Inside the walls of Beijing ’s Forbidden City in 1908 , a nefarious plot was afoot . Although history would never know whether the poisonous substance was stirred into a unsubdivided roll of yogurt or sprinkle onto a succulent bit of fruit , the result was the same : Guangxu , second - to - last emperor moth of the Qing dynasty , ingested a deadly dose of arsenic . By morning , cries of " The emperor is dead ! " rang throughout the castle .
Guangxu ’s official demise certificate would read " rude causes . " It had been issued by the imperial regime of his aunt , Empress Dowager Cixi , the same ruler rumored to have toss off him .
In 2008 , a chemical psychoanalysis of tomentum taken from Guangxu ’s exhumed stiff break arsenic levels 2,400 times high than what ’s normally present in a human consistence . More than 100 years after his death , this was substantiation Guangxu had been murdered , and he took his spot among the many rulers and prominent historical figure who vanish afoul of arsenic ’s fatal qualities .
" Arsenic is a course occurring element establish in many regions around the world , and its foresightful history of use in medications and pesticide made it pronto useable , " tell Stephen Richey , a former deputy medical examiner and survivability researcher . " Also , arsenic toxic condition tends to award with symptoms that are — if one is not suspect a intoxication — quite easily mistaken for born diseases such as cholera , malaria or gastroenteritis . "
Although the ancient Egyptians mined arsenic chemical compound , it was n’t until 1240 thatarsenic was identified as an elementby German alchemist Albertus Magnus . Since that clip , thenaturally fall out mineralhas been used in pesticides and chemotherapy , and feel in everything from cosmetic to timber .
Odorless and tasteless , for centuries , arsenic was the darling of conspirators , earning its title as " business leader of toxicant " by the 15th one C . During the Italian Renaissance , Cesare Borgia , a member of the high - profile Borgia family , was believed to have used arsenic to poison twelve of people to further his political career .
In fact , arsenic became so pop with Italian politicos that it was an officially recognized method of assassination in the country . By the sixteenth century , there was an Italian branch of government that contracted the service of professional poisoners – many of whom used arsenic .
Arsenic also was wide used as a tool of political and fiscal gain in France . Marie - Madeleine - Marguerite d’Aubray drop most of the second one-half of the 17th one C murdering members of her family for their money and land . venomous compounds , of which arsenic trioxide was a principal ingredient , became so common in France that in 1682 King Louis XIV rule the government would kill anyone enamor supply it .
By the 1800s , the consumption of arsenic was so widespread that it had earned another nickname : " inheritance pulverisation . " This sobriquet was the result of arsenic ’s popularity with masses who stood to inherit money , property or other valuable .
As a bonus ( at least to those who used arsenic to kill others ) , it was moot undetectable until the development of the Marsh Test in 1836 .
Four years to begin with , a human had been arrested for poisoning his grandfather ’s burnt umber and pill pusher James Marsh was able-bodied to confirm the bearing of arsenic in a laboratory test . By the clock time the case when to trial , however , the substantiation had deteriorated . angered , Marsh then devised a more stable examination method — the Marsh Test — that became the herald of modern forensic toxicology .
