Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1898-05-12
Famous Polsons.

In lecture in Buffalo the other
evening Professor Miller, of Niagara
University, declared that no simpler
or better definition existed than tnat
given by DR.. Lethby, who described
a poison as any subject which, other
wise than by agency of heat or cleo
tricity, is capable of destroying life by
chemical action upon the tissues or
through physiological action due to
its absorption through the body. The
history of the knowledge of prisons,
said Professor Miller, is ancient and
begins in the myths. The Greeks be-
lieved that Hecate, mythical char
acter, was the discoverer of poisonous
herbs. In the earliest historical rec
ords exists knowledge Of poisOns.
The Egyptians were familiar with
many poisons, including aconite, CO.
mum and prussic acid.
Early in the history of India, it ap-
pears, poisous were used for suicides,
robbery and revenge The early
Greeks used poisons as a means Of ju-
dicial punishment, as in the case Of
Socrates, who drank hemlook, a poison
distilled from the common field plant.
One of the best known polsons
comes from the common garden plant
known as wolfbane or rnoR+ehood, and
is called aconite Perhaps the most
famous case of poisoning by aconite
was that in which the London surgeon,
George Henry Lamson, killed his
brother-in-law, Percy Malcom John,
by administering this poison. John
stood between the surgeon and an IN
heritance of Gl,500 1t was shown
that the surgeon had made several
attempts to poison his brother-in-law'
and that finally he succeeded in adj
ministering to John a powder contain
ing aconite. He was tried for muir
der and convicted.
There is much difference Of opinion
among chemical scientists, said Pro-
fessor Miller, as to what active prin-
cipies induce the virulent properties
of snake poisons. The poisonous ef-
fects of venomous serpents were known
in the earliest days. 1t is estimated
that in Ceylon 10000 persons die an
nually from the bite of the same va
riety Of serpent.
With the ushering in of the Chris
tian era, strange as it may seem, there
appeared a class of professional pois-
oners. The height Of cunning in this
class was not attained until between
the fourteenth and seventeenth CEN
turies. In Venice in the fifteenth
century professional poisoners were
employed officially by the Council OF
Ten to remove persons obnoxious
to the government" and the official
records contain the names of those Of
fcials who voted in the council either
for or against employing the poison
ers.
Secret poisoning was considered
justiGabie as well as an easy way to
get rid Of an objectionable person,
a rival, or an enemy The Borgias
were more industrious than their
neighbors. By the year l648 secret
poisoning had become so greatly pre-
valent that an investigation was made
by the order of Pope Alexander VII.
1t was ascertained that there were an
unusually large number ofyoung wild
ows in Rome. There existed secret
society Of young matrons. The ma
irons met at the home Of a woman,
Hieronyma Spara, who supplied the
young women with poisons with which
to kill off their husbands. Half a CEN
tury later similar society was dis
covered in Naples and its leader,
woman, Tofsna, was strangled be-
cause she dispensed a poison known
as Aqua Tofana.