B ITTER N EM ESIS The Intimate History of Strychnine 53159.indb 1 6/1/07 3:46:32 PM 53159.indb 2 6/1/07 3:46:32 PM CRC Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business Boca Raton London New York B ITTER N EM ESIS The Intimate History of Strychnine JOHN BUCKINGHAM 53159.indb 3 6/1/07 3:46:33 PM CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300 Boca Raton, FL 33487‑2742 © 2008 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business No claim to original U.S. Government works Printed in the United States of America on acid‑free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number‑13: 978‑1‑4200‑5315‑9 (Softcover) This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reprinted material is quoted with permission, and sources are indicated. A wide variety of references are listed. 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Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Buckingham, J. Bitter nemesis : the intimate history of strychnine / John Buckingham. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN‑13: 978‑1‑4200‑5315‑9 (alk. paper) ISBN‑10: 1‑4200‑5315‑9 (alk. paper) 1. Strychnine‑‑History. I. Title. RM666.S8B83 2007 615.9’52‑‑dc22 2006101010 Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com and the CRC Press Web site at http://www.crcpress.com T&F_LOC_A_Master.indd 1 6/1/07 8:43:10 AM 53159.indb 4 6/1/07 3:46:34 PM Contents List of Illustrations vii Picture Credits ix Acknowledgments xi Note on Weights and Measures xiii Note on Nomenclature xv Introduction xvii 1 Some Disadvantages of a Weak Constitution 1 2 Nuts 19 3 The Patient Generally Lies on His Back 33 4 M. Vauquelin’s Lack of Fame 47 5 Perfidious Dutchmen Bark up the Wrong Tree 57 6 You Will Be Careful as to the Second Article 63 7 You Hold Him Down, I’ll Pour It Down His Throat 83 8 Overture to the Sorcerer’s Apprentice 97 9 The Fop, the Scotsman and the Opium-Eater 111 10 It Will Be the Test-Tube and the Retort That Will Hang Him 125 11 Shaken in Every Possible Way 141 53159.indb 5 6/1/07 3:46:34 PM i • Contents 12 Mrs. Dove’s Brush with the Media 167 13 That Clever Dr. Letheby, So Ugly and Terrific 181 14 Tigers, Lions, etc.; Six Hundred Kilograms 201 15 The Blue Anchor Murder and Other Outrages 221 16 I Didn’t Know It Was Used for Poisoning 239 17 Is There a Faceless Fiend? 247 18 Another Round of Pay Phone Hysteria 259 Bibliography 269 Index 277 53159.indb 6 6/1/07 3:46:35 PM ii List of Illustrations Figure 1. Traditional medicine in India. Servant and Hakeem (physician). Figure 2. Strychnos nux-vomica, after M.A. Burnett, 1847. Figure 3. Strychnine; nux vomica seeds; Parke Davis & Co. strychnine sulphate for injection, circa 1900. Figure 4. Taking an Emetic, by Cruickshank, 1800. Figure 5. Eight leading French doctors of the early 1800s. Figure 6. Knowledge of nux vomica reaches the West. Part of a manuscript in the Vienna state archives. Figure 7. The ruins of the Chateau de Bitremont in Belgium. Figure 8. Edmé-Samuel Castaing and his two victims, Auguste and Hippolyte Ballet. Figure 9. Sir Robert Christison, Thomas De Quincey, and Thomas Wainewright. Figure 10. A Victorian phrenology chart incorporating William Palmer as the criminal archetype. Figure 11. A victim of tetanus. Figure 12. The Old Town Hall, Rugeley, during the inquest on Walter Palmer. Figure 13. Alfred Swaine Taylor and Dr. Rees. Figure 14. Christiana Edmunds. Figure 15. Thomas Cream. Figure 16. 1904 Olympic marathon winner Thomas Hicks under the influence of strychnine and alcohol. 53159.indb 7 6/1/07 3:46:35 PM iii • List of Illustrations Figure 17. Who says there was no strychnine in beer? Cartoon from Punch, 1855. Figure 18. Jean Pierre Vaquier and Mabel Jones. Figure 19. Robert Robinson and R.B. Woodward. Figure 20. The 1917 assassination plot. The three female conspira- tors. Figure 21. Transvestite cabaret artiste Molly Strychnine with her accompanist Fuckoffsky. 53159.indb 8 6/1/07 3:46:36 PM ix Picture Credits Figure 1: Reproduced with permission of the British Library, London, UK Figure 2: Reproduced with permission of the Wellcome Medical Library, London, UK Figure 3: Used with permission of Petra Laidlaw (also cover illustration) Figure 4: Reproduced with permission of the Wellcome Medical Library, London, UK Figure 5: Reproduced with permission of the Wellcome Medical Library, London, UK Figure 6: Reproduced with permission of the Öster- reichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna Figure 7: Photograph by the author Figure 8: Reproduced with permission of the Wellcome Medical Library, London, UK Figure 9a: Reproduced with permission of the Wellcome Medical Library, London, UK Figure 9b: Reproduced with permission of the National Portrait Gallery, London, UK Figure 9c: Reproduced from Curling, Jonathan, Janus Weathercock; the Life of Thomas Griffiths Wainewright, 1938, location of original unknown Figure 10: Reproduced with permission of the Wellcome Medical Library, London, UK 53159.indb 9 6/1/07 3:46:36 PM