ABSTRACT

Encouraged by the medicinal success of quinine, early 19th century scientists hoped strychnine, another plant alkaloid with remarkable properties, might also become a new weapon against disease. Physicians tried for over a century, despite growing evidence to the contrary, to treat everything from paralysis to constipation with it. But strychnine p

chapter 1|18 pages

Some Disadvantages of a Weak Constitution

chapter 2|14 pages

Nuts

chapter 3|14 pages

The Patient Generally Lies on His Back

chapter 4|10 pages

M. Vauquelin’s Lack of Fame

chapter 8|14 pages

Overture to the Sorcerer’s Apprentice

chapter 9|14 pages

The Fop, the Scotsman and the Opium-Eater

chapter 11|26 pages

Shaken in Every Possible Way

chapter 12|14 pages

Mrs. Dove’s Brush with the Media

chapter 14|20 pages

Tigers, Lions, etc.; Six Hundred Kilograms

chapter 15|18 pages

The Blue Anchor Murder and Other Outrages

chapter 16|8 pages

I Didn’t Know It Was Used for Poisoning

chapter 17|12 pages

Is There a Faceless Fiend?

chapter 18|10 pages

Another Round of Pay Phone Hysteria