Poison: An Illustrated HistoryDiscover the secret history of poison and how it shapes our world. From Cleopatra to Mary Ann Cotton, from cone snails to cocaine, this lavishly illustrated book will take you on a fascinating journey through the mysterious world of potions, magical herbs, and psychoactive preparations substances at once alluring and terrifying. Poison captures them in all their complexity, describing the many roles they have played in history and culture, science and religion, medicine and murder. POISONOUS FACTS Ergot mold, which grows on rye and other grains, causes convulsions and hallucinations. Cited in the witchcraft panic of 1691 in Salem, Massachusetts, it is a precursor in the synthesis of LSD. Jane Stanford, cofounder of Stanford University, died of strychnine poisoning. The gas chamber was first used in Nevada in the 1924 execution of Gee Jon, a Chinese-American gangster. Lethal injection is now the world's most popular form of execution. Nicotine, the addictive ingredient in cigarettes, is also a highly potent alkaloid neurotoxin that was used widely as an insecticide. The botulinum toxin is the most potent known to science. A little more than one cup would be enough to kill every human on the planet." |
