Philip Wexler - History of Toxicology and Environmental Health: Toxicology in Antiquity Volume I: 1

1. Figures in Chapter 1
2. Figures in Chapter 2
3. Figures in Chapter 4
4. Figures in Chapter 10

Philip Wexler

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DedicationFor Nancy, Yetty, Will, Jake, and Lola

With appreciation to the Toxicology History Association and the scholarly contributors to this series

Many thanks, as well, to Elsevier, in particular Molly McLaughlin, for expertly navigating us through the publication terrain.

Adrienne Mayor , Research scholar, Classics Department and History and Philosophy of Science and Technology Program, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

Alain Touwaide , Institute for the Preservation of Medical Traditions and Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA

Benny Pfanz, BSc , Faculty of Geosciences, Ruhr-University, Bochum, Germany

W. Benson Harer

Former Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, California, USA

Former Adjunct Professor of Egyptian Art at California State University, San Bernardino, California, USA

Francesco DAndria

Prof. Dr., University of Salento, Italy

Department of Cultural Heritage, Director of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Hierapolis of Phrygia, Turkey

Francois Retief , Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Greek, Latin and Classical Studies, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa

Galip Yce , Professor, Hacettepe University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Geological Engineering, Hydrogeology Division, Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey

George Androutsos , Professor and Chairman, History of Medicine Department, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian, University of Athens, Athens, Greece

George Papatheodorou , Prof. Dr., Laboratory of Marine Geology and Physical Oceanography, University of Patras, Patras, Greece

Gonzalo M. Sanchez , (Retired from) Avera Medical Group, Pierre, South Dakota, USA

Gregory Tsoucalas , Faculty of Medicine, History of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece

Hardy Pfanz , Prof. Dr., Chair of Applied Botany, Director of Botanic Gardens, University of Duisburg-Essen, Campus Essen, Essen, Germany

Jelle Zeilinga de Boer , Harold T. Stearns Professor of Earth Science, Emeritus, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, USA

Louise Cilliers , Honorary Research Fellow, Department of Greek, Latin and Classical Studies, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa

Marianna Karamanou , Scientific Collaborator, History of Medicine Department, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

Markos Sgantzos , Faculty of Medicine, History of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece

Okan Arihan , Faculty of Medicine, Department of Physiology, Yuzuncu Yil University, Turkey

Seda Karaoz Arihan , Faculty of Letters, Department of Anthropology, Yuzuncu Yil University, Turkey

Walter DAlessandro , Dr., Instituto di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Palermo, Palermo, Italy

Yiannis Manetas , Prof. Dr., Laboratory of Plant Physiology, Department of Biology, University of Patras, Patras, Greece

John Duffus

The Edinburgh Centre for Toxicology

Henry Ford was famously contemptuous of history. He is on record as saying, History is more or less bunk. Its tradition. We dont want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinkers damn is the history we make today. Personally I prefer George Santayanas view: [W]hen experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. But how relevant is historical toxicology? What can we modern toxicologists (and our regulatory authorities) learn from the past? One important lesson is that toxicity can affect people anywhere, in any society, at any level, and for many years, without anyone being aware of it. Toxic effects on the brain may be responsible for misjudgments by political leaders that can have disastrous consequences. Toxicity may have caused the fall of empires. Jerome Nriagu . There is clearly still much scope for further research in this area.

Another empire that may have suffered the consequences of toxicity at the highest level is that of China. It seems possible that the latter days and decisions of the Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang may have been adversely affected by exposure to mercury. According to the historian Sima Qian, this emperor was buried in a mausoleum with 100 rivers of flowing mercury in addition to his now famous terra cotta army. Reportedly, Qin Shi Huang died as a result of ingesting mercury pills, prescribed by his alchemists and court physicians in order to make him immortal .