20th century murders. In the early 20th century, arsenic was often used, but during the middle of the century, cyanide became quite popular. It was used during World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
by captured agents of the Resistance as a means of suicide to escape the heinous torture of their enemies. Nazi war leader Hermann Goering even used it to kill himself the night before he was supposed to be hanged during the Nuremberg Trials
Nuremberg Trials
The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the victorious Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany....
. Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
had also taken a pill of cyanide
Cyanide
A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....
but he bit down on the capsule and shot himself in the right temple shortly before the fall of Berlin along with his wife, Eva Braun
Eva Braun
Eva Anna Paula Hitler was the longtime companion of Adolf Hitler and, for less than 40 hours, his wife. Braun met Hitler in Munich, when she was 17 years old, while working as an assistant and model for his personal photographer and began seeing him often about two years later...
.
However, new poisons became more frequently used to outmatch the knowledge of the current toxicology field of science. In this way, wielding a new and unknown poison, a poisoner could kill someone, and the death might be mistaken as an unfortunate case of a rare illness
Illness
Illness is a state of poor health. Illness is sometimes considered another word for disease. Others maintain that fine distinctions exist...
. This put a new strain on toxicology and other branches dealing with poison, and toxicologists were forced to work hard to keep up with the criminals who were using poisons that they had never previously encountered.
Present day
| Poison/Drug | Antidote | |
|---|---|---|
| paracetamol Paracetamol Paracetamol INN , or acetaminophen USAN , is a widely used over-the-counter analgesic and antipyretic . It is commonly used for the relief of headaches and other minor aches and pains and is a major ingredient in numerous cold and flu remedies... (acetaminophen) |
N-acetylcysteine | |
| vitamin K anticoagulants, e.g. warfarin Anticoagulant An anticoagulant is a substance that prevents coagulation of blood. A group of pharmaceuticals called anticoagulants can be used in vivo as a medication for thrombotic disorders. Some anticoagulants are used in medical equipment, such as test tubes, blood transfusion bags, and renal dialysis... |
vitamin K Vitamin K Vitamin K is a group of structurally similar, fat soluble vitamins that are needed for the posttranslational modification of certain proteins required for blood coagulation and in metabolic pathways in bone and other tissue. They are 2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone derivatives... , Protamine Protamine Protamines are small, arginine-rich, nuclear proteins that replace histones late in the haploid phase of spermatogenesis and are believed essential for sperm head condensation and DNA stabilization. They may allow for denser packaging of DNA in spermatozoon than histones, but they must be... |
|
| narcotics/opioids | naloxone Naloxone Naloxone is an opioid antagonist drug developed by Sankyo in the 1960s. Naloxone is a drug used to counter the effects of opiate overdose, for example heroin or morphine overdose. Naloxone is specifically used to counteract life-threatening depression of the central nervous system and respiratory... |
|
| iron Iron Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust... (and other heavy metals) |
deferoxamine Deferoxamine Deferoxamine is a bacterial siderophore produced by the actinobacteria Streptomyces pilosus. It has medical applications as a chelating agent used to remove excess iron from the body... |
|
| benzodiazepine Benzodiazepine A benzodiazepine is a psychoactive drug whose core chemical structure is the fusion of a benzene ring and a diazepine ring... s |
flumazenil Flumazenil Flumazenil is a benzodiazepine antagonist available for injection only, and the only benzodiazepine receptor antagonist on the market today.It was first introduced in 1987 by Hoffmann-La Roche under the trade name Anexate, but only approved by... |
|
| ethylene glycol Ethylene glycol Ethylene glycol is an organic compound widely used as an automotive antifreeze and a precursor to polymers. In its pure form, it is an odorless, colorless, syrupy, sweet-tasting liquid... |
ethanol Ethanol Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a... or fomepizole Fomepizole Fomepizole or 4-methylpyrazole is indicated for use as an antidote in confirmed or suspected methanol or ethylene glycol poisoning. It may be used alone or in combination with hemodialysis... |
|
| methanol Methanol Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, wood alcohol, wood naphtha or wood spirits, is a chemical with the formula CH3OH . It is the simplest alcohol, and is a light, volatile, colorless, flammable liquid with a distinctive odor very similar to, but slightly sweeter than, ethanol... |
ethanol Ethanol Ethanol, also called ethyl alcohol, pure alcohol, grain alcohol, or drinking alcohol, is a volatile, flammable, colorless liquid. It is a psychoactive drug and one of the oldest recreational drugs. Best known as the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, it is also used in thermometers, as a... or fomepizole Fomepizole Fomepizole or 4-methylpyrazole is indicated for use as an antidote in confirmed or suspected methanol or ethylene glycol poisoning. It may be used alone or in combination with hemodialysis... |
|
| cyanide Cyanide A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic.... |
amyl nitrite Amyl nitrite Amyl nitrite is the chemical compound with the formula C5H11ONO. A variety of isomers are known, but they all feature an amyl group attached to the nitrito functional group. The alkyl group is unreactive and the chemical and biological properties are mainly due to the nitrite group... , sodium nitrite Sodium nitrite Sodium nitrite is the inorganic compound with the chemical formula NaNO2. It is a white to slight yellowish crystalline powder that is very soluble in water and is hygroscopic... , and sodium thiosulfate Sodium thiosulfate Sodium thiosulfate , also spelled sodium thiosulphate, is a colorless crystalline compound that is more familiar as the pentahydrate, Na2S2O3•5H2O, an efflorescent, monoclinic crystalline substance also called sodium hyposulfite or “hypo.”... |
|
In the late 20th century, an increasing number of products used for everyday life proved to be poisonous. The risk of being poisoned nowadays lies more in the accidental factor, where poison be induced or taken by accident. These problems occur more frequently in children, and poisoning is the 4th most common cause of death within young people. Accidental ingestions are most common in children less than 5 years old.
However, hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
and emergency facilities are much enhanced compared to the first half of the 20th century and before,
and antidotes are more available.
Antidotes have been found for many poisons, and the antidotes for some of the most commonly known poisons are shown in the table below:
However, poison still exists as a murderous entity today, but it is not as popular form of conducting murder as it used to be in past times, probably because of the wider range of ways to kill people and other factors that must be taken into consideration. One of the more recent deaths by poisoning was that of Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Litvinenko
Alexander Valterovich Litvinenko was an officer who served in the Soviet KGB and its Russian successor, the Federal Security Service ....
in 2006 from lethal polonium-210
Polonium
Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84, discovered in 1898 by Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie. A rare and highly radioactive element, polonium is chemically similar to bismuth and tellurium, and it occurs in uranium ores. Polonium has been studied for...
radiation poisoning
Radiation poisoning
Acute radiation syndrome also known as radiation poisoning, radiation sickness or radiation toxicity, is a constellation of health effects which occur within several months of exposure to high amounts of ionizing radiation...
.
Other uses
Today, poison is used for a wider variety of purposes than it used to be. For example, poison can be used to rid an unwanted infestation by pests or to kill weeds. Such chemicals, known as pesticidePesticide
Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...
s, have been known to be used in some form since about 2500 BC. However, the use of pesticides has increased staggeringly from 1950, and presently approximately 2.5 million
Million
One million or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian millione , from mille, "thousand", plus the augmentative suffix -one.In scientific notation, it is written as or just 106...
tons of industrial pesticides are used each year. Other poisons can also be used to preserve foods
Food preservation
Food preservation is the process of treating and handling food to stop or slow down spoilage and thus allow for longer storage....
and building material.
In developing cultures
Today, in many developing peoples of countries such as certain parts of Africa, South America and Asia, the use of poison as an actual weapon of hunting and attack still endures.In Africa, certain arrow poisons are made using floral ingredients, such as of that taken from the plant Acokanthera. This plant contains ouabain
Ouabain
Ouabain which is also named g-strophanthin, is a poisonous cardiac glycoside.-Sources:Ouabain is found in the ripe seeds of African plants Strophanthus gratus and the bark of Acokanthera ouabaio.-Function:...
, which is a cardiac glycoside, oleander
Oleander
Nerium oleander is an evergreen shrub or small tree in the dogbane family Apocynaceae, toxic in all its parts. It is the only species currently classified in the genus Nerium. It is most commonly known as oleander, from its superficial resemblance to the unrelated olive Olea, but has many other...
, and milkweeds.
Poisoned arrows are also still used in the jungle areas of Assam
Assam
Assam , also, rarely, Assam Valley and formerly the Assam Province , is a northeastern state of India and is one of the most culturally and geographically distinct regions of the country...
, Burma and Malaysia. The ingredients for the creation of these poisons are mainly extracted from plants of the Antiaris
Antiaris
Antiaris is a tropical genus of latex producing evergreen trees in the Moraceae or fig family.Some species include:*Antiaris africana Engl., an economic hardwood of Africa, an African species which grows in the drier forests of the tropics....
, Strychnos
Strychnos
Strychnos is a genus of flowering plants, belonging to family Loganiaceae . The genus includes about 190 species of trees and lianas, distributed around the world's tropics....
and Strophanthus genera, and Antiaris toxicaria (a tree of the mulberry
Mulberry
Morus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae. The 10–16 species of deciduous trees it contains are commonly known as Mulberries....
and breadfruit
Breadfruit
Breadfruit is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry family, Moraceae, growing throughout Southeast Asia and most Pacific Ocean islands...
family), for example, is used in the Java island of Indonesia, as well as several of its surrounding islands.
The juice or liquid extracts are smeared on the head of the arrow, and inflicts the target paralysis
Paralysis
Paralysis is loss of muscle function for one or more muscles. Paralysis can be accompanied by a loss of feeling in the affected area if there is sensory damage as well as motor. A study conducted by the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, suggests that about 1 in 50 people have been diagnosed...
, convulsions and/or cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest
Cardiac arrest, is the cessation of normal circulation of the blood due to failure of the heart to contract effectively...
, virtually on strike due to the speed in which the extracts can affect a victim.
As well as plant based poisons, there are others that are made that are based on animals. For example, the larva or pupae of a beetle
Beetle
Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...
genus of the Northern Kalahari Desert
Kalahari Desert
The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savannah in Southern Africa extending , covering much of Botswana and parts of Namibia and South Africa, as semi-desert, with huge tracts of excellent grazing after good rains. The Kalahari supports more animals and plants than a true desert...
is used to create a slow-acting poison that can be quite useful when hunting. The beetle itself is applied to the arrow head, by squeezing the contents of the beetle right onto the head. Plant sap is then mixed and serves as an adhesive
Adhesive
An adhesive, or glue, is a mixture in a liquid or semi-liquid state that adheres or bonds items together. Adhesives may come from either natural or synthetic sources. The types of materials that can be bonded are vast but they are especially useful for bonding thin materials...
. However, instead of the plant sap, a powder
Powder (substance)
A powder is a dry,thick bulk solid composed of a large number of very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms powder and granular are sometimes used to distinguish separate classes of material...
made from the dead, eviscerated larva can be used.
See also
- Forensic science
- List of elements
- List of Extremely Hazardous Substances
- ToxicityToxicityToxicity is the degree to which a substance can damage a living or non-living organisms. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a substructure of the organism, such as a cell or an organ , such as the liver...
- List of poisonings
- PoisonPoisonIn the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....