The HORRIFYING History Of Poisons

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In the past, when hunters dipped their spears in snake venom, it was the first time in history that people used nature's poisons against each other. It wouldn't be the last one. Over the years, different poisonous mixtures have been popular. Usually, people chose whatever they could find at the neighborhood herbalist or apothecary. A toxicologist named Alfred Swaine Taylor said in the 1800s, "A poison in a small dose is a medicine, and a medicine in a large dose is a poison." In the past, drugs like opium, hemlock, nightshade, aconite, foxglove, and strychnine were used to treat everything from simple colds to heart problems. They were even put on as makeup. As late as the 20th century, drugs on store shelves contained dangerous metals like mercury, lead, and arsenic. We have wanted to kill for as long as we have needed to heal. Poison has given us the way to do both.