Monday, July 06, 2020

Ancient antidotes

Very recommendable! Thanks to the advances of modern forensics killing by poisoning has become a rather rare event, but until the not so distant past it was very common to get rid of someone by poisoning whether among commoners or among nobility!

"... His name was Mithridates VI (c.132–63 BCE) and, like his father before him, he became King of Pontus, a state along the Black Sea. Mithridates’ fears spurred him to action – both as poisoner and poison scholar. Mithridates has been called the first experimental toxicologist, with his primary goal being the creation of ‘a “universal antidote” to make himself and his friends immune to all poisons and toxins’. His experimental methods would now be considered dubious at best, including self-dosing with poisons and their supposed antidotes. His practice of taking a bit of poison regularly toward acquiring a tolerance bears his name – mithridatism. ..."

Ancient antidotes | Opinion | Chemistry World Favourites of emperors and royalty, theriacs were the universal cures of their day

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