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Albertus Magnus is usually accredited with the discovery of arsenic around 1250
Since the very earliest of times poisons have been used as a means for settling old
scores, instruments for personal advancement, as a means to execute criminals and by
those who found life to be an intolerable burden. The ancient Greeks and Romans, who
could seldom agree on anything, were both masters of this practice, but, of course, they
selected different agents. The most commonly used toxin in Greece was the water
hemlock, a plant in the carrot family not to be confused with the evergreen conifer
common in New England. Plato immortalized hemlock, which is said to be the most
violently poisonous plant in the North Temperate Zone, in his description of the death
of Socrates.
In the rest of Europe from the time of the Roman Empire through the Middle Ages and
the Renaissance, arsenic was the king of poisons. Mineral forms of arsenic were known
as early as the fourth century BC, but the German scholastic Albertus Magnus is usually
accredited with the discovery of the element around 1250. The first precise directions
for the preparation of metallic arsenic, however, are found in the writings of Paracelsus,
a physician-alchemist in the late Middle Ages who is often called the father of modern
toxicology.
Paracelsus, a physician-alchemist in the late Middle Ages, is often called the father of modern
toxicology
A Secret Weapon
Dioscorides, a Greek physician in the court of the Roman Emperor Nero, described
arsenic as a poison in the first century. Its ideal properties for sinister uses included its
lack of color, odor or taste when mixed in food or drink and its ubiquitous distribution
in nature, which made it readily available to all classes of society. Symptoms of arsenic
poisoning were difficult to detect, since they could mimic food poisoning and other
common disorders. There could be no doubt about arsenic's efficacy as a single large
dose, which provoked violent abdominal cramping, diarrhea and vomiting, often
followed by death from shock.
Arsenic could also be given as a series of smaller doses, producing a more subtle form
of chronic poisoning characterized by a loss of strength, confusion and paralysis.
Eventually, the arsenic of choice emerged as so-called white arsenic or arsenic trioxide
(As2O3); the fatal dose was known to be an amount equivalent in size to a pea.
All of the above properties of arsenic contributed to its alleged widespread use in
antiquity as a homicidal agent. Doubtless it is an exaggeration, but it has been said of
this period that poisonings were so common that few believed in the natural deaths of
princes, kings, or cardinals. Whatever the true extent of its covert use, arsenic has
engendered a body of legends so tangled that reliable sources today disagree about
many of the specifics.
Poison and politics were also intertwined in the early Renaissance period in Italy.
Records of the city councils of Florence during this period contain detailed testimony
naming victims, prices and contracts, complete with dates that transactions were
completed and payments made.
Among the most infamous of poisoners was a woman known as Toffana who made
arsenic-laced cosmetics and instructed women on their use. Another woman, known as
Hieronyma Spara, organized group instruction in the homicidal uses of arsenic for a
number of young married women who wanted to better their station in life by
becoming wealthy young widows. Reports of death by arsenic containing cosmetics
continued through the twentieth century.
Cesare Borgias In Italy during the Middle Ages the most widely accused of poisoners were the
Borgias, Pope Alexander VI, and his son, Cesare.
In Italy, during the Middle Ages, the most widely accused of poisoners were the
Borgias, Pope Alexander VI, and his son, Cesare. Most say that Cesare's half-sister,
Lucretia, was innocent of the Borgias's involvement in wholesale applied toxicology,
but even today her name is irrevocably linked to the surreptitious use of arsenic.
It was perhaps not surprising for the Borgias to specialize in dispatching bishops and
cardinals. As the Pope, Alexander VI appointed cardinals who were not only allowed
but encouraged to increase their personal wealth through perquisites granted by the
church. The nouveau riche pillar of propriety would then be invited to one or more
sumptuous meals with the Borgias.
There are those who say that arsenic actually improves the taste of wine. Whether true
or not, the Borgias made certain that their guest consumed as much of the doctored
drink as possible. Following the inevitable and untimely death of the victim, ownership
of his property - by church law - reverted to his executioners.
So diligently did the Borgias apply their craft that they soon numbered among the
wealthiest and most powerful men in all of Italy. Their cause was furthered by
Lucretia's successful three marriages into money and station and by Cesare's position as
captain-general of the papal army. But the dynasty was finally broken in a poetic stroke
of justice.
The origin of the expression "the gift of the Borgias" is obscure, but it might have
reflected the sarcastic wit of some unknown historian. It may be relevant that the
German word "gift" means both poison and malice.
Ehrlich patiently threaded his way through 604 different organic compounds of arsenic
before he literally stumbled on number 605 to which he gave the grandiose name of
Salvarsan. With brilliant insight, he even postulated that its antimicrobial activity might
involve the binding of Salvarsan to sulfur groups on the microbes. As toxicologists now
know, arsenic - and many other metals - are strongly attracted to sulfur; some of the
sulfur in human proteins is critical to biological function. Salvarsan became the first
drug that was safe enough to be given to humans and to be truly effective against the
dread spirochete bacteria that causes syphilis. It was to be replaced immediately on the
discovery of penicillin, but Salvarsan deserves its place in history.
A Bracing Tonic
The British response to this threat was an intensive research program that culminated in
the discovery of a simple sulfur-containing organic molecule which was highly effective
in inactivating Lewisite on the skin, since it attracted arsenic away from biologically
more important sites. This effective antidote became known by the acronym of BAL, for
British Anti-Lewisite. Later it was given the generic name, dimercaprol.
After the war, interest in dimercaprol continued, and in view of its low toxicity, it was
tested against arsenic that had been taken internally. It was found to bind arsenic
tenaciously and to hasten its excretion in the urine. It thus became the first rationally
developed chelating agent - a chemical trap that sequesters and disables toxins. It is also
used in treating people with mercury and gold poisoning.
Links
Death at Jamestown: Did the Jamestown colonists really die of starvation in the winter
of 1609 - 1610, or were they poisoned? A pathologist argues that a common arsenic
poison known as ratsbane did them in.
Poisonings: Berton Roueche's true stories on poisonings were published in The New
Yorker series "Annals of Medicine" from the 1940s through the 1980s. Dartmouth
toxicologist Roger Smith has annotated several of these stories with technical
background on the science behind the narratives.
The Wallpaper Did It: An opposing view on Napoleon's death-by-arsenic from a site
that explores optical illusions and other unusual science-based phenomena.
Forgiving the Borgias: Daniel Rogov, a wine, restaurant and travel critic, takes the
position that the Borgia's have been wrongly maligned and offers a recipe for a leek tart
created in honor of Lucretia's wedding to Alfonso d'Este.