Fellow writers, pick your poison. This is a basic overview of poisons, some of them we see every day and use in smaller-than-fatal doses. It's all about dosage, frankly, especially in drugs (which can always be a poison). Plenty of suicides have been done by overdosing on drugs. Most of the poisons we hear about in mystery novels are actually natural substances being misused in larger dosages and being used incorrectly. Was it deliberate? Depends on the poison itself. Also, some of these are and were used medicinally, again all about how much you breathe in, consume, and soak into your skin.
I'm going to talk about the most common poisons in mystery genre novels. Those include ricin, arsenic, and Strychnine. The most fatal will be first and least fatal last, but all are fatal.
Ricin
Ricin comes from a castor bean plant, a natural substance that needs deliberate poisoning attempts to actually kill. There is no cure. It prevents the body from making needed proteins, thus killing cells. Killing cells then kills a person, simply put. Small doses can kill an adult.
When ingested, symptoms appear in less than 10 hours. When inhaled they appear in 4 to 24 hours. To be poisoned you have to inject, ingest, or inhale it deliberately. It can be in the form of powder, mist, pellet, or can be dissolved in water. Be sure to do your research on your fictional situation because there may be a few jobs that could expose you to ricin poisoning. The only way to accidentally poison yourself, according to my research, is to eat castor beans, and even then no promise that you'd die of this poison.
When inhaled it causes: - trouble breathing - fever - cough - nausea - tight chest -heavy sweating
- blue skin - low blood pressure and can't breathe leading to death
When ingested it causes: -bloody diarrhea and vomiting - severe dehydration leading to low blood pressure -seizures -bloody urine - liver, spleen, kidneys disfunction leading to death
In the 1940s it was experimented with as a warfare agent. Terrorists and political assassins have used it. Today it is being experimented with as a way to kill cancer cells, much like another poison I'm going to talk about.
Strychnine
Strychnine, a white, odorless crystalline powder can cause severe harm in small doses. You ingest, inhale, and inject it into someone. It can also be absorbed into the body. It comes from a plant, Strychnos nux-vomica. It used to be medicinal in pill form. Now it kills pests and may be found in street drugs, in some cases.
This poison messes with nerve function, causing severe and painful spasms. The mind is not affected early, but eventually, the body tires and breathing becomes impossible. After swallowing, symptoms appear in 15 minutes to an hour. If severely affected by this you are unlikely to survive.
Arsenic
Mystery fans have heard about Arsenic and Old Lace (a play and a movie), and if you haven't look it up. It's an excellent one. That play was based on a real-life crime, but I'll save that for another post. Point being, most mystery writers and fans know the word "Arsenic" as a poison. Did you know that this is a natural substance in well water? Like I said, it's all about dosage. It only becomes dangerous when you ingest too much of it, leading to cancer, liver disease, coma, and death. This is currently being used to battle cancer (even though I just said it causes cancer in too high of a dose).
A person shows symptoms within 30 minutes. Inhaling means they take longer to show up. These include:
-drowsiness -headaches -confusion -severe diarrhea
Severe symptoms:
-metallic taste/garlicky breath -excess saliva -problems swallowing - cramps -hair loss -convulsions - excessive sweating -vomiting -diarrhea -(final stage) seizures and shock
A fatal dose kills rapidly. When in smaller amounts over time, serious illness and prolonged death happens. The main cause of this type of poisoning is contaminated well water. (So, worried? Test your well water.) Fellow writers, you could easily have a prolonged death situation caused by a family member, but have it be blamed on well water.
Can you create immunity to poison?
There is a practice called Mithridatism that has the aim of making yourself immune to poison. One gives themselves nonlethal doses in an effort to do so. It's been said that Rasputin survived being poisoned because of this, but no evidence has been shown of this. Many people who feared being poisoned have attempted this immunity to poison.
The real question is whether it works or not. Apparently, it depends on biology and your original immunity to illness and toxins. My opinion? Don't try it. If you do you could, and probably will, cause your own slow, painful death.
Writers, whether you want to create a Princess Bride masked man or a murder victim, I hope I helped you. I wrote about the most commonly used poisons in mystery novels, so if you want to know more about another toxin or poison (or drugs, for that matter) comment.
I aim to provide truth, so if I'm wrong on anything let me know.
Pictures: sideshow.com
USA Today
www.chm.bris.ac.uk
wikipedia
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