Introduction

From Fairy tales to murder mystery novels, ancient mythology to modern day dramas,
historical assasinations to …. Poisons have been woven into the tapestry of our ??
Poisons span the world.no borders.. Etc

Poisons. EntwinedEntangled throughout history in a tale of death and decay, such/these

lethal substances have been abused by us humans for millennia. Whether in quests of
power or revenge, in desperation or in the name of love, they have been a favoured weapon
across history for their ability to be wielded with both subtlety and versatility.

Unsuspecting drinks, overdoses, coated arrow tips and deadly gas are just some of the
many ways it has manifested. This same substance has secured inheritances, executed
criminals, felled warriors of myth, assisted in the defeat of armies, administered suicides,
killed rulers, been romanticised in crime novels and possibly even caused the fall of an
empire. It is all these things, that make it such an interesting tool of destruction.

Accessibility, however, is what has allowed poison to gain its long and bloodied history. With
such a large variety of them, it is easy for near anyone to gain possession or find one.
Existing in natural forms, poisons are one of the things that humans have always had the
means to access, and a knowledge of where in nature they are found has always been
essential for survival. Distinguishing which plants and animals are toxic, would have been
one of the first things that we would have had to have learnt; knowing that certain plants can
have benefits when used in a certain way or amount but are often otherwise lethal is a
critical piece of information to retain from dropping dead.

Hemlock
Hemlock was the favoured poison of Ancient Greece
Conium maculatum
Socrates Was Poisoned By Hemlock
Native to europe, asia? and north Africa
It has been introduced nearly world wide - can be found in australia
All parts are poisonous
Often mistaken for parsley - leaves, or turnips - roots - it belongs to carrot family

There is no antidote. The poisonous alkaloid is conine

It disrupts the nervous system by (either antagonist or agonist - I think its more likely an
agonist but shrug) and eventually kills by disrupting the respiratory system and causing
asphyxiation.

Very similar to water hemlock which is apparently even more poisonous

Water hemlock is native to north america
Cicuta maculata L.

Belladonna
Belladonna - beautiful lady is a poisonous plant from the nightshade family - tomatoes and
stuff
Apparently just 2 berries can kill a child and 10 to 20 can kill an adult
Atropa Belladonna
Atropa is one of the 3 fates, Atropos, and is the one who cut the thread
It is called Deadly Nightshade and is the most poisonous of the nightshade varieties
The berries are poisonous and very attractive and are also very sweet
All parts of the plant are poisonous especially the root
Causes the pupil to dilate and is used in eyedrop medicines or this (for eye examinations)
The poisonous varies - probs because of location and stuff in the soil
Used to be used for beauty purposes sometimes, dilation of the pupil and as blush
Contains tropane alkaloids: atropine, | hyoscyamine and scopolamine which are
psychoactive
Atropine effects the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) by binding to
muscarinic receptors which stops the neurotransmitter acetylcholine (which slows heart rate)
from working, thus stopping the transmission of nerve impulses.
It increases the heart rate and has thus been used to treat bradycardia
It is also used as a treatment for poisonings, it is the most common treatment for
organophosphate poisoning and also nerve agents such as tabun (GA), sarin (GB),
soman (GD), and VX. Which work by stopping the breaking down of acetylcholine by
acetylcholinesterase. Atropine stops the abundance of acetylcholine from confusing and
overstimulating the body by stopping the acetylcholine from transmitting messages
An overdose of atropine would cause paralysis of muscles including the heart.
It is also used to reduce secretions during surgery

It is believed that belladonna was the poison that juliet took to put her in the coma

Also similar are Bittersweet Nightshade Solanum dulcamara, with red berries which is less
poisonous than belladonna. Unripe berries are most unsafe but ripe berries are poisonous
as well.
A lethal dose is extremely unlikely but eating it can be dangerous
It contains highsih? doses of dangerous glycoalkaloids such as solanine, which is in
potatoes
For adults its probs fine as you have to eat a lot to die 200 berries, but it has killed children.

Black Nightsahde is commonly mistaken for deadly nightshade - Solanum nigrum, black
berries in bunches of multiple when ripe. The berries are safe and are often eaten - but they
are toxic when ripe. Im not sure about the rest of the plant bu apart from the berries i think
the plant might be toxicish
 Nightshades
Nightshades - solanacae, family which includes tomatoes and potatoes and eggplants and
chillies
Theres a lot of poisonous plants in the family, many of the plants include alkaloids tropane
(named after atropa), solanine, some have nicotine, and capsaicin which is spicy!!!
Nightshade plants often contain tropane alkaloids: atropa, scopolamine (sometimes known
as devils breath - rated the worlds scariest drug in 2012, causes halucinations which is why
many nightshade plants are used a lot as halucinogens)
Plants include:
-Deadly Nightshade
- Bittersweet Nightshade
- Mandrake
- hensbane
- Devils Trumpet (datura species), and Angels Trumpet (brugmansia)
- tobacco

Mandrake
Native to mediterranean region and himalayas
The roots and leaves are the most poisonous part
It contains tropane alkaloids
Mandrakes are one of the most mythologically steeped plants
Because of how the roots can kind of look like legs they were often drawn as people roots.
There were even considered to be men and women mandrakes.
The mandrake was considered magical by many
It was seen as an aphrodisiac, as a love poition
In ancient greece, it was known as a narcotic (true), and was used to treat anxiety
depression and insomnia. - Theophrastus wrote the first Greek treatise on plants in or
around 230 BC. In agreement with the polypharmacy of the time, he recommended the
mandrake as a sovereign remedy for gout, erysipelas, sleeplessness and, interestingly, in
relation to the Hebraic tradition,as a love potion.
Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, asserted around 400 BC that ‘a small dose in wine,
less than would occasion delirium, will relieve the deepest depression and anxiety.
The ancient greeks and romans used it as an anaesthetic before surgery
It is mentioned in the bible and was believed by Hebrew people to increase conception.
Gen. 30:14-16
Rachel uses it and she becomes fertile, giving birth to Joseph
Ancient greece sometimes called Aphrodite Mandragoritis (She of the Mandrake)
It was known sometimes as the love apple
It was believed, continuing through medieval times to help with fertility and people would
sleep with one under their pillow, apparently that it looked like a baby helped this?
It was also believed to bring luck in other areas (like wealth) and there was some belief that
it could help control wills and to ward off evil eye
The catholic church didn’t like that and you could be accused of witchraft for carrying it
It was used in Joan of Arcs trial who was accused of carrying mandrake on her
It was used also in battle, apparently there were 2 stories first related to the Carthaginian
general Hannibal who, when his army was fighting African rebels, pretended to retreat. He
then left behind on the battlefield a number of jars of wine which had been fortified with
mandrake. The rebels drank the wine, became sleepy, or even stuporose, and were easily
defeated. It was also said that Julius Caesar, when he was captured by Sicilian pirates,
employed a similar stratagem to gain his release.

There was lots of stuff surrounding it and rituals came about on how to procure it safely
Apparently one of the first was In Theophrastus’ treatise, we have the first clear description
of the procedure that must be followed by the plant gatherer in order that he should not be
bewitched by the mandrake. The operator should draw three circles around the plant with
his sword. Then, facing the west to avoid evil spells, he should slice portions off the taproot.
At the cutting of the second piece, he must dance around the plant and mutter incantations
concerning the mystery of love. Drawing the three circles around the plant protects the
operative from the plant and the sword used should be a ‘magic’ one made of virgin iron and
only ever used for the purpose of mandrake gathering.

The plant because of its appearance and like ‘magical’ stuff was sometimes called the devils
fruit
Apparently it became popular and lot of people wanted it and from trying to protect it from
theft myths grew around it in the christian error that it was inhabitted by a demon or satan or
the devil
So stuff came in many froms some said that if you would try to uproot it the devil would kill
you
It morphed into that when uprooting the mandrake it would let out a scream that could kill
someone
This made the riutal (most known one)
Where someone must plug their ears (most often) and then they’d chain a dog to the plant.
They’d then stand back at a distance and throw some meat near the dog and the dog would
run to the meat uprooting the plant.
The dog would die but the person would be safe

Might have been given to criminals before they were hung to speed up the death
In particular, Dioscorides outlines the process by which strips of mandrake bark were
allowed to be steeped in sweet wine for months. This wine contained the narcotic principle
and became known in Roman times as the death wine or ‘morion’. It was given to the victims
of torture or crucifixion. Sometimes another bitter anaesthetic was added to the mandrake to
potentiate its effects for example myrrh (Commiphora myrrha).
There was the myth that it grew from the urine and semen of hung men.

Many literature references, notible are Harry POtter and Romeo and Juliet

It became so valuable that shortage and hard to acquire made fakes often made of briony go
around. They became family heirlooms often being in te wills.
Hensbane
Believed to be the poison that killed Hamlets father
Hyoscyamus niger black henbane
Killer of chickens
Mainly hyoscymine and scopolamine
Causes hallucinations
It is believed that berserkers drank it before battle
Often used in replacement wit mandrake for medicinal purposes, in the british isles were it
was more naturalised

Aconite (aka Wolfbane)

Ricin
Ricin is a poisonous toxin that comes from the castor tree (castor bean or castor oil plant).
Ricinus communis
The toxin is found in the shell of the beans.
If swallowed whole the beans aren’t dangerous, but when the shell is chewed or broken then
ricin can be released
Castor oil does not contain ricin, but ricin is found in the waste ‘mash’ leftover from
production
The heating of the oil makes sure there is no ricin as it becomes ineffective after being
heated to 80 degrees - so te beans are sometimes roasted and then eaten
Ricin works by stopping the cells from producing protein.
In 1978, Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian writer and journalist in london at the time was
assasinated by ricin when it was injected as a pellet into his skin with an umbrella
Ricin is soluble in water adn acid, and can be in the form of a powder or mist as well.
It has been used as a gas in warfare, experimented in 1940 by US and used in 1980 in Iraq?
It can be absorbed through the skin as well
It is a schedule number 1 chemical warfare agent
It is one of the most deadly poisons in th world
The LD 50 of ricin when orally ingested is

Arsenic

Cyanide

Batrotoxin

Botox

Venom
Oleander

Mushrooms

Stinging Bush - Gympie bush Dendrocnide moroides

Poisonings

Socrates

Romans

Vikings Politics Kings

Cleopatra

Literature

Romeo & Juliete

Mythology

Agatha Christie

Lead & the Downfall of Rome

Assacination of Dude with Ricin

Spy assasinations

Bibliography