Poisoning

According to Webster's, poison is a substance that causes injury, illness, or death, especially by chemical means. The history of poisons and poisoning people is long. Prehistoric man gained knowledge of poisons through trial and error. Those in the tribe who knew about poisons were feared and respected, and often regarded as mystical persons. To the uninitiated, people who could kill without leaving wounds must have seemed like children of the gods.

The Sumerians, the Chinese, Indians, and Greeks were all using poisons long before the first written records appeared in Rome around the time of Christ. Cleopatra, who was looking for a perfect painless way to commit suicide, tested numerous poisons on her prisoners and slaves. Some of the poisons she tried (and discarded) were: henbane, belladonna, and strychnos nux-vomicas (where strychnine came from). She settled for the bite of the asp, a venom that offered a fast peaceful death.

Poisoning continued into the middle ages where monarchs got into the habit of having food testers sample their meals before eating. Most of the poisons being used at the time had a distinctive taste, but food was seasoned heavily in those days to cover the often rotten meat. The Borgias of fifteen century Rome were infamous poisoners. People would go to their dinner parties and not return home again. Arsenic was the best known poison of the time.

Arsenic: very popular throughout history because it was available in many household things from paints to pesticides. In its natural state, arsenic is a gray metal, though it can be found as arsenic trioxide, a white powder. Arsenic is usually swallowed, but in a dust or gas form, it can also be inhaled. Effects were jaundiced skin, rashes, gastric distress, vomiting, and diarrhea with blood. Arsenic was carcinogenic in nature, and prolonged exposure to arsenic in the air could cause skin cancer. Poisoning symptoms usually begin a half hour after ingestion with death occurring in a few to twenty-four hours.

Other popular poisons of the middle ages were cyanide, opium, strychnine, aconite, atropine, and heavy metals. The art of poisoning continued to be knowledge that a select few possessed. Forensic science and the ability to identify chemicals in the body was hundreds of years off, and people feared what they did not understand. People sought to protect themselves against poisons by all sorts of superstitions means. Some believed drinking from cups made from the mythological unicorn's horn would counteract any poisons in their beverage. Toadstones (calcified lumps from the stomach's of toads) were used as anti-poison charms. Religious talismans were also believed to have protective powers against poisoning.

By the 20th century, methods had been developed to detect chemical and organic poisons in the body, and poisoning lost much of its mystique. Since it was easier to identify, it was also easier to find the culprit responsible. Consequently, poisons were not used as often in crimes. However, the development of synthetic drugs has forced the science of toxicology to stay fluid, always searching for new ways to detect poisons and interpret their effects on the human body.

Resource: Deadly Doses: A Writer's Guide to Poisons by Serita Deborah Stevens and Anne Klarner.

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