Wine in the history of poisoning Part 2

Wine as a way of masking poison

The most common poison in our great-grandmothers was arsenic. The average person could buy him under the pretext of buying rat poison. Arsenic has no smell and can accumulate in the tissues, which makes possible the gradual poisoning of small doses. Plus, the symptoms of arsenic poisoning can easily be confused with symptoms of cholera, and the gradual poisoning – with a lot of diseases until venerichiskih, the benefit of the then medicine has not yet reached today’s heights.

The most famous case of poisoning with wine – is the death of Pope Alexander VI in 1503g. Pope plans to poison the three cardinals, drank wine penned for them by an oversight storekeeper, who was entrusted with keeping the poisoned bottles.

However, arsenic is a thin metallic taste. Select “solvent” explained the habits of the victim and the context of the situation. In most cases, it was a dark drink with a dramatic own taste. Madeleine Smith was poisoned by his lover, cocoa, Dr. William Palmer slipped poison in the whiskey, and attorney Harold Greenwood, poisoned his wife, adding half a teaspoon of arsenic in a bottle of burgundy. Metallic taste – an unprecedented note in the wine bouquet. Poison-not physicians dosage of poison at random and were more inclined to “re-” than to “under-”. It is therefore strange looks the fact that the wife of Greenwood, being poisoned wine, and sins to the gooseberry pie: half a teaspoon of rat poison in the wine can be seen not only the sommelier!

continue to Wine in the history of poisoning Part 3