Arrow poisons from plants Arrow poisons are used to poison arrow heads or darts for the purposes of hunting. Poisoning arrows was & is practiced everywhere except in Australia Monkshood, Ranunculaeceae. Used since time of Neanderthals. For shooting wild beasts, the tubers of Aconitum are boiled in water. Resulting liquid, viscous and poisonous, is smeared on sharp arrowheads for the quick killing of both human beings and animals. in the jungles of Assam, Burma & Malaysia, main plant sources are Antiaris, Strychnos & Strophanthus Caribs of the Caribbean used poisons made from the latex of the Manchineel tree (Hippomane mancinella) or Sandbox Tree (Hura crepitans), both members of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae In Africa arrow poisons are made from plants that contain cardiac glycosides, such as Acokanthera (possessing ouabain), oleander (Nerium ol), milkweeds (Asclepias), Strophanthus, rosary pea Curare for preps containing tubocurarine derived from the bark of Strychnos toxifera, Chondrodendron tomentosum or Sciadotenia toxifera . Curare is a blocks nicotinic acetylcholine receptors on the post- synaptic membrane of the neuromuscular junction actiong as a muscle relaxant that can paralyze the respiratory system. Arrow poisons from animals Arrow poisons are used to poison arrow heads or darts for hunting. was & is practiced everywhere except in Australia Arrow frogs. The poison is generally collected by roasting the frogs over a fire, but the batrachotoxins are powerful enough to dip the dart in the back of the frog without killing it Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert use arrow poison is derived from the larva of beetles of the genus Diamphidia. It is applied to the arrow either by mixing it with plant sap to act as an adhesive, The toxin is slow attacking and large animals can survive 4–5 days before succumbing to the effects. Also plants like Adenium. Holthouse's book "Cannibal Cargoes" describes a canoe, with body of a man rotting in the sun for putrefaction to collect. Wounds with tetanus infection by tetanospasmin, a neurotoxin produced by obligate anaerobic bacterium Clostridium tetani. As the infection progresses, muscle spasms develop in the jaw Arrow poisons from plants Arrow poisons are used to poison arrow heads or darts for hunting. was & is practiced everywhere except in Australia contains a cardiac glycoside Arrow frogs. The poison is generally collected by named antiarin, which is used roasting the frogs over a fire, but the batrachotoxins as an arrow poison called are powerful enough to dip the dart in the back of the upas: UPAS tree frog without killing it Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert use arrow poison is derived from the larva of beetles of the genus Diamphidia. It is applied to the arrow either by mixing it with plant sap to act as an adhesive, The toxin is slow attacking and large animals can survive 4–5 days before succumbing to the effects. Also plants like Adenium. Holthouse's book "Cannibal Cargoes" describes a canoe, with body of a man rotting in the sun for putrefaction to collect. Wounds with tetanus infection by tetanospasmin, a neurotoxin produced by obligate anaerobic bacterium Clostridium tetani. As the infection progresses, muscle spasms develop in the jaw Arrow poisons for Homo sapiens – the enemy Hunting with bow and arrow occurred when few people & lots of prey was around Killing human competitors with bow and arrow when too many people around to sustain hunting. War is the systematic killing competitors from the same species is human, occurs only in Homo sapiens Biological warfare in the history of our World Greeks considered Gauls, Scythians and NAfricans as barbarians partly because they used poisonous projectiles. In Greek toxicon = poison, toxon = arrow helenion & minon unidentified arrow poisons of the Dacians hellebores or Christmas roses were used as arrow poisons buttercup Helleborus orientalis & lily representative Veratrum album plants not easy to gather: causing sneezing & blisters, hellebores were used as panacea since they had an immediate purgative effect. Aconitum = monkshood was another arrow poison of the Gauls (and even the Neanderthals 50 000 years before them). Also moors used it against the Spaniards in the 12 century. Gauls rapidly pulled arrow out of the prey. Hyoscyamus = henbane another badly smelling weed used by the Gauls powerful alkaloids hyoscyamine & scopolamine cause seizures, psychosis & death. used on arrows against other humans in war. Adrienne Mayor: Greek fire, poison arrows & scorpion bombs. Biological and chemical warfare in the ancient world. The overlook Press, Woodstock,USA Biological warfare in the history of our World Conium maculatum = hemlock juice containing coniine was used on Scythian arrows where it is active for many days. Belladonna = deadly nightshade was known as strychnos to the Romans (today Strychnos is a genus of trees occurring both in SAm and Asia) it was used as a drug smeared upon your spear or lance (Pliny the elder reported use by Roman soldiers and auxillaries) where it is active for > 30 years. Taxus baccata = yew is a gloomy tree with berries (= cones) containing alkaloids & sudden death by stopping the heart. Rhododendron sap was known as alternative arrow poison containing neurotoxin that can be extracted from flowers, but also presented as poisonous food in the form of honey. Scythian archers with poisonous darts (snake venom) defeated Persian army under Darius, + 333 BC the Grand army of Alexander the Great, & even a Roman one. Biological warfare in the history of our World 590 BC Destruction of the town Kirrha during the First Sacred war to protect the Oracle of Delphi. The water pipes to the besieged town were cut off and then resembled providing water poisoned with hellebore plants. Weakened by diarrhea the defenders were too distracted to hold the walls Pestilencia manu factq = man-made pestilences shows awareness to be under biological attacks by external and internal enemies; e.g. Christians suspected to burn Rome under Nero in order to speed up the prophesized end of the world. Emperor Marcus Aurelius died from Babylonian plague in AD 180, in 189 AD 2000 people/day died in Rome similar to US 2001 scare of anthrax. Babylonian plague 165-180 AD was witnessed by Galen (Î smallpox). Roman expedition against Parthians. 164 AD Temple of Apollo in Greek city of Seleuceia at the Tigris river was ransacked by Roman soldiers under Cassius A golden chest was opened in the temple and …..Greek Temples were temples of Apollo had white rodents & some priests like depositories of Nicander were leading toxicologists. Thousands of Romans toxins, pathogens perished including the remarkable emperor Marcus Aurelius & vaccines The End of Rome due to Bio-weapons? Romans were alert to biological attacks by external and internal enemies: Î Christians attempted to burn Rome under Nero in order to speed up the prophesized end of the world. The Great Fire of Rome July 19, AD 64 burned for five days destroying 10 of the 14 districts of Rome. Babylonian plague 165-180 AD was witnessed by Galen (Î smallpox. Roman expedition against Parthians. 164 AD Temple of Apollo in Greek city of Seleuceia at the Tigris river was ransacked by Roman soldiers under Cassius A golden chest was opened in the temple ………. Thousands of Romans perished including the remarkable emperor Marcus Aurelius 2000 people/day died in Rome similar to US 2001 scare of anthrax. Emperor Marcus Aurelius died from Babylonian plague in AD 180, in 189 AD No trace of the Empire in the 5th century! 455 After new Emperor breaks marriage proposal Vandals plunder Rome for 2 weeks Biological warfare in the history of our World Indians invented a special assassination weapon- poison maidens. They send dancing girls contact with whom = death. Alex the Great was a chosen recipient of such a girl in 327 BC. Pontic honey = was used by the ancient Georgians (Colchis, Pontus) to poison Pompey’s Roman soldiers which were pursuing Mithridates to the Crimea. Mithridates was a Greek king & a leading toxicilologist. He designed the universal antidote to prevent himself from being poisoned. When he killed himself with poison – his end was painful. World war 1 & 2: Churchill uses poisonous gas against the Kurds when Britain occupied Iraq in 1918. Later repeated by Saddam Hussein after armistice with US. During WWII CSS/CIA tried to pacify Hitler by injecting female hormones into his veggies (he was a belligerent vegetarian and anti- alcoholic). 2002 Pentagon develops mind-altering pacifying volatiles that can be sprayed or shot with bullets/grenades. This can be used against a population mixed with terrorists. Greek Fire Roasting limestone CaCO3 produces a crumbling residue of CaO calcium oxide or quicklime. When this is sprinkled with water it will turn into Ca hydroxide CaOH and develop heat with the potential of self ignition. The combination of quicklime & sulfur was creating self-igniting materials Incendiary coating of arrows = were made from resins, tar, petroleum & sulfur. Smokes: Chinese have devised burning mixtures with sulfur and arsenic that were used to kill large infestations of insects. They also developed the smoke ball for warfare. One successful receipt was to mix pine resin, charcoal and sulfur with powdered root of Aconitum monkshood, croton beans (cathartic purgative from Euphorbia fam.), hallucinogenic hemp, etc. Alum is a bisulfate of potassium and aluminum known to the ancient sailors to fire-proof the wood of their ships against attacks with napalm in the form of Greek fire. A means to fire-proof materials or to extinguish fires was vinegar (at that time sour vine). Alternatively, when sour wine was poured over hot rocks of limestone or marble in a siege, these rocks would disintegrate. Toxins of Chemical & Biological Warfare Chemical warfare = is the use of poisonous drinks and gases and incendiary materials like napalm or Greek fire.