The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-07-31
ANCIENT POISON LORE
Some Obscure Facts Revealed
BY Study Of Toxicology.
THE PENALTY OF THE PEACH.

THE PENALTY OF THE PEACH.
A Document Of Antiquity That Saseso
the Egyptians Knew How 60 eeahs
and Use Prussie Aeid-rhs Peiseas
Of Ancient Greece and Rose.
In the mythology OF Greece there
vas q somber saga which declared
that In the far north. later described
~ Colchis. there dwelt some soecesees
children Of the sun. OF these Hecate
possessed vast knowledge Of poison
Gus herbs. which passed to her daugh-
ter Medea. who administered drugs -
that dragon which guarded the Golden
Fleece and urged Jason to gladiator.
like achievements
Menes. one OF the oldest Of the Egyp-
tian kings. and Attalus Phylometcr.
the last king OF peTYemus. undoubted-
" possessed wide knowledge OF ne
dicinal plants. Attalus Phylometer
compounded medicines and expert
menteti with poisoos. He was tamil
truiiA. conium and others.
Mithradates Equator went further
than either Of these. however. ~ he
prepared the famous mixture theriaca.
composed Of nfty.four ingredients and
which In later days sold ut q great
price. There il further evidence Of
! the chemical knowledge Of the EUp-
tians ~ disclosed In embalming and
various technical works
The most Interesting feature. oe the
| poison lore Of Egypt. however. 10 the
fact that the Egyptians were acQuaint-
! ed with prussic acid. one Of the most
| deadly poisons. They distilled Il from
certain plants and trees. notably the
peach. In the Louvre there II an au-
cient Egyptian papyrus on which has
been deciphered:
Pronounce not the name OF ]. A. O.
under the penalty Of the peach"
/ This Is supposed to be death warn
ing to those who might be tempted to
reveal mysteries In connection With
i the religious rites Of the priests.
It II certain that the Romans learned
Of prussic acid from the Egyptians. for
history has It that In the reign Of IT,
berius q Roman knight accused OF
treason drank poison and fell dead ut
the feet Of the senators.
In ancient Greece poison was the "a
vorite method Of capital punishment
ana suicide, and Il 10 OF interest thu,
self destruction was considered By TIN
|, Greeks ~ an exemplary means Of nee
. ing the soul from the body. valeeiua
, Maximus relates that he saw NO
man Of quality In the island of Geo
who. having lived happily for ninet,
years, obtained leave to take . poison
GUS draft. lest BY living longer shs
should happen to have change IN bel
good fortune"
Nicandsr Of Colophon Qo4-l3o D. C..
| wrote the most ancient works extau1
, ON the subject Of poisous. In ont
: treatise he described the effects d
! snake venom, In another he considered
the properties Of opium. henbane. Get
+ tain fungi, colchicum, aconite and con
} tium and recommended antidote0 to
} them.
q Dioscorides (40-o0 A. d. described
] the effects Of cantharides. sulphate o
) copper. mercury. lead and arsenic. n
) described poisons under thfes beads
i animal poisons, poisous 1ro0 plant
3 and mineral poisons.
Poison -'poisoulehro." % Il va
long ealled-was considered Q forbid
!. den subject for many aces- Caten q
: his work ''On Antidotes" TenarkD thu
: the only authors who dared 10 witt
OF poisous were Orpheus. Theoaogua
: Morus, Neodesius the younees. Helix
dorus Of Athens, Aratus and 1sw otl
: err. Unfortunately none Of their trea
: tises y now In existence.
The sacred writings Of India oh0s
that the art of poisoning was use0 "a
suicide. robbery and revenge. and her
|. We learn that the original cattle pol
. soness lived In India. Tha AsiAttc
knew arsenic. aconite. opium and othe
poisons.
The ancient Hebrews were acquainl
ed with certain poisoua. ana ''vooch
= and schema" ssem 60 have been q
l. words used - geneeal terms Tar pooDoa
e The death Of 0oefatsn. De0ostheoel
n Hannibal and Cleopatra testify b Oh
d pharmaceutical knowledes Of The q
FL cienta Phrysa poisoosd ths ouee
a 0tatira In The reign q A1tAxeg1oo =
T. q. C. l06-3Sos BY cottin8 1oo1 WITH
le poisoned knife.
y The professional polDopsss arose sari
le IN the Christiaa era lt = rocoCde
that Agrippina a. D. - refused
eat apples at the tabae Of hee fhthe
in-law Tibefius through fear q poeDol
New York Times.
j Hew We Change.
did you notice that womon'D q
preston Just them" queried tfavese
on IN elevated frain. aud be poiDte
:. 10 q handsomely goWne0 wo04
'e whom the exlEencies of transpoeenf1e
had placed directly opposite - 81
and NOT foo clean man. H. 0eH n