The mother of Abraham Lincoln died in 1818 of “milk sick,” a disease contracted from drinking the milk of cows that had grazed on white snakeroot.… Read More
Chinese rulers during the Han Dynasty often ate with silver chopsticks, believing that silver would tarnish quickly if it came into contact with arsenic (and other poisons).… Read More
Napoleon survived many plots against his life. In 1800, a snuffbox was found on his desk that looked very much like his usual box; it contained poison.… Read More
The Persian king, Mithradates IV (134 − 63 BC), was so afraid of being poisoned that he regularly drank small amounts of different poisons in an attempt to develop immunity. He was said to have developed an antidote for poisoning… Read More
The Ottoman sultan Abdulaziz (1830 – 1876) was so afraid of being poisoned that for a time he ate only boiled eggs prepared by his own mother.… Read More
The 1600s were a foppish time for male fashion–men of rank wore make-up, high heels, and elaborate curls. In 1625, poisoner Signora Toffana invented a makeup made of liquid arsenic. Her Aqua Toffana was used to dispatch as many as… Read More
In 1633, Galileo Galilei was forced by Church authorities to recant his statement that the Earth orbits the Sun. On October 31, 1992, the Vatican admitted it was wrong.