Abercromby, Helen, 19
absinthe, 83–4
aconite, 98–9
aconitine, 26;
nitrate of, 65
adulteration
of food, 44–55
aflatoxins, 214–15
agaric, 96
Albert Victor Edward, Prince, 37
adds power to mushrooms, 43;
triggers lead colic, 129
alcohol dehydrogenase, 41–42, 86
alpha-thujone, 84
amnesic shellfish poisoning, 189
aniline, 45–49
anthrax, 180
antidotes, 66–68
antimony, 19, 21–22, 24, 106, 121, 137;
origin of name, 91;
wine, 90
Antommarchi, Francesco, 113
argyria, 196
arsenic, 40, 45–46, 72, 103, 146, 155; as a cosmetic, xix, 100, 103, 107; eaters, xix, 36, 39, 78, 105; in embalming, 103, 123; in herbal medicine, 89; as a medicine, 100, 202; as a pesticide, 115; as a pigment, 6, 122; in wallpaper, xix, 115–18; in water, 55–58; used to kill, xviii, 7, 35, 38–40, 72–3, 112, 118, 155, 158
artemisinin, 85
Ascham, Roger, 192
Astrakhan ergotism event (1722), 220
atropine, 161
Augustus, emperor, 64
Aum Shinrikyo event (1995), 171, 181
auripigmentum, 6
Azalea pontica, 186
Bangladesh tube wells, 55–58
Bari Harbor event (1943), 174
Barrow, Eliza Mary, 35
bats, poison, 191–92
Bhopal gas leak (1984), 143–44
biomethylation, 115, 117, 146–47
bitter apple see colocynth
Black Death, 216–18
Bocarmé, Count and Countess of, 32–35
Bodle John, 72
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 112–18, 146
Borgia family, 158–59
Botox, 9, 101–2, 180, 184, 201
botulinum toxin, 180; see also Botox
Bryophyllum, 197
Brussels Convention, 163
bubonic plague, 216–18
Buckland, William, 11
Bunsen, Robert, 74
Cadwalader, Thomas, 52
Calabar bean, 159–60
Caligula, emperor, 64
camphor, 99
candles, poison, 112
cane toad, 197
Cannabis indica, 4
carbon dioxide as a poison, 140–41
carbon monoxide as a poison, 142–43, 164, 175
cardiac glycosides, 197
cattle plague, 203–8
cerussa, 105
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 199
Chesterton, G. K., 44
industrial, 131–32
Christison, Robert, 25, 26, 160
cider, fake, 45
ciguatera, 189
ciguatoxin, 189
cinnabar, 121
Citrullus colocynthis see colocynth
Claviceps purpurea (ergot), 213
Clostridium botulinum, 9, 101;
perfringens, 9; see also Botox
Confessions of an Opium Eater, 40
Cook, John Parsons, 21–23
copper salts, 44, 46, 54, 107, 114, 118, 148, 149
Cream, Neill, xix, 37
Crippen, Belle, 28–29
Crippen, Hawley Harvey, xvii, 28–31
Crookes, Sir William, 74–75, 165, 204–7
Crookes Radiometer, 75
curare, 161
cyanide, 17, 39, 62, 67, 77, 108–11, 114, 148–49, 173–75, 180, 196; on bayonets, 118; bromo benzyl, 172; cacodyl, 74, 162; in coral reefs, 195; French artillery shells, 169; mercury, 114; spills, 148–49
Dampier, William, 193
datura, 59
Davy, Sir Humphry, 163
Davy, John, 164
de Bocarmé see Bocarmé, Count and Countess of
de Freycinet, Louis, 190
de la Condamine, Charles-Marie, 194
de la Pommerais, Dr. Couty, 26–28
de Pauw, Madame, 26–27
De Quincey, Thomas, 40
de Quiros, Pedro Fernandez, 187
deadly nightshade, 105
Dean case, 1
Defoe, Daniel, 201
DEG see diethylene glycol
dental amalgam, 137–38
Dew, Chief Inspector, 30–31
Dew of Death see Lewisite
diabetes and root crops, 208
Dickens, Charles, 14, 18, 20, 21, 59, 127
Domitian, emperor, 97
Doñana National Park event (1998), 148
Doyle, Arthur Conan, xix, 23, 25, 31, 37, 182, 184
Ehrlich, Paul, 212
Elisha, 5
Environmental Protection Agency, 58
ergot and ergotism, 213–22
Essay on the West-India Dry-Gripes, 52
Essequibo River event (1995), 148
eucalyptus oil, 4
evolution:
of poison, xviii, 3, 65, 145, 188, 198, 210; of poison resistance, 188
Fayrer, Sir Joseph, 183–84
fly agaric, 96
foals, killed by cyanide, 77–78
Fowler’s Solution, 99–100
Franklin, Benjamin, 122
French Revolution and ergot, 219
fritted glaze, 127
fruitfly semen, 198
Fugu, 188
Gachet, Dr., 82
Garrick-Steele, Rodger, 25
gas masks see gas protection
gas protection, 166–73
gas, poison see poison: gas in war
Geneva Protocol, 178–79
Ginger Jake, 42
glycerine, 87
Gnaeus Domitius, 6
Goldberger, Joseph, 71–72
Gosio, Bartolomeo, 115
Gosio gas, 116–17
Gow, Duncan, 153
Griffiths, Thomas, 19
Guam, 189–90
Haber, Fritz, 165–66
Haber process, 165
hair dyes, 107
Haldane. J. B. S., 174
Haldane, J. S., 173
Hardaker, William, 51–52
Harley, John, 70
hatters and mercury, 135
Helicobacter pylori, 208
hemlock, 99, 153; symptoms of, 70, 152–53; water, 152–53
hemp seed, 4
Herodotus, 4
Hippocrates, 124
hocussing, 59–60
Holocaust, 175
Hook, Captain, 2
household poisons, 118–19
Humbug Billy see Hardaker, William
Huxley, Aldous, 174
Huxley, T. H., 183
hyoscine, 31
Jack the Ripper, xviii, 36–37, 143
Jake Leg, 43
Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 91
Jones, David, 117
juniper, 97
Justinian, emperor, 135
Kelly, “Applepip,” 18
Kirchhoff, Gustav, 74
koalas, 4
kohl, 106
konzo, 62–63
Kurds: gas attack on, 170, 181
La Cantarella, Borgia poison, 158
Lake Nyos event (1986), 140
Lamson, George Henry, 8, 26, 34
Lane, Sir William Arbuthnot, 208
LCt50, 95, 69; see also lethal dose
lead:
acetate, 8, 52–54, 107, 128–29, 158; chromate, 45; in cider, 53
lead poisoning, 54, 105–6, 112, 118–23, 149; in army recruits, 129; in cosmetics, 107; in drink, 8, 52, 55, 89; in food, 45, 53–55; in fuel, 130; industrial, xviii, 122–30
Leichhardt, Ludwig, 62
leopard’s bane, 98
lethal doses, 52, 87, 94–95, 134, 169, 212
Lewisite, 172
Lincoln, Abraham, 92
Linton, Arthur, 78
Lister, Lord Joseph, 205–6
Livy, 6
Locusta, 7
Louis XIV, king of France, 90, 108
Louis XVIII, king of France, 118
Love Canal toxic waste dump, 144–45
Luce, Clare Boothe, 116
magic bullet:
Ehrlich’s, 212; for ricin, 212
Maintenon, Madame de, 108
manchineel, 185
Markov, Georgi, 155
Matossian, Mary, 215
Maybrick, Florence, xviii, 36–38, 103
Maybrick, James, xviii, 36–38
Maybrick, Michael, 36–37
McCormick, Frank, 211
McDougall, Alexander, 205
mercury poisoning, 92, 123, 135–38, 146–47, 196
methylisocyanate, 143
Micronesia, 191
Minamata disease, 146
Mithridatum, 68
monarch butterflies, and milkweed, 197
mongoose, 184
monkshood, 98
morphine, 76
Morris, William, xix
Muro y Fernandez-Cavada, Dr., 48–50
mycotoxins, 214
Napoleon III, emperor of France, 118
Neale, Joseph, 51–52
Nelson, Admiral Horatio, Lord, 185
Nero, emperor, 7
New Machiavelli, The, 126, 128
nitrobenzene, 111
nitroglycerin, 79
Nux vomica see strychnine
octopus, blue-ringed, 188
oil of juniper, 97
Old Dutch process, 128
Ovid, 7
painter’s colic, 122
Palmer, Annie, 21–22
Palmer, William, 21–23
Palmerston, Lord, 21
Paré, Ambroise, 112
Pausanias, 163
PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), 178
Peale, Raphaelle, 123
pellagra, 71–72
Peter the Great, Tsar, 220
Phaedo, 152–53
Phar Lap, 78
Philip II of Spain, 90
phossy jaw, 132–34
Physostigma venenosum see Calabar bean
physostigmine, 161
Plague Wars, 181
Plato, 152–53
Plutarch, 135
poison:
effects of, 65–66, 110–11, 142, 156–57, 187, 213; gas in war, 163–75; and hunting, 192–96; pigments, 121–23
Pont Saint Esprit ergotism event (1951), 221
POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) Treaty, 177
Portinari, Candido, 122
potatoes, 94
poudre de la succession, 106
Pritchard, Edward, 24–25
Prussian blue, 46
prussic acid see cyanide
puffer fish, 188
Québec, mercury in fish, 147
rapeseed oil, 47–50
rats, 11
rinderpest, 203
Rodine, 134
Roose, Richard, 155
Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, xix, 100
rotenone, 195
Rugely murderer, 21
Rumford, Count, 43–44
Rush, Benjamin, 91
salvarsan, 212
sapa see lead acetate
saturnine poisoning see lead
poisoning scarlet-bodied wasp moth, 197–98
Scheele, Carl Wilhelm, 17, 109, 114, 115, 163
Schweinfurter green, 114, 115, 121, 146
Seddon, Frederick Henry, 35
seed dispersal, 3
Seveso incident (1976), 179
Shakespeare, William, 2, 84, 93
Shaw, George Bernard, xviii, 120
shellfish poisoning, 188–89
Sherard, Robert, 124–27, 131–32
Sherman, Mary, 73
Siddal, Elizabeth, xix, 100, 121
Silent Spring (Rachel Carson), 150
silver, 196–97
Smethurst, Thomas, 77
Smith, Angus, 204–7
Smith, Madeleine, xviii, 39–40, 120
Snow White, 2
sodium azide, 148
Speckled Band, The, 23, 182, 183
spectroscopy, 74–76
Spilsbury, Sir Bernard, 31
Squibb Pannier, 81–82
Stas, Jean, 34
Stephen, J. K., xviii, 37
strychnine, 20–23, 40, 67, 79, 93, 110;
sugar of lead see lead
acetate sulfanilamide, 86
sulfur mustard, 170
Superfund, 144–45
table salt, lethal dose, 94
tabun, 171
Taylor, Professor Alfred, 22, 23, 53, 54, 59, 60, 64, 72, 75, 77, 84, 94, 98, 109, 111, 159, 160, 203, 205
tea:
adulterated, 44, 45; curative, 21, 82; as a poison, 43; tests for poisons, 26–27, 34–35, 73–75; see also Marsh
test tetraethyl lead, 130
tetrodotoxin, 187–89
thallium, 74–76
thallium acetate, as depilatory, 106
Thomas, Dylan, xvii, 42
Thompson, Benjamin see Rumford, Count
Tisza River event (2000), 148–49
adulterated, 54
toxic waste, 144–46
toxin theory of disease, 208
tri-orthocresyl phosphate, 42
tryacle see treacle
TTX see tetrodotoxin
van Gogh, Vincent, 82–83
vegetable poisons, 34
Velpeau, Alfred-Armand, 27
Vesuvius, Mount, 11
Wainewright, Thomas, 19–21
Wallace, Alfred Russel, 14
wallpaper, xix, 114–18
Wardle, George, xviii, 120
Wardle, Madeleine see Smith, Madeleine
Wells, H. G., xviii, 124, 126–28
Wepfer, Johannes, 153
white lead, 105, 106, 114, 121–22, 128–29
white star, 168
Windeyer, Justice William, 1
witch trials, 218–19
Woffinden, Bob, 48–50
wormwood, 83–85;
against malaria, 85; sweet, 85
Yprite see mustard gas
Yushchenko, Viktor, 158
Zyklon B, 175