Poison Ringss: Magical And Poisonous Archetype

In the early 1900’s, the discovery of a luminescent material, radium, arrived on the scene to the delight of a fascinated and eager public. At first, it seemed to be a miracle remedy, not just harmless but even beneficial. However, when a multitude of watch dial painters were exposed to this substance on an extremely consistent basis, the negative effects began bubbling to the surface. These “Radium Girls” were unknowingly consuming a potentially lethal substance and would be the first victims of radium poisoning and radioactivity. Not many people knew about the dangers of radioactive substances or radium poisoning and many others had made judgements that were clouded by the perfection of the glowing sensation. In spite of this, the horrific afflictions that the Radium Girls endured helped shift the public perspective of radium from “wonder drug” to “pitiless poison” and started the country on a path to regulating the handling of radioactive

In chapter 1 titled “Chloroform (CHCI3 )” of The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum, the most interesting story developed within the chapter was the unsolved mystery of eight deaths in a refuge called Odd Fellows Home. Frederic Mors, who claimed to be responsible for all these eight murders, confessed his own guilt in front of the district attorneys. As it was said, “To prove that these elderly residents had been poisoned, they needed solid evidence. [Rumors, suspicions, and anecdotes, a confession by a suspect who might just be crazy, weren’t enough to charge a man with murder.]” (Blum 13).

“The Poisonwood Bible” by Barbara Kingsolver inclusion of Orleanna’s guilt contributes to how not taking action is as bad as doing the act. Orleanna continuously disregarded the way she and her children were treated and was determined to ignore it by doing this, manifested leading to her living in misery for the rest of her life.

Jewels were slowly becoming a popular item to sell and trade and soon became an essential for artwork and accessories. The jewels on the cover are rounded and are known as cabochon jewels. Cabochon is a technique in which the jewel is rounded and polished and then placed in the setting. So, how were these jewels set? Metalworkers were known to have used different sorts of hammers, chisels and pincers of all shapes and sizes to perfect the design. A technique known as inlaying was the process in which a metalworker carefully bent the material to form the desired

It easily combines with other natural occurring chemicals. When heated with oxygen, it becomes white, crumbly powder. In this form it is called arsenic trioxide or white arsenic. White arsenic was the poison used at the Shelbourne. It was a favorite of some of history’s most feared poisoners, like the ones who made Jean Crones look like the amateur he was. Lucretia and Cesare Borgia used white arsenic but experimented with different ways to make it more deadly. They would cook it into more intense solution, mixing it with other poisons. Basic arsenic is also deadly; the first case recorded of homicide with the pure element was reported in 1740, when a girl poisoned her father and three sisters by serving them a dish of dried pears that had been boiled in water containing rocky ore from a nearby mine. White arsenic is a better tool for criminal uses; slipped easily into food or drink. One of the best known nineteenth-century American forensic scientists, Rudolph Witthaus, once tried to estimate arsenic’s popularity as a murder weapon. He found 820 arsenic- caused deaths recorded between 1752 and 1889, and also found that almost half were

The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbra Kingsolver, draws the reader into the chaotic African Congo, where the Price family is dragged into on a mission of God, to help the unsaved souls of this “wasteland”. Leader of the missionary family, Nathan Price is a man who is bent on eternal salvation for all the people of the Congo –whether they want it or not– and will not quit in his mission, regardless the consequences. Price is a volatile man, as Kingsolver points out by Nathans’ religious fervor, apparent sexist attitude, and belligerent nature.

Direct Quote: “He wanted it because it was a ring of power, and if you slipped that ring on your finger, you were invisible; only in the full sunlight could you be seen, and then only by your shadow, and that would be shaky and faint.” (p.76)

After the past tragedies that have hit the Mountaineer community this fall; I consumed myself in wondering what could’ve been done to change the outcome. What if your best friend read the directions wrong and took something s/he shouldn’t have, wouldn’t you want to know how to save them? “Nearly 40 percent of college students engage in binge drinking,” heavy drinking such as this is directly related with injury, health problems, and a decline in academic performance (Random Control). This is so relevant in colleges that most resident assistance are expected to serve as first-aid providers, but the reality is no program exists for them to take (resident assistant training). If the resident assistance don’t have a class that they have to

The “Philadelphia Poison Ring” in 1938 was caused by two people, cousins that were career criminals from Philadelphia. The leader was Herman Petrillo, but his cousin Paul Petrillo was also highly involved. Paul was known for insurance scams his entire life, and another cousin named Morris Bobler also joined and was highly involved in the process. Herman and Paul Petrillo were the two people responsible for this as they were convicted of 70 murders. Some being drownings and most being poisonings. The two cousins immigrated into the United States from Italy in 1910, and as soon as they showed up started criminal activity. The criminal activity started with small things such as theft, however the crimes grew darker and more serious until they committed their first murder in 1931. It all started with an insurance scam business, and how it worked was the business would take widows and find them new husbands were they would then be given their life insurance. The company would take it upon themselves to kill the new husbands so that the wifes can get their life insurance. Almost all of the husbands were killed with arsenic, which is an element that either is used alone or combined with an inorganic substance makes it deadly to almost any biological system. The symptoms of arsenic poisoning contain abdominal pains, destruction of red blood cells, shock, or a quick death. I could not find how the arsenic got into their victims bodies but on the toxicology

In chapter two titled “Chloroform” of The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum. The most interesting story in this chapter a murderer called Mores he said “ [He] liked chloroform for its efficiency… its wonderful poison” (9). As the story continues Mores used chloroform as an advantage for murder, he took this, as an advantage because he said that when investigators did an autopsy there was no way of finding the cause of the death since autopsies showed no clue of chloroform. This story relates to the title because as we read chloroform is a chemical, which is very poisonous and dangerous method of constraining a murder.

In the early 1900’s radium was “the latest miracle substance” (Hersher & Blum, 2014). Salesmen promised that it extended lifespans, increased sex drive, made women more beautiful, and had many other fantastic effects. The world was infatuated with radium and displayed this by putting it in slews of items including face cream, bread, chocolate, suppositories, toy sets for children, drinking water (as shown in figure 1), toothpaste, watch faces, and many more products. (List from scribal.com, 2007) It was used often in pharmaceuticals and described by advertisers as “nature’s way to health.” “Doctors used it to treat everything from colds to cancer.” (Hersher & Blum, 2014) However, the “magical” substance that was radium turned out to

It is used on altars, to decorate magickal tools or chalice, cauldron or placed on the handle of

In Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers, there is a multitude of detectives. There is our main character, the amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey, and with him there are the people that work for and with him. Miss Climpson, Bunter and Miss Murchison, these people are the ones that help him solve the cases. The women that are helping Detective Wimsey are spinsters, who are equipped with a quick mind and who have no problem sticking their noses where they have no business being. After World War I there were a lot more spinsters on account of the young men being killed at war. I want to make the argument that because of his time in the service Lord Peter Wimsey is a heroic detective, unlike the detectives we have read about up to now.

A ring is, in and of itself, a frivolous object; it serves no practical purpose and its only functions are symbolic and aesthetic. They are thus also a symbol of the wealth and power of the owner; a demonstration that they have so much money they can afford to

Over thousands of years, jewelry has been worn by many people. Whether to show beauty, wealth or belief there is no era that can compare to the jewels of Ancient Egypt. At the beginning of the kingdom, precious stones and metals were discovered and worn like never seen before. Unfortunately, the remaining Egyptian jewelry that is displayed in Museums today is only a small fraction of what actually existed due to grave robbers. Questions such as how jewelry started, how it was made and worn, what the symbolization of jewelry was and who were the people that wore jewelry in Ancient Egypt will be answered.