The Beneficial Effects of Ether
Hi All, As promised, from "Chemistry, Theoretical, Practical, and Analytical, as applied to the Arts and Manufacturers" by Writers of Eminence Printed by William MacKenzie 43 & 45 Howard St. Glasgow in 6 Volumes, 1880 From vol. 4, pg 844 "Ethers, uses of" " The long and habitual use of ether diminishes the effect of this substance over the system, and therefore the dose must be proportionally increased. Dr. Christison mentions the case of an old gentleman who consumed 16 oz every 8 or 10 days and had been in the habit of doing so for many years. yet, with the exception of asthma, for which he took the ether, he enjoyed tolerable health" Headache, of the kind populary called nervous,that is, unconnected with vascular excitment, is speedily releived by ether. In Flatulance of the stomach it may be taken in combination with some aromatic water. As an antidote against seasickness it should be swallowed with a glass of white wine. It can be used to expel tape worm, and for those feeling low it will lift the spirits" The books are full of beautiful copies of pen and ink drawings of the equipment of the day. It also tells you what most of the chemicals taste like including cyanide (apparently it's not unpleasant) Dave

I wonder how they know that cyanide's taste is not unpleasant. A message 'from the other side'?

re the taste of cyanide
They had a lot of assistants in those days. Their last words were always " it tastes like...." Dave

AAAAAAHHHHHHHH, Almonds...........

dneilson Well done, enjoyed that. More tasteful than the last (if you excuse the pun).

How about this... Poisonings - Arsenic taken by mistake - Give this emetic - Mustard, one teaspoonful. Common salt, one teaspoonful. Warm water, one tumblerful. Mixed. Give it every half hour till the stomach is emptied. Afterwards give quantities of milk to drink. Send fot the doctor at once. I always wondered how anyone could accidentaly take arsenic, but I suppose it was used for various household purposes then (though not sure what!)

Re Arsenic uses
Although Dr Crippen(?) had the most famous use of arsenic and Cary Grant the most enjoyable to watch (Arsenic and old Lace), it is still used in a lot of things. some animal medicines still contain it, some pesticides, but perhaps the biggest use today is high end computer components!! I seem to remember a story from my childhood (maybe my Mum was just trying to scare me) about the big homeopathic hospital in glasgow, on Great Western road (I thinK). They pioneered the use of low doses of poisons to build up tolerance and counteract acute poisoning. Dave

Was that hospital no in a big private hoose at junction of Kirklee Rd. and Gt. Western Rd.?

Hi Yogi, the address on their website is 1053 Great Western Road Dave

Hey Arsenic and many of its compounds are especially potent poisons. Arsenic disrupts ATP production through several mechanisms including allosteric inhibition of the metabolic enzyme lipothiamide pyrophosphatase during glycolysis. At the level of the citric acid cycle, arsenic inhibits succinate dehydrogenase and by competing with phosphate it uncouples oxidative phosphorylation, thus inhibiting energy-linked reduction of NAD+, mitochondrial respiration, and ATP synthesis. Hydrogen peroxide production is also increased, which might form reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress. These metabolic interferences lead to death from multi-system organ failure (see arsenic poisoning) probably from necrotic cell death, not apoptosis. A post mortem reveals brick red colored mucosa, due to severe hemorrhage. Although arsenic causes toxicity, it can also play a protective role.<5>. Elemental arsenic and arsenic compounds are classified as "toxic" and "dangerous for the environment" in the European Union under directive 67/548/EEC. The IARC recognizes arsenic and arsenic compounds as group 1 carcinogens, and the EU lists arsenic trioxide, arsenic pentoxide and arsenate salts as category 1 carcinogens. Arsenic is known to cause arsenicosis due to its manifestation in drinking water, “the most common species being arsenate and arsenite ”. The ability of arsenic to undergo redox conversion between As(III) and As(V) makes its availability in the environment possible. According to Croal, Gralnick, Malasarn, and Newman, “ understanding what stimulates As(III) oxidation and/or limits As(V) reduction is relevant for bioremediation of contaminated sites (Croal). The study of chemolithoautotrophic As(III) oxidizers and the heterotrophic As(V) reducers can help the understanding of the oxidation and/or reduction of arsenic. But then again you probably know this Dr tireetam

Theruputic use of arsenic Arsenic was used as a healing agent after Greek physicians such as Hippocrates and Galen popularised its use. Arsenic compounds became available as solutions, tablets, pastes, and in injectable forms. Fowler’s solution, a 1% arsenic trioxide preparation, was widely used during the 19th century. As recently as 1958, the British Pharmaceutical and Therapeutic Products handbook edited by Martindale, listed the indications for Fowler’s solution as: leukaemia, skin conditions (psoriasis, dermatitis herpetiformis, and eczema), stomatitis and gingivitis in infants, and Vincent’s angina. Fowler’s solution was also prescribed as a health tonic. Chronic arsenic intoxication from the long term use of Fowler’s solution caused haemangiosarcoma,10 angiosarcoma of the liver,11,12 and nasopharyngeal carcinoma.13 Arsenic was the primary treatment for syphilis until World War II. Arsphenamine (neoarsphenamine), a light yellow compound containing 30% arsenic was used intravenously to treat syphilis, yaws, and some protozoan infections It also cozez spelin disfunkion

Didn't arsenic in wall-paper paste help to kill off Napoleon Bonaparte?

Re: Arsenic
I don't think his cell was wallpapered!! Dave

Naw, did he no get plastered?

Death of Napoleon
For your information and elucidation. I rest my case. "Arsenic had been a popular way of poisoning people since the Middle Ages. Arsenic itself is not very poisonous but another form of arsenic - arsenic oxide - is extremely poisonous. The symptoms of arsenic poisoning could be confused with those of many other illnesses, and it was also very difficult to detect arsenic after the death so it provided a practical way of murdering someone. Indeed white arsenic became known as 'inheritance powder'. In 1815, after being defeated by the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the tiny and remote volcanic island of St Helena in the south Atlantic. During most of his exile, Napoleon lived in Longwood House with a retinue of about twenty people who included Merchand, his valet, whose diaries were not published until 1950 the Comte de Montholon, head of household, whom Napoleon regarded as the most faithful of the faithful the Comte's wife, Albine de Montholon, who was reported to be Napoleon's mistress and also the mother of his illegitimate child Dr Antommarchi, the Emperor's personal physician Hudson Lowe the Governor of the island Several of these people had a motive for wanting to murder Napoleon. Napoleon's tomb at Les Invalides in Paris A few days prior to his death Napoleon had requested that his doctor make a full examination of his body, particularly of his stomach. The Emperor died at Longwood House in 1821. The doctors who carried out the post-mortem on Napoleon said that a perforated stomach ulcer that had turned cancerous was the main cause of his death. Initially Napoleon was buried on St Helena but his body was later removed and re-buried in Paris at the Invalides. In 1952 Swedish dentist Sten Forshufvud read the recently published account of Napoleon's death by Merchand. Based on his knowledge of toxicology, Forshufvud came to the conclusion that Napoleon had been murdered. Fortunately, a number of Napoleon's staff had kept locks of the Emperor's hair, which were passed down the generations, sometimes coming up for auction. In the 1960s this happened and in order to prove this theory Forshufvud turned to Glasgow University forensic scientist Professor Hamilton Smith, who had developed the nuclear techniques to record very small levels of arsenic. Using these techniques it was shown that small quantities of arsenic were present in Napoleon's hair. It was possible to poison a person without detection by slowly exposing him/her to small quantities of arsenic. This technique was known and was described in a book that Albine de Montholon had with her in St Helena. Forshufvud concluded that Napoleon had been murdered by the Comte de Montholon. However, in 1980, Dr David Jones made a radio programme, broadcast by the BBC, in which he asked if anyone knew the colour of Napoleon's wallpaper on St Helena. As part of the programme, one of the stories that Dr Jones had told was one about Gosio's Disease. During the nineteenth century there had been a number of cases of arsenic poisoning that had caused some bewilderment. Some people became ill but others died. Arsenic was found in their bodies and foul play was sometimes suspected although in many cases it did not seem possible that the person had been poisoned deliberately. In 1893 an Italian Biochemist called Gosio worked out what was happening. Scheele's Green was a colouring pigment that had been used in fabrics and wallpapers from about 1770. It was named after the Swedish chemist Scheele who invented it. The pigment was easy to make and was a bright green colour but under certain circumstances the copper arsenite could be deadly. Gosio discovered that if wallpaper containing Scheele's Green became damp and then became mouldy, the mould could carry out a chemical process to get rid of the copper arsenite. It converted it to a vapour form of arsenic, normally a mixture of arsine, dimethyl and trimethyl arsine which was very poisonous. If Napoleon's wallpaper had been green, it could possibly have contained arsenic, and this could have been the source of the arsenic in the hair sample. Napoleon might have been an early victim of Gosio's disease. Shirley Bradley who lived in Norfolk, England, had a piece of the wallpaperitself. The wallpaper showed a single star, the principal of which were green and brown although it is possible that the brown had faded, and had originally been gold. Gold and green were the Imperial colours. The green pigment did contain arsenic and it began to look as if Napoleon might have been a victim of Gosio's disease, poisoned not by the British authorities, but inadvertantly by the British wallpaper makers. Many of the other people who were with Napoleon on St Helena also became ill and complained of the 'bad air'. Arsenic poisoning causes stomach pains, diarrhoea, shivering and swollen limbs; Napoleon's butler did actually die. Dr Jones' conclusion was that the amount of arsenic in Napoleon's wallpaper was not particularly great and consequently the amount of arsenic vapour in the air would not have been large, otherwise more people would have become sick or died. Although the arsenic was not enough to have killed Napoleon, once he was already ill with a stomach ulcer, the arsenic would have exacerbated his condition. Certainly some of the symptoms he complained about do correspond to those of arsenic poisoning. "