Poison Romance and Poison Mysteries

LONG before the action of vegetable and mineral substances on human beings and animals was known, it is probable that poisonous bodies in some form were used by primitive man.

AMONG the ignorant, poisons have ever been closely associated with superstition, and thus we find in the dark ages, even among the more civilized nations of the West, a belief i...

POISON appears to have been employed as a political agent from a very early period of history, and numerous stories have been handed down of royal personages who used this secre...

THE criminal destruction of life by poison has been practised from ancient times. Very little was known of toxicology in those days, and even the symptoms often passed unrecogni...

THE use of poison as an instrument for political purposes during the Middle Ages soon spread over Europe, and the dread of wholesale poisoning caused numerous panics. Some of th...

it was declared the yeast had been poisoned. Parliament took up the investigation, and the bishop's cook, one Richard Rowe, was found guilty. He was tried, and sentenced to be b...

ARSENIC has, perhaps, been more frequently used than any other poison for criminal purposes. It was known to the ancient Greeks in the form of the yellow sulphide, commonly call...

Marie Fortunée Cappelle was the daughter of a captain in the Imperial Artillery. Her parents died in her childhood, and she was placed in the care of an aunt, who, at the earlie...

THE case of Madeline Smith, who was charged with causing the death of L'Angelier by the administration of arsenic at Glasgow, in 1857, excited universal interest. Owing to the s...

ON July 31, 1889, one of the most remarkable poisoning cases of modern times was brought before Mr. Justice Stephen, at the Liverpool Assizes. The trial, which lasted eight days...

ACONITE, or monk's-hood, whose purple flower, shaped like a helmet or monk's hood, is a familiar feature in our country gardens, ranks as one of the most ancient of vegetable po...

THE only case on record in which the active principle of aconite has been used for the purpose of criminal poisoning is that of Dr. Lamson, who suffered the extreme penalty of t...

ANTIMONY, like arsenic, to which in many ways it is closely allied, claims also to be ranked among the historic poisons. It was known and used by the ancient Greek and Roman phy...

THE remarkable case of Dr. E. W. Pritchard of Glasgow, who was arrested and charged with murdering his wife and mother-in-law in that city in the year 1865, excited great intere...

CHLOROFORM belongs to the class of neurotic poisons which act on the brain, and produce loss of sensation. It is a colourless, heavy, and volatile liquid, having a peculiar ethe...

STRYCHNINE may very justly be termed a deadly poison. It is one of the active principles extracted from nux vomica, the singular disk-like seed of the _Strychnos nux vomica_, a...

an emetic, and then a pill. He obtained relief from these, and by the morning the vomiting had ceased, and he was much better, though he still felt very unwell. They returned to...

THE narcotic properties of the poppy have been known from times of great antiquity. The first mention we have of its use is by Theophrastus, who lived about 300 years B.C. It is...

This plant, cultivated largely in India, is now considered to be the same, botanically, as the _Cannabis sativa_ of European cultivation; but there is great difference in their...

FEW, perchance, of the millions who gather comfort from the "herb of fragrance" are aware that it is to Don Hernandez de Toledo we are indebted for the introduction of tobacco i...

THERE is a very peculiar property attached to poisons, especially those possessing anodyne properties--that is, they are capable of forming the most enslaving habits known to ma...

FROM a very early period poisoning mysteries have been woven into romance and story, and in later times have been a favourite theme for both novelist and dramatist. But unfortun...

TOWARDS the close of the year 1891 and the early part of 1892, public interest was excited by the mysterious deaths of several young women of the "unfortunate" class residing in...

TOWARDS the close of the year 1897, a Mrs. Holmes, a widow, was living with her three children at Stoneley, near Kimbolton. She had a cousin named Walter Horsford, a well-to-do...

ONE of the most carefully planned murders by means of poison in modern times was investigated at the trial of Roland B. Molineux, who was charged with causing the death of Mrs....

THE strange and curious methods employed by poisoners to accomplish their deadly purpose, form an interesting study to students of human nature. The poisoner generally sets to w...