Omaha daily bee., 1916-03-18
Your Chance
of Being
Poisoned
ny WOODS HUTCHINSON, NJ. d,


eop1ed and what is to be dreaded, are
SOUND because they are based upon the
experience of thousands OF generations
past. IL still has an astonishing capacity
Tor exaggerating the dangerousness of
harmful things and even vlvidly dread
Ing the wrong things altogether.
one OF the most striking Illustrations
81 highly exaggerated fear of real dan
ger is our fear OF being poisoned either
accidentally or by evil intent.
The very name poison sends a shudder
through our veins and puts Us into
4 frame of mind where rational and dis
n passionate thinking is most difficult
The dread goes back such a tremen-
dous distance and Is 30 entwined about
the deepest fibers Of our being that the
A4nere thought of poison sets up vibra-
tions in us which wireless back to
the very dawn OF human experience.
From earliest infancy our minds have
been crammed by those distressing sur
vivals from a much better forgotten past
called myth and legend and fairy tale
land Bible story)-with horrifytng tales
OF poisoning by fascinating but deadly
fruits BY the bite of flying and other
imaginary serpents, by the stroke or
envenomed daggers or enchanted swords.
or by that famous universal retrigerant
and sedative the "cup of cold poison.
whether at the Borgia's board or from
the taper fingers OF the enchantress.
The renowned episode in the Garden
NJ Eden. for instance. is merely one of
n hundred variants of the primitive le-
gend OF the beautifully colored fruit
whose eating brought death into the
world. probably in the beginning based
upon the disastrous result of some actual
early dietetic experiment.
OF course. there is real basis IN
fact for part OF this vivid fear and dread
because poisons do exist in considerable
variety upon all sides of U.s. particularly
in our food and drink, ana It is well to
be on our guard against them.
But the point simply is that the actual
mart played In the death rate and
disease rate by polsons. whether animal
= vegetable or mineral. is far. far smaller
than our inherited breads would lead
us to believe.
We are not. Of course. considering here
the toxins or poisons of infectious
diseases. or the putrefactive polsons OF
spoiled or tainted food. which are a
very real and important source OF dam
ger; but only what are popularity known
as poisons. that is to say. substances
which in small amounts would cause
serious danger 60 life.
A single glance at the mortality lists
or tables of causes of death assures us
at once that II we all remained upon this
earth until we died by poison, whether
Intentional or accidental. 80 9-i0 per cent
of us would live to be as old as Methu-
selah, and older.
Death by poisoning accounts for barely
one and one-haif death out of each
thousand, or less than one-seven hun
dredth OF all deaths.
However. these broad and average
statements, though reassurtng in the
main and in the abstract. are not quite so
convincingly consoling personally for the
reason that we only happen to be just
the one person out of 100 upon whom is
to fall the honor OF proving the excep-
tion to the rule of the 80 BIO per cent
harmlessness Of poisone.
The question has Just recently been
brought home to us very vividly by the
horrible and dastardly attempt at whole
sale murder by putting arsenic In the
soup OF the guests at the archoisnop's
banquet in Chicago, and the distressing
tragedy Of loves perfidy at Lake Forest,
where prusslc acid is supposed to have
a..
- What Is the reason for the singulariy
A.all amount Of aetual damage wrought
by the quite considerable number Of COM
mon and fairly active poisons?
The first reason Is that, although there
are great number and variety Of sub
stances, which II taken IN sufficient
amounts or through considerable lengths
of time. would produce injurious results
In the human system. the actual number
of poisons found in a state Of nature
sufficiently strong or concentrated to be
swiftly dangerous TO life IL swallowed is
surprisingly small.
We could almost count them upon the
fingers OF our two hands-opium. arsenic,
corrosive sublimate (bichloride OF mer-
curS). beladonna. prussic acid, strych-
nine (nux vomica). carbolic acid oxalic
acid. lead phosphorus. aconite. This al
most completes the roll OF the really
strong and dangerous poisons,
This is the more remarkable because
there is no manner OF question that poi
sons were highly priced and eagerly
sought after in the old cowardly, blood
thirsty days of the past, which are moi
entirely over yet, as recent events In
Flanders have shown, and anything
which would swiftly and surely put your
enemy OF flFdl HSiI pht VI Ahp NNs
would bring its weight I'm gold.
In fact, no inconsiderable share of tbs
income OF the magicians and astrologers
~apd neeromaneers and medicine men OF
earlier times was derived from a lively
ana lucrative traffic in poisons. for botf
family and foreign use.
In fact the list which has been giveT
represents the eager secumulations OF al
past ages and the rakings of every elim'
and latitude.
Opium from Turkey and the near east
arsenic from China, stryohnine iron
tropical Africa corrosive sublimate from
Arabia. and SO on. And most of eyei
this small group Of real 'sure enough
poisona have TO be collected and ex
tracted from the ores or the juices o
the plants in which they are found. an
ustally more or less concentrated befor
they are swiftly deadly in small amounts
One would have 20 chew up sewers
poppy heads, fog instance. in order I
get enough opium for a dangerous dos,
Furthermore, scarcely one OF thes'
except occasionally lead, occurs eithe
naturally or accidentally in our food Q