The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1898-06-11
POISONS THAT KILL.
Women's Societies Were Formed In
Early Times for the Purpose OF
Numbering Men.

In a lecture in Buffalo the Other
evening Prof. Miller, of Niagara uni,
versity, declared that no simpler or bet
ter definition existed than that given
by DR.. Lethby, who described poison
as any substance which, otherwise than
by agency of heat or electricity, is cap
able of destroying life by chemical &C,
ton upon the tissues or through physi,
illogical action due to its absorption
into the body. The history of the knowl
edge of poisons, said Prof. Miller, is an
cient and begins in the myths. The
Greeks believed that Hecate, a mythical
character, was the discoverer of pois
onous herbs. In the earliest historical,
records exists a knowledge of poisons
The Egyptians were familiar with
many poisons, including aconite, conf
UNI and prussic acid.
Early in the history of India it ap
pears poisons were used for suicides
robbery and revenge. The early Greek,
used poisons as means of judicial pun
ishment, as in the case of Socrates, whs
drank hemlock, poison distilled from
the common field plant.
One of the best known poisons come,
from the common garden plant known
as wolfbane or monkshood, and il
called aconite. Perhaps the most fa
nous case of poisoning by aconite wa,
that in which the London surgeon
George Henry Lamson, killed his broth,
er-in-law, Percy Malcolm John, by adj
ministering this poison. John stood
between the surgeon and an inheritanc,
of 1900. 1t was shown that the sur
geon had made several attempts to poi
son his brother-in-law, and that finally
he succeeded in administering to Johr
a powder containing aconite. He wal
tried for murder and convicted.
There is much difference of opinion
among chemical scientists, said Prof
Miller, as to what active principles in
duce the virulent properties of snali,
poisons. The poisonous effect of ven
omous serpents was known in the
earliest days. 1t is estimated that il
Ceylon 10000 persons die annually from
the bite of the same variety of serpent
With the ushering in of the Chris
tian era, strange as it may seem, ther,
appeared a class of professional poi
soners. The height of cunning in THU
class was not attained until between
the fourteenth and the seventeenth cen
turtles. In Venice in the fifteenth cen
fury professional prisoners were EN-
ployed officially by the council of ter
to remove persons obnoxious to tn,
government" and the official record,
contain the names of those officials who
voted in the council either for or against
employing the prisoners.
Secret poisoning was considered
justifiable as well as an easy way tc
get rid of an Objectionable person.
a rival or an enemy. The Borgias were
more industrious than their neighbors
By the year 164s secret poisoning had
become so startlingly prevalent that an
investigation was made by the order OF
| Pope Alexander VII. 1t was ascertaineo
| that there were an unusually largt
number of young widows in Rome
There existed a secret society of young
matrons. The matrons met at the
home of a woman famed Hieronyms
Spara, who supplied the young womer
with poisons with which to kill off then
husbands. Half century later a sim.
liar society was discovered in Naplei
and its leader, woman, Tofano, wai
strangled because she dispensed poi
son known as aqua tofano.-Pittsburgh
| Disnatch