of Antiquity

11 II Poisons and Superstition 21 III Royal and Historic Poisoners 26 IV Professional Poisoners 34 V Poisoning Plots 43 VI Concerning Arsenic 45 VII The Strange Case of Madame Lafarge 49 VIII The Case of Madeline Smith 53 IX The Maybrick Case 55 X About Aconite and Hemlock 60 XI The Case of Dr. Lamson 63 XII The Bravo Mystery 65 XIII The Case of Dr. Pritchard 70 XIV The Pimlico Mystery 75 XV The Rugeley Mystery 80 XVI Opium Eating and Smoking—Mescal Buttons 85 XVII Hashish and Hashish Eaters 90 XVIII Tobacco Lore 95 XIX Poison Habits 99 XX Poisons in Fiction 103 XXI The Lambeth Poison Mysteries 110 XXII The Horsford Case 114 XXIII The Great American Poison Mystery 117 XXIV Some Curious Methods Employed by Secret Poisoners 121

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POISON ROMANCE AND POISON MYSTERIES

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CHAPTER I

POISONS OF ANTIQUITY

Long before the action of vegetable and mineral substances on human beings and animals was known, it is probable that poisonous bodies in some form were used by primitive man.

When injured in battle by perhaps a flint arrow-head, or stone axe, he sought for something to revenge himself on his enemy. In his search after curative remedies he also found noxious ones, which produced unpleasant effects when applied to the point of a weapon destined to enter the internal economy of an opponent.

He doubtless also became aware that the spear-points and arrow-heads on which the blood of former victims had dried, caused wounds that rapidly proved fatal, owing to the action of what we now call septic poisons. This probably led to experiments with the juices of plants, until something of a more deadly character was discovered.

This was the very earliest age of poisoning, when pharmacy was employed for vicious or revengeful purposes.

Thus we find that almost every savage nation and people has its own peculiar poison. In Africa the seeds of Strophanthus hispidus, or kombé, a most virulent poison, are used for this purpose; while explorers tell us that the ancient pigmy race of Central Africa employ a species of red ant crushed to a paste, to tip their arrows and spears. The South American Indians poison their arrow-heads with curare or ourari, produced from a