Poison Romance and Poison Mysteries

on human beings and animals was known, it is probable tha

mself on his enemy. In his search after curative remedies he also found noxious ones, which produced unpl

dried, caused wounds that rapidly proved fatal, owing to the action of what we now call septic poisons. This p

oisoning, when pharmacy was employe

us that the ancient pigmy race of Central Africa employ a species of red ant crushed to a paste, to tip their arrows and spears. The South American Indians poison their arrow-heads with curare or ourari, produce

the beetle Diamphidia simplex, found in its body, besides inert fatty acids, a toxalbumin which causes paralysis, and finally death. According to Boehm, the poiso

??tes, and their daughters were Medea and Circe. ??tes and Perses were said to be brothers, and their country was afterwards supposed to be Colchis. To Hecate is ascribed the foundation of sorcery and the discovery of poisonous herbs. Her knowledge of magic and spells was supposed to be unequalled. She transmitted her power to Medea, whose wonderful exploits have been frequently described and depicted, and who by her magic arts subdued the dragon that guard

ir arrival they found ?son, the father of Jason, and Pelias, his uncle, who had usurped the throne, both old and decrepit. Medea was requested to exert her ma

or some reason greatly resenting it, put a poisoned goblet into the hands of ?geus at an entertainment he gave to Theseus, with the intent that he should hand it to his son. At the critical moment, however, the king cast his eyes on the sword of Theseus, and at once recognized it as that

her territory. On their landing, she entreated and enticed them to drink from her enchanted cup. But no sooner was the draught swallowed, than the unfortunate st

ns, was regarded by that ancient people as "the mistress and

d probably some resemblance to those of ancient Europe, who, although their skill and power might be safely despised as long as they confined themselves to their cha

ine, and there is little doubt that, probably through the priests, who were the chief practitioners of the art of healing, they gathered a considerable knowledge of the properties of many poisonous and other herbs. Prussic acid was known to the Egyptians, and prepared by them in a diluted form, from the peach and other plants.

juice or extract of a species of hemlock, called by them cicuta. The Chinese, from remote times, are supposed to have used gold as a poison, especially for suicidal purposes, and at the present

e, toxicum (probably the venom of the toad), buprestis, the salamander, the sea-hare, the leech, yew (decomposed), bull's blood, milk, and certain fungi, which he terms "evil fermentations of the earth"; and as antidotes for the same he mentions lukewarm oil, w

d by the Greeks; the antidote recommended in case of poisoning being hot oil, and ot

as King of Phrygia, Plutarch, and Themistocles, killed themselves by drinking bull's blood. It is

ns are included toads, salamanders, poisonous snakes, a peculiar kind of honey, and the blood of the ox, probably after it had turned putrid. The sea-hare is frequently alluded to by the ancient Greeks, and was evidently regarded by them as capable of producing a v

cum. The black and white hellebore were known to the Romans, and used by them as an insecticide, and Pliny states that the Gauls used a preparation of veratrum to poison their arrows. Arsenic was employed by the Greeks as a caustic, and for remo

g attributed with the property of causing a lingering death, which can be controlled by the will of the poisoner. But this is doubtless more legendary than correct. One curious and mysterious substance mentioned by Blyth, and known in India as Mucor phycomyces, is stated to be a

"rosch" and "chema" being used by them as generic terms. Arsenic was k

ossessed deadly poisonous properties seems to have existed until recent times. Many mysterious deaths in the Middle Ages were attributed to it. There is little doubt that death might be caused by the mere mechanical effect of an insoluble powder of this kind

abulous, but recent investigation has proved that the skin of a s

g poisonous properties from a very early period, and was

egarded as a ridiculous fable until some years ago, when it was discovered that the skin of the t

granted to one Generoso Marini in 1642. Marini having made application for a Ferrarese diploma in medicine, the judges in whom the p

ult is recorded in his diploma, which was discovered by Cittad

who were strangers to him, and which were only handed to him at the moment of making the experiment. An officer of the court then selected from the number of toads collected, five of the largest, which the said Generoso Marini placed on a bench before him, and in presence of all assembled spectators, he, with a large knife, cut all the said toads in half. Then, taking a drinking cup, he took in each hand one half of a dead toad, and squeezed from it all the juices and fluids it contained into the cup, and the same he did with the remainder. After mixing the contents together, he swallowed the whole, and then placing the cup on the

s house, and he there showed them his dispensary as well as his collection of antidotes, and among them a powder made from little vipers, a powerful remedy for curing every s

we have resolved by the authority placed in our hands publicly to reward him with a diploma, so that he may be universally re

grandissimo applauso

Cajetan

entum Civit

scus Al

ellar

roperties, during the Middle Ages it was esteemed a valuable remedy for the

inally finished him off with corrosive sublimate. Poisoned rings are said to have been the invention of the Italians, who fashioned rings in which the poison was inserted in a receptacle where the jewel is usually set. Attached to the inner part of the ring was a sharp po

yoscyamus and symphoniaca, and in the tenth century its virtues are particularly recorded by Macer Floridus. In the early Anglo-Saxon works it is called henbell and sometimes belene. In a French herbal of th

thers sang roystering drinking songs and performed mountebank antics, which convulsed the others with uncontrollable laughter, and the pious monastery for the nonce was turned into an asylum. Certain stones which were sold for large sums of money were supposed to change colour when brought near a poisonous substance, and they were consequently much sought after by high personages.

death. The eater immediately lost all memory and knowledge, busying himself at the same time in turning and moving every stone he met with, as if he were on some important pursuit. The camp was full of unhappy men stooping to the ground, and digging up and removing stones, till at last they were carri

f them are apparently varieties of aconite. Besides these, they employed opium, gunja, datura, roots of Nerium odorum and Gloriosa superba, t

ful poison. These plants were frequently employed in India for putting a sudden end to domestic quarrels, and to this practice may be traced the origin of the custom of "S

t by the Hindoos, who prepared it by roasting seven times and then reduc

etano" was doubtless som