There could be no doubt about arsenic’s efficacy as a single large dose, which provoked violent abdominal cramping, diarrhea and vomiting, often followed by death from shock.Īrsenic could also be given as a series of smaller doses, producing a more subtle form of chronic poisoning characterized by a loss of strength, confusion and paralysis. Symptoms of arsenic poisoning were difficult to detect, since they could mimic food poisoning and other common disorders. Its ideal properties for sinister uses included its lack of color, odor or taste when mixed in food or drink and its ubiquitous distribution in nature, which made it readily available to all classes of society. A Secret Weapon Paracelsus, a physician-alchemist in the late Middle Ages, is often called the father of modern toxicologyĭioscorides, a Greek physician in the court of the Roman Emperor Nero, described arsenic as a poison in the first century. The first precise directions for the preparation of metallic arsenic, however, are found in the writings of Paracelsus, a physician-alchemist in the late Middle Ages who is often called the father of modern toxicology. Mineral forms of arsenic were known as early as the fourth century BC, but the German scholastic Albertus Magnus is usually accredited with the discovery of the element around 1250. In the rest of Europe from the time of the Roman Empire through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, arsenic was the king of poisons. Plato immortalized hemlock, which is said to be the most violently poisonous plant in the North Temperate Zone, in his description of the death of Socrates. The most commonly used toxin in Greece was the water hemlock, a plant in the carrot family not to be confused with the evergreen conifer common in New England. The ancient Greeks and Romans, who could seldom agree on anything, were both masters of this practice, but, of course, they selected different agents.

Since the very earliest of times poisons have been used as a means for settling old scores, instruments for personal advancement, as a means to execute criminals and by those who found life to be an intolerable burden.

Albertus Magnus is usually accredited with the discovery of arsenic around 1250

Arsenic antidote