Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1909-07-08
ANCIENT POISON LORE
Some Obscure Facts Revealed
by Study of ToxicoIogy.
THE PENALTY OF THE PEACH.

Document of Antiquity That Shows
the Egyptians Knew How to Make
and Use Prussic Acid-The Poisons
of Ancient Greece and Rome.
was a somber saga which declared
that in the far north, later described
as Colchis, there dwelt some sOrCerers
children of the sun. OF these Hecate
possessed vast knowledge of poison
Gus herbs, which passed to her daugh-
ter Medea, who administered drugs to
that dragon which guarded the Golden
Fleece and urged Jason to gladiator
like achievements.
Menes, one Of the oldest of the Egyp-
tan kings, and Attalus Phylometer,
the last king of Pergemus, undoubted-
ly possessed wide knowledge of me-
dicinal plants. Attalus PhyIometer
compounded medicines and expert
mented with pOiSons. He was famil-
lar with hyoscyamus, aconite, vera
trum, Copium and others.
Mithradates Equator went further
than either of these, however, as he
prepared the famous mixture theriaca,
composed of fifty-fOur ingredients, and
which in later days sold at a great
price. There is further evidence of
the chemical knowledge of the Egyp-
tians as disclosed in embalming and
various technical works.
The most interesting feature of the
poison lore of Egypt, however, is the
fact that the Egyptians were acquaint-
ed with prussic acid, one of the most
deadly poisons. They distilled it from
certain plants and trees, notably the
peach. In the Louvre there Is an an
Gent Egyptian papyrus on which has
been deciphered:
pronounce not the name Of l. A. O.
under the penalty of the peach"
This is supposed to be a death warn
ing to those who might be tempted to
reveal mysteries in connection with
the religious rites of the priests.
1t is certain that the Romans learned
Of prussic acid from the Egyptians, for
history has It that in the reign of III
berius q Roman knight accused of
treason drank poison and fell dead at
the feet of the senators.
In ancient Greece poison was the IA
Vorite method of capital punishment
and suicide, and it is of interest that
self destruction was considered by the
Greeks as an exemplary means of free
ing the soul from the body. Valerius
MaXimus relates that he saw a wo-
man of quality in the island of Coos
who, having lived happily for ninety
years, obtained leave to take q poison
Gus draft, lest by living longer she
should happen to have change In her
good fortune"
Nicander of Colophon (2O4-13S B. O.
wrote the most ancient works extant
on the subject of poisOns. In one
treatise he described the effects of
snake venom, in another he considered
the properties of opium, henbane, GER
tain fungi, colchicum, aconite and con-
tium and recommended antidOtes for
them.
Dioscorides (40-9O A. d. described
the effects of cantharides, sulphate of
copper, mercury, lead and arsenic. He
described pOisons under three heads
animal poisons, poisons from plants
and mineral poisons.
Poison pOisOn-lehre," as it was
long called-was considered a forbid
den subject for many ages. Gaten in
his work ION Antidotes" remarks that
the only authors who dared to write
Of poisons were Orpheus, TheOlogus,
Morus, Mendesius the younger, Hello
dOrus of Athens, Aratus and q few 9th
ers. Unfortunately none of their trea-
tises is now in existence.
The sacred writings of India show
that the art of poisoning was used for
suicide, robbery and revenge. and here
we learn that the original cattle poi
soners lived in India. The Asiatics
knew arsenic, acOnite, opium and other
poiSOns
The ancient Hebrews were aCquatnt-
ed with certain pOisons, and ''VOsch"
and Cinema" seem to have been the
words used as general terms for poison.
The death of Socrates, DemOSthenes,
Hannibal and Cleopatra testify to the
pharmaceutical knowledge of the an
clients. Phrysa poisoned the Queen
Statira in the reign Of Artaxerxes II.
B. C. 4O5-359) by cutting food with
poisoned knife.
The professional prisoners arose early
in the Christian era 1t is recorded
that Agrippina "a. D. 90 refused to
eat apples at the table of her father
in-law Tiberius through fear Of poison.
New York Times.