The adulteration of food : conferences by the Institute of Chemistry on Monday and Tuesday, July 14th and 15th : food adulteration and analysis.
- Date:
- 1884
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The adulteration of food : conferences by the Institute of Chemistry on Monday and Tuesday, July 14th and 15th : food adulteration and analysis. Source: Wellcome Collection.
435/460
![LONDON, 1884. July 15™, 1884. LECTURE ON OLD AND MODERN POISON LORE. By A. Wynter Blyth, Esq., M.R.C.S. Dr. B. W. Richardson, F.R.S., in the Chair. The Chairman : Ladies and Gentlemen, I understand it is the order of proceedings that I should introduce Mr, Blyth, but I think it would be much more in order that he should introduce me, considering that it is the first time I have had the pleasure of coming to one of these meetings ; but without further preface I will call upon him to read his paper. Mr. Wynter Blyth.—The modern word toxicology has a deep significance, it can be traced back to an ancient root, meaning bow or arrow, or in a wider sense some tool used for slaying. The oldest poison lore was that of primitive races in various parts of the world, who, in remote unhistoric time, took a lesson from the snake, and remedied the imperfection of their weapons by steeping them in venom. The arrow poison of the Gauls is said to have been hellebore; that used by certain American Indians is curarine, a vegetable extract from plants of the strychnos order. Some races adopted snake poison, and others putrid [L. 25] B 2](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21781254_0435.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
