POISONS IN WARFARE, BOTH NONLETHAL AND LETHAL
Chemical warfare has been around since prehistoric times. Both Indian texts, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana have discourses on using poison weapons and Manusmriti forbids them. Chinese writings from 1000 BCE have recipes for making irritating smokes for use in war. Spartan forces placed mixtures of burning wood, pitch, and sulfur under the walls of Athens during the Peloponnesian War.
ACONITE (Aconitum napellus), or Monk's-Hood was known even in Anglo-Saxon times, when it was called “thung.” “Thung” became the word used for any very poisonous plant. Cultures used it as a weapon by coating their spears and arrowheads with its strong poison. The plant was used for killing panthers, wolves, and other carnivores. The Greeks termed it “lycotonum,” or Wolfs-Bane, and believed that aconite was the first poison created, made by Hecate from the foam of Cerberus. Aconite was used as an arrow poison in primitive Europe, Alaska, and Asia. On the Greek island of Chios, aconite was used for the euthanasia of the old and infirm men. It was often used for criminal purposes—Claudius I, Emperor of Rome, was slain by his own physician who slipped him monkshood. It was so often used for political assassinations that Trajon banned its cultivation altogether. Anyone caught gardening these flowers risked a penalty of death. Gerard, an herbalist of Queen Elizabeth's time, wrote, “There hath been little heretofore set down concerning the virtues of aconite, but much might be saide of the hurts that have come thereby.” When Hamlet faced Laertes in a duel, Laertes covered his blade in juices from monkshood. In a series of recent trials infamous in Japan, three women and one man were proven to have collected millions of yen in their murder-for-insurance ring; the women prepared for their husbands sweet-bean buns laced with monkshood. The trials ended in 2002, and all received long prison terms.
AKOCANTHERA: Usually used as arrow poison; see below. It has been reported that Puncture Vine seeds have been used in homicidal weapons in southern Africa; murderers smear sharp objects with the poisonous juice of Acokanthera venenata and put them where victims are likely to step.
ARISAEMA: For the Menomini tribe, Arisaema (Jack in the pulpit) served as a poison in wars; finely chopped herbs were put with meat to be served to enemies or the root was cooked with meat and the dish was left “abandoned.”
BELLADONNA is supposed to have been the plant that poisoned the troops of Marcus Antonius during the Parthian wars. Atropa belladonna or deadly nightshade was used in Europe regularly in poisonings. Five to ten berries will kill a person. It was used by primitive people as an arrow poison and was common in Rome—Livia and Agrippina both used it to kill off rivals. The Romans used the plant as a type of “weapon” to contaminate their enemies’ food reserves. In 184 BCE, Hannibal’s army used belladonna plants to induce disorientation.
According to Buchanan's History of Scotland, when Duncan I was King of Scotland, Macbeth's soldiers poisoned a whole army of Danes with a liquor treated by an infusion of “Dwale” supplied to them during a truce. Suspecting nothing, the invaders drank and were easily overpowered and murdered in their sleep by the Scots. The Bishop of Munster in A.D. 1672 attempted to use belladonna-containing grenades in an assault on the city of Groningen. Cesare Borgia had a fondness for belladonna during the Renaissance. This chemical was also the infamous “truth serum” that was used in so many legal battles and court cases of days past. This “serum” caused many concerns, as a possible use for “brain-washing.” During World War II, the Germans invented a type of nerve gas that was odorless, colorless and very deadly. The only antidote to prevent the paralyzing effect of this gas was atropine from belladonna. Luckily the German gas was never used in combat.
CYANIDE may be easily obtained from bitter almonds, the pits of plums, apricots or cherries, and from apple seeds. More famous for fictional poisonings than true ones, cyanide is a poison worthy of mention.
DATURA: Extracts of Datura were used by the Central American empires for infanticide and murder. Popular in both Europe and America, datura poisonings saw an upsurge in the 1990s and 2000s when a new generation of kids tried to find ways to get high. Its name jimsonweed comes from the town of Jamestown, Virginia. Various versions of the story exist, but in the most common version, British soldiers sent to quell Bacon's Rebellion of 1676 accidentally ate this plant as food, causing many to be incapacitated with hallucinations for 11 days, followed by amnesia of the entire event. In India during the 1990s, hospitalizations in datura poisonings increased; the seeds are often mixed with food and offered to passengers boarding the train. Datura was part of the Haitian zombie mixture in The Serpent and the Rainbow.
ERGOT: The ancient empire of Assyria poisoned the water supply of their enemies with the use of rye ergot, a fungus (genus Claviceps). In 1722, ergotism struck down the cavalry of Czar Peter the Great on the eve of a battle for the conquest of Turkey and thus changed the course of history.
HELLEBORE (Helleborus niger) from the Greek “elein, to injure” and “bora, food.” The use of nonlethal chemicals to render an enemy force incapable of fighting dates back to at least 600 B.C when Solon’s soldiers threw hellebore roots into streams supplying water to enemy troops, who then developed diarrhea. In ancient texts, hellebore is sometimes referred to as Melampode.
HEMLOCK: Nero reportedly poisoned his brother Britannicus after testing it on a billy goat. Often it was mixed with opium to kill the condemned. It was the State Poison of Athens, and was the death decreed for Socrates, according to the account by Plato: “After reproving his friends for indulging in loud lamentations, he continued to walk as he had been directed until he found his legs grow weary. Then he lay down upon his back and the person who had administered the poison went up to him and examined for some little time his feet and legs, and then squeezing his foot strongly asked whether he felt him. Socrates replied that he did not. He then did the same to his legs and proceeding upwards in this way, showed us that he was cold and stiff, and he afterwards approached him and said to us that when the effect of the poison reached his heart, Socrates would depart. And now the lower parts of his body were cold, when he uncovered himself and said, which were his last words, “Crito, we owe Asculapius a cock. Pay the debt and do not forget it.”
HENBANE: Albertus Magnus attributed the effects of henbane to the influence of the planet Jupiter, and named it Acharonis. The dead in Hades were supposedly crowned with henbane, and the ghost from Hamlet (I, 5, 69-70) was killed by having henbane poured into his ear. In 1881, members of a railway surveying expedition crossing Tuareg territory in North Africa ate dried dates that tribesmen had apparently deliberately contaminated with Hyoscyamus falezlez. In 1908, 200 French soldiers in Hanoi became delirious and experienced hallucinations after being poisoned with a related plant.
MANDRAKE: Maharbal (200 BCE) left his enemy several amphoras of wine that had mandrake mixed with it. When the enemy was immobilized he returned with his men and killed them.
OLEANDER: It has been recorded that many of Alexander the Great's soldiers died after using oleander twigs to barbecue meat.
OPIUM: Between 1837 and 1838, of 543 cases of poisoning in England and Wales, at least 200 involved opium or opium-derivatives. A fifth of these cases involved overdoses of children by parents or nursemaids. In adults the motive was usually suicide. Opium was used by criminals to facilitate other crimes, like robbery or rape.
ROSARY PEAS: Abrus precatorius. Rosary peas are so poisonous that the sharpened seeds are used as murder weapons in India.
UPAS TREE: Related to Belladonna, it was used to poison the wells of Dutch colonists in Africa.
YEW: Wine from hip-flasks made of yew wood was said by Pliny to poison travelers. Yew was used as a poison by 200 BCE; also used for suicide it was a nasty death, the Celtic Chieftain Catuvolcus (53 BCE) used it to avoid becoming a roman slave. The ancient Celts used extracts of yew from bark and needles as arrow and spear poisons.
The Use of Assassination Mixtures in the Middle East
A compound poison was most effectively administered in highly spiced foods where the ingredients were minced or chopped fine. These simple recipes were taken from The Book on Poisons of Ibn Wahshiya, written in the ninth century:
Recipe 1
Using one part minim (white lead), one part litharge (peroxide of lead), one tenth part oleander leaf, and one tenth part of black hellebore, cook the ingredients with sesame oil and rosewater. This mixture is supposedly fatal in about one day.
Recipe 2
Using one mouse stung to death by scorpions, pulverized euphorbium, spurge and its leaf, hellebore, oppoponax and mustard, combine all ingredients in a lead crucible, cover tightly and bury in a dungheap for two weeks. Then grind all the ingredients well, being certain to reduce the mouse bones to a fine powder. Add a little saffron. This is supposed to kill in one day, or two.
Recipe 3
Again using a mouse stung to death by scorpions, ten dirhams each of opium, black hellebore, hemlock seed and extract, one dirham of eel brains, prepare as in #2. This mixture is supposedly fatal in one day.
POISON GAS AND IRRITANTS
The Chinese were famous for using chemicals to make poisonous smoke. They would pump smoke from burning mustard and other toxic plants into tunnels of the enemy. A search of early records reveals that pepper has been used at various times during the past 2500 years as a weapon. The Chinese used what were called “stink pots.” They consisted of pepper burned in oil, causing irritating and suffocating smoke. The Japanese used finely ground pepper which was put in thin rice paper pouches and thrown at the faces of their adversaries to temporarily blind them. The Indian schools of martial arts, (which gave birth to many Far Eastern schools of hand-to-hand combat through Indian Buddhist missionaries) such as Kalaripayat, Vajramushti, Marman and Kara-hatse (the forefather of Karate), are among those who have applied forms of pepper as a combative tool.
Pepper Spray: Capsaicin is concentrated mostly in the placental tissue of the hot pepper, therefore the seeds are not sources of heat, as commonly believed. From one kilogram of cayenne pepper approximately 2.13 g. of crude capsaicin can be isolated, which is about 20 times the amount found in paprika.
The industrial spice oleoresin extraction industry came into being during the 1930s. The process essentially involves concentration of the oleoresin from capsicum plant by evaporation of solvent and, finally, desolventisation to achieve the limits of residual solvent. Oleoresin, being a natural product, is thermally sensitive and the processing must be designed to minimize thermal degradation and preserve the full pungency. Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) is therefore the extract of the dried ripe fruits of capsicums and contains a complex mixture of essential oils, waxes, colored materials, and several capsaicinoids. It also contains resin acids and their esters, terpenes, and oxidation or polymerization products of these terpenes. One kilogram of oleoresin Capsicum is equivalent to approximately 18 to 20 kilograms of good grade well-ground capsicum. This ratio may vary depending on the type of capsicum being processed. One habanero pepper (sometimes called Scotch Bonnets) has the same amount of capsaicin packed into its tiny frame as there is in 1000 jalapeno peppers.
Ricin, from the castor oil plant, was seriously considered for a gas bomb in both the first and second World Wars. In the Second World War it was given the military code name “Whiskey.” During the Cold War, it was used by the KGB in individual attacks against dissenters.
INTENTIONAL MIND-ALTERING
About 4500 years ago, the Koyak and Wiros tribes of the central Russian steppes conducted what may be the first experiments in stimulating violence through the use of drugs. They derived from the Amanita muscaria mushroom a drug which reduced the warrior’s anxiety and fear while increasing his strength, stamina, mental acuity, and ability to withstand pain. The shamans hit upon a noteworthy method of increasing the drug’s potency: The mushroom was first fed to reindeer, and the soldiers would drink the animals’ urine on the eve of battle. Viking warriors also depended on chemical stimulants derived from deer urine. Until 1800 AD, some Scandinavian historians believe that Viking 'Bezerker Warriors' ingested Amanita muscaria before going into battle. The Icelandic name for Fly Agaric contains the word 'berserk' within it.The use of chemicals to induce altered states of mind dates to antiquity and includes the use of plants such as thornapple (Datura stramonium) that contain combinations of anticholinergic alkaloids.
POISON ARROWS
Poison arrows have been used since antiquity in nearly every continent, with the possible exception of Australia and New Zealand. The oldest evidence comes from ancient Egypt, circa 2181 BCE.
Common genuses used include Calotropsis, Dioscorea, Diospyros, Drepanocarpus, Euphorbia, Hippomane, Hura, Lonchocarpus, Mucuna, Paullinia, Pedilanthus, Pentaclethra, Perebea, Petiveria, Piscidia, Strychnos.
Africa: cardiac poisons African arrow poisons generally contain more than one component. Nearly 256 different species have been used in poison arrows in Africa. Generally the poison was never smeared on the tip but placed behind the tip so the penetration through skin and fur wouldn’t wipe off the poison. Sometimes the poison was inserted in a hollow shaft. The cacti Euphorbium was consistently used as a glue to hold the poison on the shaft. Only the bushmen of the Kalahari desert used animal extracts exclusively.Other bushmen mix with plants or use plant material alone. Plants include Acokanthera, Parquetina, Adenium speciosum, Strophanthus, Tabernanthe, Adenium, Mansonia, Calotropis, Cassia sp., Crotalaria retusa, Securidaea lonqependuculata, Tephrosia vogelii, Pergularia, Corchorus, and Erythrophleum, Euphorbia, Gnidia, Strychnos, and Jatropha. In the early 20th century, arsenic was often used, but during the mid-century, cyanide became quite popular
Acokanthera schimperi: Prepared by building an underground fire pit—the pot is kept below ground level to reduce the danger. The fire is kept going for 3 to 4 days after which time the lid is removed to let the vapor escape. After a day the precipitate deposited at the bottom of the pot is moved to a wooden or leather container with a tight lid. It is then carried around for use in the preparation of poison arrows. The bark is also soaked in water to extract the poison. Death results in 30 minutes after entry of poison into the blood-stream” Snake venom is sometimes used in addition. The poison causes hair and nails to drop off. The only treatment against the poison is immediate excision of the flesh surrounding the wound. The container used to prepare or hold the poison must never be used in the house again, not even to burn as firewood because the smoke, if inhaled, is poisonous as well.
Strophanthus hispidus makes up Gombi arrow poison of Africa. The brew is evaporated by boiling to a syrupy consistency, and when smeared on the arrow or spear this dries to a varnish. The poison is called in Hausa yaßi, literally ‘to smear poison’, or zabgai, or simply dafi, poison, and in Fula toke.
South America: muscle-paralyzing Each tribe has their own curare recipe, but most implement the bark of Moonseed family members, which is often mixed with unspecified plants. Tube curare from western Amazonia was stored in bamboo tubes and made of Chondrodendron tomentosum. From eastern Amazonia is Calabash curare, stored in small gourds, and pot curare in small clay pots; both made from Strychnos guianensis. Often the mixtures included other substances, sometimes up to thirty. When it comes to the respiratory-paralyzing effects of the Chondrodendron, it can take as many as 15 darts to take down a human. The strength of the poison is also variable. The strength of a batch of curare can be tested in a number of ways, like counting the number of times a frog can jump after being pricked, or how many trees a monkey can leap to after being hit. One-tree curare is very potent; three-tree curare can be used to take down live animals to be kept in captivity. Machineel, used in Central America and the Caribbean is used by the Caribs as an arrow poison, watering hole poison, and the tied criminals to the tree to torture them.
Asia: Cardiac followed by tetanic symptoms ACONITE ‘Monkshood/Wolfbane’ Used by ancient Chinese and in India as an arrow tip poison & in medieval times to poison wolves.
North America: No generalizations Letharia spp. Achomawi: The principal ingredient for the poison used for the stone arrow tips was the yellow lichen (Evernia) which grows on pine and fir trees in the mountains. The arrow points were embedded in masses of the wet lichen and allowed to remain an entire year. Rattlesnake venom was sometimes added.
Pallid Hoptree: Leaves made into arrow poison by Havasupai tribe
More on Native American poison arrows in the next article.
GAMING IDEAS
Poisoning a King: Kings and tyrants were taken out by poison all the time. The characters could be hired to stop it or make it happen. They could be involved with the planning or come to a city to meet the king and watch him die. Kings were often poisoned for gaining followers as well as losing them.
Punishment by Poisoning: A criminal or political prisoner is slated for death by poisoning and the characters must find a way to stop it.
Somebody pizened the waterhole: The characters are on watch for any suspicious activity ‘round the water supply. Or the characters as a team are sent to poison the enemies’ well/watering hole.
Stop the Madness: The characters are in a city where everybody is poisoning everybody, they have to survive, but more so, can they find a way to stop it?
Find/Get the Antidote: Somebody important or in the group is poisoned and the characters have to get the antidote. This can include dangerous treks or horse/cart chases, etc.
Crime Scene: Since poison is often used in mysteries, look below for information on forensics.
Serial Killer: A serial killer who takes victims by poisoning is more likely to be a male if the killings are random, and female if the killer and victims are in the same family. Solve this whodunit before your cup of tea is next.
Modern-Day Adventure – In the Wild West: The Iroquois, Blackfeet, Sioux, Ojibwe, Mohegan, and Penobscot mixed the leaves and roots of several poisonous plants in with food. The scraped dried poisonous roots made a powder to put in a victim’s coffee or tea. They would add bits of poison root to one’s canteen or liquor bottle.
Modern-Day Adventures – Ethiopia: Nowadays in Ethiopia, poison preparations are used more for homicidal purposes than for hunting game animals. Homicidal poisoning is quite prevalent in the Northern provinces. It is a standard custom in this region where a host—irrespective of closeness of kin—serving a drink or food, must first consume or taste some before serving the guest. In the case of drinks the host spills some on the cupped palm of the hand and drinks it in front of the guest to establish good faith.
Arrow Poisons – Game Stats
Injected poison works a bit different than ingested poison. In South America, attacks by poison arrows or darts can be regulated by the number of shots used, causing muscle paralysis. A rough idea would be:
One-tree Curare: Very Fatal
1 arrow: Dulling; dizzying
2.arrows: Weakening, gasping
3 arrows: Staggering, hard to breathe
4 arrows: Unable to walk, fighting for breath
5 arrows: Unable to move, unable to breath
Three-tree Curare: not likely fatal
1 arrow: Unnoticeable during fight
2 arrows: May notice tiredness if fight ends
3 arrows: Tired
4 arrows: Dulling; dizzying, Reduction of -1 in strength and agility
5 arrows: Increase in effort to multitask plus above
6.arrows: Weakening, air cloying
7 arrows: Wants to sit down, Reduction of -2 in strength and agility
8 arrows: Stumbling, lights flashing in vision, -3 in strength and agility
9 arrows: Staggering, hard to breathe
10 arrows: Movement at one-quarter
11 arrows: No strength to fight, must make effort to move body parts
12 arrows: Unable to walk, fighting for breath
13 arrows: Unable to move, slow light breathing
14 arrows: Paralyzed and breathing is complete effort
15 arrows: Unable to breathe
In Africa or Asia, the poison attack would affect the heart and the victim would be more likely to die painfully with symptoms of heart failure. Without an antidote or even then, the victim is more likely to die from the poison and if he or she does survive, there can be damage to the heart muscle.
| Poison | Symptoms While Alive | Post-Mortem Symptoms |
| Aconitum | burning, vomiting, weakness, asphyxia | asphyxia |
| Aconitum (absorption/injection) | tingling/numbness | asphyxia |
| Datura | Violent hallucinations, self-injury, convulsions, coma | circulatory failure, pupil dilation, muscle tension, evidence of convulsions |
| Belladonna | dilated pupils, delirium, staggering, suffocation | pupil dilation, purple stomach lining |
| Poison Hemlock | paralysis within half-hour starting with legs | none |
| Henbane | Hallucinations, restlessness, red skin | bloat, cyanosis |
| Opium | giddiness, stupor, sleep | none |
| Cyanide | Giddiness, gasping, mucous rattle, convulsions | countenance pale/composed, eyes glisten, scent of prussic acid, putrefaction comes fast |
| Oleander | Salivation, vomiting, cramps, seizures, collapse | hemorrhaging, froth, cyanosis |
| Water Hemlock | Nausea, vomiting, tremors, convulsions | mouth full of foam |
| Strychnos | suffocation, twitches, convulsions, grinning | clenched body, black blood |
Fun Forensics for Murder by Poison in Adventures
This information was compiled from Principles of Forensic Medicine by William Augustus Guy in 1845 and Forensic Medicine and Toxicology by William B. Woodman. Generally a GM should understand what the characters (or an expert the characters call in) should do, so they can do it right.
Examinations of Victims: Include information about:
- The state of the patient before symptoms.
- Determine what was happening when symptoms occurred, how fast, when the last meal was, if anyone else got sick. Look for residue.
- Vomit should be examined for plant remains.
- Post-Mortem exam: Digestive tract most often affected, from evidence in the teeth to hemorrhages or ulcers in the stomach.
Next Up: Plants in Warfare: Native American Weapons
