Morbid Fact Du Jour for March 27, 2014

Today’s Tasteless Yet Truly Morbid Fact!

In Europe, arsenic accounted for the largest percentage of 19th century criminal poisonings.  In France, for example, between 1835 and 1880, arsenic was used in almost 40 percent of all poison murders.  Columbia University chemistry professor Rudolph Witthaus wrote, “In the United States, we are under the impression that arsenic still holds the first place in frequency of criminal administration.”  But at the time of his analysis, the United States lacked the statistical information available in France.  As a rough measure, Witthaus interviewed New York State attorneys and determined that from 1879 to 1889, there had been 31 indictments for poison murder in twelve countries.  Half of those were arsenic murders; in every case, white arsenic was specifically to blame.

A primary reason for arsenic’s popularity was that when mixed into food and drink, it is extremely difficult to taste.  An over-the-top dose was different.  If arsenic was swallowed in undiluted form, that was different too.  Witthaus and other scientists taste-tested small amounts of pure white arsenic and found it to be rather nasty.  It was hot, tasters said; it was acrid, sweetish, metallic, and rough.  But when the poison was added to soup, liquor, or a cup of hot coffee, the other flavorings easily masked it.  Arsenic was “under the most favorable circumstances faint” in taste, Witthaus noted.  In interviews with 822 people who had survived arsenic poisoning, he reported that only fifteen thought that the food had tasted in any way strange.  Six talked of a bitter taste, eight complained of a metallic feeling in the mouth, and one woman said she was aware of a “nauseous” taste.  Witthaus doubted the latter, noting that as the unpleasant taste “escaped the notice of the 14 other persons who ate of the same poisoned pudding, it was probably more imaginary than real.”

Culled from: The Poisoner’s Handbook