{"id":3695,"date":"2013-03-04T20:28:38","date_gmt":"2013-03-05T02:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asylumeclectica.com\/grim\/?p=3695"},"modified":"2013-03-04T20:28:38","modified_gmt":"2013-03-05T02:28:38","slug":"mfdj030413","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/?p=3695","title":{"rendered":"Morbid Fact Du Jour For March 4, 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today’s Murderously Precise Yet Truly Morbid Fact!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cyanide’s action is murderously precise. \u00a0It attaches with stunning speed to protein molecules in the blood – called hemoglobins – that carry oxygen throughout the body. \u00a0Thus the poison is rapidly circulated by the bloodstream and delivered to cells through the body. \u00a0There it shreds cellular energy mechanisms, breaks down cellular respiration, and causes rapid cell death due to oxygen starvation. \u00a0Cellular respiration suffers an instant “paralysis,” and the body begins to die. \u00a0Enzyme production is stymied, electrical signals falter, and as muscle cells and nerve cells explosively fail, body-rattling convulsions frequently result.<\/p>\n

After death, the bluish tones of oxygen deprivation mottle the skin. \u00a0On autopsy, the blood shows such a dark red that it sometimes appears purple. \u00a0The veins leading from lung to heart are engorged with blood – evidence of the heart’s desperate efforts to circulate more and more blood as the body seeks desperately for any stray trace of oxygen. \u00a0In the early 20th century, the easily available cyanide salts provided further specific evidence of the poison because they were so corrosive. \u00a0If swallowed, they burned their way down. \u00a0An autopsy of a cyanide victim found the mucous membranes of the lips, mouth, and esophagus darkened to a bloody, ragged red – especially if the poison had been taken without food to buffer the impact. \u00a0The stomach became swollen, discolored, clotted with swampy, streaky mucus produced as the cyanide salts broke down.<\/p>\n

Culled from:\u00a0The Poisoner\u2019s Handbook<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today’s Murderously Precise Yet Truly Morbid Fact! Cyanide’s action is murderously precise. \u00a0It attaches with stunning speed to protein molecules in the blood – called hemoglobins – that carry oxygen throughout the body. \u00a0Thus the poison is rapidly circulated by the bloodstream and delivered to cells through the body. \u00a0There it shreds cellular energy mechanisms, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-facts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3695\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decidedlygrim.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}