Arsenic (As) has been called the King of Poisons and the Poison of Kings. This silvery metalloid appears abundantly in the Earth and naturally in living things. Just like most other poisons, a little could cure and a lot will kill, and the difference is marginal.
Arsenic has no smell or taste. The advantage of using arsenic for assassination and other murders is slow buildup in the body, causing gradual worsening of symptoms. Symptoms of arsenic poisoning are mild at first, mimicking flu with diarrhea, vomiting and intestinal pain.
As poisoning continues, the victim experiences tingling or numbness, muscle cramping and eventually death. Arsenic is known as a favorite poison of women, used historically to eliminate family members and other threats.
In more than one case an unhappy bride or stepmother poisoned kids and adults alike under the guise of treatment and concern. A famous case is Mary Ann Cotton (1832 - 1873), a British nurse, housekeeper and prolific serial killer.
Poison is the murder weapon of choice for many women, who find it a more genteel way of killing someone than the violence of guns or knives. It's particularly popular from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance.
The non-fictional King Midas of the 8th century BCE is said to have committed suicide by taking red arsenic, known as bull's blood.
At the age of fourteen, Nero of Rome has his stepbrother Britannicus poisoned with arsenic. It might be under the direction of his mother, Agrippina, as Britannicus stands in Nero's way as rightful heir to Rome.
Besides arsenic, popular poisons for murder include the death cap mushroom, destroying angel, hemlock and one of Nero's inventions, cyanide infused cherry laurel water. He tries to poison his mother more than once, but she is wise to the ways of poisoners.
Antidotes are all the rage in ancient Rome, both for poisoned relatives and snakebite. Italy is inhabited by four species of venomous snakes. Some physicians and alchemists specialize in poisons. By the Renaissance, poisonings are still popular, most famously involving the Borgias.
Although arsenic compounds are known for centuries, German scholar Albertus Magnus discovers the element in 1250 AD. In the 1830s a test for arsenic poisoning is created.
Arsenic shows up in the hair and nails. Tests don't mean much unless the doctor suspects poisoning, and still some murders went undetected for years. In the 19th century arsenic is easy to get as coating for flypaper, which can be soaked off.
Arsenic is often found together with sulfur, an important element in alchemy, other metals or more rarely as pure crystal. The three common types are grey, yellow, and black arsenic. Of these, grey occurs most often.
Arsenic is associated with swans due to its transmutative ability to change from one form to another. Symbols of arsenic include two connected circles perhaps referring to the alembic, essential in alchemy.
The alembic is a tool for distillation and separation, two vessels joined by a tube or pipe. Some use two overlapping triangles to denote arsenic. Another symbol is a coiled snake ready to strike.
During the Bronze Age, arsenic is often used with copper to form a harder bronze, and when tin, the usual 12% partner, was unavailable. As a result arsenic builds up over time in the bodies of blacksmiths and other metal workers.
Arsenic is popular in late-18th century wallpaper dyes to increase the pigment's brightness. Common paint and dye pigments containing arsenic in the 18th and 19th centuries include Scheele's Green, Paris Green and King's Yellow (orpiment).
An account of the illness and 1821 death of Napoleon Bonaparte during his exile implicates arsenic poisoning from bright green wallpaper, a color he loves. Extreme levels of arsenic are found in the hair and nails of Napoleon and his family members.
Humid conditions of their environment on the island of St. Helena increase the toxic effects. He dies of stomach cancer, commonly associated with arsenic poisoning as arsenic attacks the stomach. He's also thought to take a medicinal dose of mercury the day before he dies.
Arsenic trioxide or white arsenic is an oxide of arsenic used in the making of Paris Green pigment. During the Victorian era, some ladies drink arsenic in vinegar to whiten their complexions. It's also used in wood preservation and as an insecticide.
Natural causes of human exposure to arsenic include volcanic ash, weathering of ores and minerals, and mineralized groundwater. Arsenic is in food, water, soil, and air.
It exists in all plants, more concentrated in leafy vegetables, seafood, rice, apple and grape juice. Inhalation of atmospheric gas and dust is another possible source of exposure.
In the early 20th century, Paul Ehrlich discovers an arsenic derivative to treat syphilis. For centuries syphilis ravages high and low classes alike. In the Victorian era, one in five people suffer from syphilis.
Ehrlich's arsenic derivative is a miracle. It offers relief of the illness until penicillin, faster and more effective, becomes popular in the 1940s.
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