The Poisons History Of India

There are still phenomena in the history of poison and poisoning in the world. Poisoning in terms of knowledge every society has known and practiced of the poisonous substances from ancient times. Poisoning occurs in the naturally or manufactured which effect is very serious and dangerous: likely to grow and spread in a rapid and uncontrollable way that can cause death or serious acute painful by accidental contact with toxic substances. It is present in the evil way and deceiting of murderer, homicidal and driven many people to suicide. Present days, there are various kinds of poisonous substances exit in our environment resulted from the products, waste we have in our house, cleaning chemicals, industrial waste, and vehicles hazardous fumes. Poisoning is shown in being made impure and poor quality of adding food and drink, misusing of medicinal plants, folk medicine for healing that the ingredients were insecure as untested and unintended effect of their toxic substances. It is the fact that poisoning has caused sensational murder trials, accute crimes which thousands of people and animals have destructed and perished of unsuspected or intentionally incidents with poisonous substances. There are many numbers of reasons of employing poisons and poisoning from the past time. In the past time, Bertomeu-Sánchez (2016) says that people have been used the poison and poisoning as the weapons to perform criminal acts like murders, execution, suicide, political assassinatiosn and wars, death penalty, etc. Likewise, Arnold( 2016, p.12) described in his book that “Poison possess an incontestable materiality- in their chemical composition and physiological effects- but poison and poisoning are also extraordinarily rich in their semantic use and cultural deployment, as metaphors of malice and emblems of evil.” In this paper, I am writing about Bengla’s chemical examiners investigated in poisoning cases and figuring and observation of Dr. Chevers under reporting of various types of the criminal records involved the employment of poisoning and different kinds of poisonous substances of robbers and murderers in homicidal, suicidal or accidental, cattle poisoning, abortion and infaticide.

Dr. Chevers was requested to analyze the Indian of Medical Science, the year between 1805-1858 by the helps of existence crime reports in terms of murders, criminal acts or suicidal activities of the two states in Bengal and in the North-West provinces, the reports made on chemical examination of poisoning by many expert professors. Despite various crimes the most committed by the Indian natives were recorded in the reports with evidence. The most common criminal cases listed in the court by the used of poisons of “ Theft, Perjury, Personation,Torture, Child-stealing, the Murder of Women and of Aged Men, Assassination, Arson, the Butchery of Children for the sake of their ornaments, Drugging and Poisoning, Adultery, Rape, Unnatural Crimes, the Procuration of Abortion, are among the leading villanies of these ingenious, calm-tempered, indolently pertinacious sensualists (Chevers, 1858, p-7).”

In terms of cultural, in the society of India, the existence of poisons deployment and the practice of various poisons among Indian natives were widely and spread through Indo, in the nineteenth century. There were many cases of suicidal, homicide, that destruction of one’s own life by the employment of poisons. The investigation or phenomenon of medical and scientific reasoning of kinds of poisonous substances have been questioned for a long time and their essence have been expressed and resulted from various aspects in terms of toxicity, pollution, overlapping with other medical concepts such as adulteration, and infection or disease (Bertomeu-Sánchez,2016). For the native Indians, the employment of culture of poison was very distinguished. There was no doubt that the criminal uses of poisons, the trace of poison shows the scientists from European and Indian put great effort in creating “ a distinctive system of forensic toxicology and medical jurisprudence designed for Indian needs and conditions, and how local, as well as universal, poison knowledge could serve constructive scientific and medical purposes (Arnold, 2016).”

The native Indians had aware of existing about various poisonous substances the nature and effects of vegetable and mineral poisons. The possible reason employment of poison is that “The abundance in which a large variety of deadly plants spring up in the hot and moist atmosphere of Bengal, and the unrestricted freedom with which nearly all the most potent kinds of mineral and vegetable poisons can be purchased in every Indian bazaar (Chevers, 1856, p.64).” Moreover, the natives were getting the poisonous substances by trading of less rupees. Regardless to the humid weather, the tree strychnine is a common poisonous tree in the warmer forests in India. The native Indians have been employed the strychnine which exist many kinds that some are used for medicinal purposes for many years. The strychnine itself however, is poisonous that can harm and cause the same painful symptoms as any other toxic substances and poisoning can be fatal to humans and animals occur by inhalation, swallowing or absorption through mouth or eyes. Especially, the most poisonous part of strychnine is the seeds, called ‘nux vomica or emetic nut’, having the essence of “the strongly toxic alkaloids strychnine and brucine, in addition to other minor alkaloidal constituents(Meulenbeld, 2008)”. The strychnine poisoning is an accidental ingestion or intentionally used for murder or suicidal purposes.

In terms of cattle poisoning, the natives intended to poison the cattle to get their hides. There was a case of elephant at Dacca, which had died with symptoms of irritant poisoning contain Aconitum ferox. The person who intent to poison the elephant had small ball size of orange with the mixture of Aconite root equal to 20 grains and “a portion of Sulphuret of Mercury”. When the elephants observed the balls the belly, the animal will die with great pain in 12 hours with the lost of blood(Chevers, 1856). There were many cases in village killing cattle for the sake of their hides by giving poisonous balls to the castle.

In another case, the report of the Chemical Examiners, and the observation of the case of Aconitum ferox root named Bish poison, one of the strongest and deadliest vegetable poisons mostly used by the people in India was done by Dr.O’Shaughnessy and analysis by Dr.Chevers. Under the category of cases of Aconite poisoning, the roots of Aconite were known everywhere in Indian society and each community called it differently. The Dakra, or Nepaul poison is obviously seemed as the root of Aconite. “The tubers, which are used in several formula by the native practitioners, and also with a view to destroy life, are two or three, fasciculate, fusiform, two to four inches long, blackish externally, pale inside. They are brittle, break with a resinous fracture, and are readily reduced to coarse powder; in this state, they are destitute of smell, slightly bitter to the taste, the tongue being benumbed wherever touched on (Chevers, 1856, p-83)”. There were many cases of Aconite poisoning mixture with food intended to harm the person. In one case, three persons had eaten food considered to contain Acetone poison, after taking the food they had suffered from the symptoms with “burning in the throat, numbness of the extremities, transient loss of sight, and giddiness(p.83)”. One person had died after eleven hours but the two had recovered. In some cases, some people had complained of a burning sensation in throat and stomach, and vomited because of poisonous substances. Some people had died after four hours after ingested the poisonous substance however, some had insensibility but recovered after a lapse of several hours. From many poison cases of Aconite reported to the police and chemical examiners, Dr. Mouat and O’Shaughnessy could have managed to separate the mode and appearances of Aconite poisoning (Chevers, 1856).

There were other cases robbery and stealing of people’ properties by the employment of the poison from the seeds of datura plants. It was shown in the annals of Indian criminality, the thugs on the highways of nineteenth-century India deceived the travellers and poisoned them with the employment of dhatoora to steal or rob their properties (Arnold, 2016). The poisoners who intended to steal made the datura into powder and mixed with food. When a person ingested the food, the symptom with insensible will be revealed after twenty five minutes later. There were more symptoms when absorbed the dhatoora; “headache, dryness of the throat and fauces, faintness, difficulty in walking, languor, and impairment of vision, the pupils being greatly dilated (Chevers, 1856, p. 105).” From 1837 and 1838 when a few cases of poisoning, supposed to be from datura, were noticed by Drs. Bell and McLellan in the several reports of the Native General Hospital,– up to 1848, only from 6 to 10 such cases had been annually recorded; but, during 1849, fifty-one cases had come under hospital treatment! Dr. Giraud also alludes to the practice of drugging children with sweetmeats, containing the powdered seeds, that their ornaments may be more easily removed (Chevers, 1856, p. 105).”

In another case, the special investigation was needed to the procuring of abortion among the native people. Because the employ of plants, jungle products to rid of unwanted pregnancy, criminal act abortion can described as infanticide. The chemical and physical reactions of the plants turned to the poisonous substances as it was untested and illegal precure abortion. In one case, the observation of Dr. A. Wilkinson and confirmed by the Chemical Examiners that a woman suffered the effect of administrating arsonic poison in order to procure abortion. In addition, in 1848 at Tipperah a pregnant woman died because of ingesting “ a mixture of red sulphuret of arsenic, white oxide of arsenic, blue vitriol and vermillion,” for the reason of producing abortion(Chevers,1856).

The easily approachable of poisons substances everywhere in Indian bazaars which have been deployed to destruct the life of humans needed to operate and take action on those systems. The most common vegetable poisonous substances used by the natives were “the Datoorah, Gunjah, Aconite, Kurrearee, Gunch, Lall Chitra, Kuchila (Nux Vomica) with its Viscum, Kakmari (Cocculus Indicus), and Kurrubee(Oleander)(Chevers, 1856, p. 68)”. The application of vegetable poisons were concealed in food, especially the favourite snacks, sweetmeats and drink intend of stealing their money while the people who took the food in insensible conditions. The people were in unconsciousness condition for three to four days after consumed the poisonous food, however, in some cases the person died of unexpected mixture of the poison substances.

In terms of punishment or law for poisoning , the activities of an individual especially poisoner with employing poison substances in every different case with the reports of the local police, with the evidence of analyze the poison by the chemical examiners and Dr. Chevers, and other professors had to spend their life in prison. In some cases, prisoners who used arsenic poison intended to commit the criminal crime were sentenced to death. A number of cases which Arsenic, Dhatoora, and Aconite have been concealed in sweetmeats intention of committing criminal acts, the person was imprisoned for internal life, or penalty, in another case the person was imprisoned for four to seven years depending on the crimes committed(Chevers, 1856).

To conclude the whole paper, the poisons history of India, the natives were aware of poisonous substance for ages and have been employed since a long time. Poisoning have been analysis through various cases of the natives in India. The results of the observation of death body to modify the appearance or symptoms of different poisons could have helped the people in medical examiners aware of various poisoning. The activities of poisoners, thugs, thieves, and rubbers employing the poison could have helped the medical jurisprudence in India to investigate the poison traces.

References;-

1. Arnold, D.(2016). Toxic Histories: Poison and Pollution in Modern India. Cambride: Cambridge University Press.
2. Chevers, N.(1856). A Manual of Medical Jurisprudence for Bengal and the North-Western Provinces. Harvard University. F.Carbery, Bengal Military Orphan Press.
3. Meulenbeld, G. (2007). A Quest for Poison Trees in Indian Literature, Along with Notes on Some Plants and Animals of the Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra. Wiener Zeitschrift Für Die Kunde Südasiens / Vienna Journal of South Asian Studies, 51, 5-75. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/24007714
4. Sanchez, J.R.B. & Guillem-Llobat, X.(2016). Following Poisons in Society and Culture(1800-2000): A Review of Current Literature. Vol 9 , p. 9-36. Actes D’Historia De La Ciencia I De La Tecnicanova Epica. Retrieved from DOI: 10.2436/20.2006.01.193 https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/83006190.pd