The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison

Book Description

This book is about elements that kill. Mercury, arsenic, antimony, lead, and thallium can be lethal, as many a poisoner knew too well. Emsley explores the gruesome history of these elements and those who have succumbed to them in a fascinating narrative that weaves together stories of true crime, enduring historical mysteries, tragic accidents, and the science behind it all. The colourful cast includes ancient alchemists, kings, leaders, a pope, several great musicians, and a motley crew of murderers. Among the intriguing accounts is that of the 17th century poet Sir Thomas Overbury, who survived four attempts to poison him with mercury but died when given the poison in enema form - under whose direction remains uncertain. Here, too, is detailed the celebrated case of Florence Maybrick, convicted of poisoning her violent husband James with arsenic, but widely believed at the time to be innocent. The question of her guilt is still disputed. Threaded through the book alongside the history is the growing understanding of chemistry, and the effects of different chemical substances on the human body. Thousands suffered the ill effects of poisonous vapours from mercury, lead, and arsenic before the dangers were realized. Hatters went mad because of mercury poisoning, and hundreds of young girls working in factories manufacturing wallpaper in the 19th century were poisoned by the arsenic-based green pigments used for the leaves of the popular floral designs. Even in the middle of the 20th century, accidental mercury poisoning caused many deaths in Minamata Bay, while leaded petrol poisoned the whole planet, and arsenic still continues to poison millions is Asia. Through vividly told stories of innocent blunders, industrial accidents, poisoners of various hues - cold, cunning, desperate - and deaths that remain a mystery, Emsley here uncovers the dark side of the Periodic Table.

Customer Reviews:

science is awesome.......2007-09-06

I'm in the middle of this book now and can't stop blurting out random tid bits about poisonous wallpaper and large numbers of alchemists accidentally huffing themselves to death on mercury vapors. In any case this book isn't really about murder despite the title, it is simply and completely about a few periodic elements that can kill (mercury, arsenic, thallium, lead and antimony). That's it. But the author thoroughly examines each chemically (in layman's terms), historically and peppered with interesting stories. It's well organized into focused chunks for easy digestion.

I'd recommend this to somewhat morbid people with a taste for interesting non fiction or possibly true crime fans, though this isn't a true crime book per se.

I'll be re-reading this one once I get it back from the three or four people that have expressed an interest in borrowing it from me.

The Elements of Murder... and a cure for insomnia.......2007-06-14

I found this book a lot less engaging than I expected from the interview I heard with the author (which is what led me to buy the book).

An environment of death.......2007-05-05

Although pitched to aficionados of true crime, John Emsley's "Elements of Murder" is just as interesting for readers curious about the environment. Thus it is both more and less than its subtitle ("A History of Poisons") suggests.

Biological poisons are not covered. The main subjects are the metals lead, mercury and thallium and the semi-metal arsenic. Deliberate homicides committed with these take up only about a third of the book. The remainder consists of an historical, industrial, medical, chemical and environmental review, and these sections touch on such currently controversial topics as the allowable limit of mercury in drinking water, autism and crib death or SIDS ("cot death" is the term used in Britain and by Emsley).

The great period of murder with metallic compounds ran from around 1750 to 1900. There may have been many successful murders with arsenic and whatnot before then, but the state of knowledge was insufficient to detect the culprit. Starting around 1750, at least in Europe, the advance of analytical chemistry made it possible to prove the presence of metal compounds. For the next century and a half, poisoners dueled with police, but after 1900 it became less and less likely that a murderer could realize the great benefit of poison -- stealth -- and murders by arsenic etc. declined.

An exception is state-sponsored murder, where stealth is not too important as long as deniability can be maintained. Saddam Hussein was partial to thallium, and earlier this year thallium was suspected in the murder of a Russian dissident in England, although that turned out to be mistaken.

Although Emsley does not explicitly mention it, his book does make plain the curious harm/help aspect of the heavy metals. While criminologists and murderers spent centuries exploring the ability of these metals to kill, physicians spent the same centuries using them to heal -- or trying to. Mercury, in the form of Salvarsan, even earned a Nobel Prize as a medication. (Deadly metals are still to be found in non-Western remedies, another good reason to avoid Indian, Chinese and Mexican therapies; Emsley mentions this problem but does not give it the attention it is due.)

Emsley is a workmanlike and thorough writer, but the proofreading of this book was very poor.

A really fun and interesting history of poison.......2007-03-20

Very well done. Fun to read. "Bite" sized chapters. Amazing that some people got away with things for so long. Interesting discussion of symptoms, and other peoples reactions to the poisoners.

Great Reading.......2006-11-27

Great book for a rainy weekend. Just enough science and chemistry to learn something new and enough creepy murder stories to keep you going. Its a reminder of how far forensic investigation has progressed since the turn of the century. Murder just isn't as easy as it used to be!!!

The Elements Of Murder : A History Of Poison

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The Elements Of Murder : A History Of Poison
John Emsley
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKN4BS

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The Sinap Formation in central Turkey near the city of Ankara preserves a rich record of mammalian evolution from about 15 to 5 million years ago and is one of the few sites in this region that also has fossil apes. It is unique among other fossil localities from Europe to Western Asia in that it has a thick stratigraphic section and preserves a long record of geological time. The authors have been able to piece together a detailed record of faunal change and, by adding paleomagnetic and radiometric dating techniques, have produced a chronostratigraphy for the Formation. Because of the dual importance of the rich record of the fossils, and the dating of the sediments, the editors have been able to attract some of the leading authorities on Eurasian Neogene paleontology and geology to contribute to this reference work. The results from the Sinap Formation will be the template against which other sites from Europe to Asia are compared.

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Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
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ASIN: B000OQ5D0C

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This sourcebook is intended as an X-ray data reference for scientists and engineers working in the field of energy or wavelength dispersive X-ray spectrometry and related fields of basic and applied research, technology, or process and quality controlling. In a concise and informative manner, the most important data connected with the emission of characteristic X-ray lines are tabulated for all elements up to Z = 95 (americium). This includes X-ray energies, emission rates and widths as well as level characteristics such as binding energies, fluorescence yields, level widths and absorption edges. The tabulated data are characterized and, in most cases, evaluated. Furthermore, all important processes and phenomena connected with the production, emission and detection of characteristic X-rays are discussed. This reference book addresses all researchers and practitioners working with X-ray radiation and fills a gap in the available literature

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Dark, intense, and often very funny, this critically lauded debut novel tells a story of inherited trauma healed by erotic love in the lives of two unlikely soul mates: Isabel, a former cello prodigy and daughter of a Holocaust survivor, and Giulio, an Italian gigolo. With its hypnotic internal logic, Disturbance of the Inner Ear conjures a ravaged landscape in which anything is possible. Hackett’s musical language comes alive in a pitch-perfect first-person narrative that is evasive yet intimate, and utterly unforgettable. Stylistically daring and psychologically acute, this dazzling debut marks the arrival of an exciting new novelist.

Customer Reviews:

Pretentious.......2007-07-09

I tried to read this but found it very boring and arch-literary. The writer should go out there and get a real job, mingle with the real people, and see what life is all about. Like the author's last name, I can't "hack it"!

Pales in comparison to "An Equal Music".......2006-03-11

Looking back at all my Amazon reviews, I see that I have rarely, if ever, written a negative review. Well, here we go:
Being a musician, I am always dubious when it comes to books about musicians. Nevertheless, I still seek out and read such books because it is a subject I care about a great deal, and every now and then books, such as "An Equal Music" and "Ground Beneath Her Feet", are published that utilize musical themes in a novel and interesting way. Even lesser books than the two mentioned, such as "The Rosendorf Quartet" or "The Student Conductor", at least depict the minutiae of musicians' lives in a realistic way.
"Disturbance of the Inner Ear" does none of that, and is saddled with the fact that its main character, the narrator of the story, is not only incredibly annoying but also borderline insane. The plot points are improbable, the setting unrealistic, and the incessant, though admittedly informed, musical babble that serves as an interlude between each plot "twist" (and yes, I use the term euphemistically) leaves me cold.
Even the formatting is annoying, where instead of using quotes for dialogue, the author chooses to use dashes. According to another reviewer, this is an Italian way of formatting. Whatever it is, it serves as yet another gimmick, in a book that chooses to use music as a gimmick as well. Read any of the four books I mentioned in the review. Avoid this one.

Tedious.......2005-08-14

This is novel that succeeds only in being pretentious and tiresome. Other reviewers have said it better -- the author would do better to rethink her style and purpose.

The end could have been made into a good short story.......2004-03-08

I forced myself to finish this book because I had already put so much time into it, and I'm glad I did because the ending is quite moving. With a bit of a lead-in, the author could have made a fine short story out of the last scene, Isabel's return to Theresienstadt, without tormenting us with the rest of this pretentious, improbable tale.

What exactly did Joyce Hackett study when she was at the University of Milan? It clearly was not Italian. Her grammatical mistakes in Italian are appalling, especially when she makes such a big point of them: "Lasciami star...we never stopped using the formal", she points out at the beginning of the fourth chapter. Actually, "lasciami star" is precisely NOT the formal. Unfortunately, there are many errors of that type.

Then there is the Italian custom of avoiding quotation marks and using dashes instead. That would have been wonderfully effective had Ms. Hackett only used it correctly. But, alas, she did not, and, as a result, she just makes us reread her sentences to be sure we've understood them.

Not one character in the book aroused my sympathy with the possible exception of a couple of the goldfish. I am at a loss to understand all the five-star reviews.

Astonishing book about music.......2003-10-05

It's not often that you read a book about music that's actually musical, but Disturbance is not an ordinary book. The novel deals with the way in which music imprints itself on the narrator's brain--as subject and as form and as way of dealing with the world. It really is like she is swimming in it as she sets out trying to survive without many resources in Italy. So much of the book is about various forms of performance, as she becomes involved with an Italian doctor who moonlights as a male gigolo. It looks at the ways we instruct and command ourselves due to the training and rules we learn. REALLY interestingly written.

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