Is Arsenic an Aphrodisiac?
The Sociochemistry of an Element
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Sex, drugs, rocks, gold, murder, war, mass poisonings, the deaths of Napoleon, Tchaikovsky Mozart, and others are all linked by one element - arsenic! Arsenic has been around since the beginning of time and the word has become a metaphor for poison with associated shock value. The general public are fearful of any possible exposure to it and yet it holds a certain dark and eerie fascination! Up until now, there has been no book that covers arsenic with such breadth. This book is a general appreciation of how much the element, arsenic, has become part of our lives in an entertaining style cover...
Sex, drugs, rocks, gold, murder, war, mass poisonings, the deaths of Napoleon, Tchaikovsky Mozart, and others are all linked by one element - arsenic! Arsenic has been around since the beginning of time and the word has become a metaphor for poison with associated shock value. The general public are fearful of any possible exposure to it and yet it holds a certain dark and eerie fascination! Up until now, there has been no book that covers arsenic with such breadth. This book is a general appreciation of how much the element, arsenic, has become part of our lives in an entertaining style covering the years 1000 BC to the present day. The coverage of the chemistry, toxicology, and medicinal aspects is deliberately kept at a level for the general reader to understand. It covers the way in which this ubiquitous element and its compounds have influenced the lives of the people of the world. This relationship has gone through many stages from Chinese medicine to the beginning of chemotherapy with salvarsan - Ehrlich's cure for syphilis; from homicidal poison, arsenic trioxide; to herbicide, lead arsenate; to chemical warfare agent, Lewisite; from environmental scrounge, arsenic in the ground water of millions of people; and back to useful medicine, Trisenox for leukaemia. Other chapters cover a variety of topics including: -A proposed connection between arsenic and Cot Death (SIDS) which caused panic -The high concentration of arsenic in kelp products-is this harmful? -What about the 237,000 tonnes of arsenic trioxide stored in a mine in Canada? -How toxic is arsenic anyway, and how do you assess the risks of exposure? -How did Napoleon die? These and many other topics are addressed at a level that will result in understanding without delving into too much technical detail or requiring a degree in chemistry. Essential reading for everyone with a general interest in science, this illuminating text covers a broad range of topics.
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