[Jean Henri Chandler]

well, it sure seems like poisoned weapons weren't so impossible after all.

There seems to be a lot of claims of and references to the use of poisoned bullets / musket balls too, right up to the American Civil War.

[Ryan S.]

[Ryan S.]

A little bit more from Lewin:

In the section on Asian poisons, he discusses the Scythian poison, he says that there is a kern of truth in it. Furthermore, in sections about other people groups, he expands on the idea of poisons being made from rotten flesh. Most of the examples involve reptiles, and it doesn’t seem to be the widest spread form of poison. However, one can make poison from carcasses. He also mentions mixed poisons and says the belief that mixing poisons makes them stronger was widespread, and not always unfounded. I am not sure if his thinking is in line with the current scientific knowledge, because I know that opinion has changed in regard to poisons in rotten food causing food poisoning. That could explain the difference of understanding of Scythian poison in Mayor's book. Noticeably, Mayor points out in a footnote that her expert says if the venom wasn't processed separately, then it would have been rendered impotent. Anyway, some Indian groups also made poison by rotting flesh in a dung pile.

Also of note, is the in the introduction where Lewin mentions cases of people murdering others with poisoned needles. He also talks about poisons that didn’t so much kill as disable an opponent and states that they were used when more deadly poisons weren’t available, but often more deadly poisons were. (This seems to have been the case in Europe)

Some commentary:

It sometimes seems that Lewin contradicts himself, and it is possible I have misunderstood him. For example: he says that only snake poison is edible, but then later says that aconite doesn’t do harm in the stomach. Since I know that aconite does do harm when eaten, then I must assume he means that one can eat meat that is poisoned with aconite (presumably only after cooking it, but he doesn't mention that.) I think one can safely assume that most plant poisons used as arrow poisons were broken down by cooking at high temperatures.

As far as how fast poisons work, he only provides a rough idea. Depending on the dose, it seems that aconite can kill either in under 30 minutes or the next day. However, the poisoned person would be unable to fight long before then. To know how much advantage this would give, one would have to know how effective similar unpoisoned arrows are.

As far as the source or the economics of European arrow poisons, Lewin doesn't say much, except mentioning that hellebore was gathered. It seems that for the post part these poison plants were gathered in the wild and not cultivated and sourced locally. That offers a tempting explanation for geographic differences in use. It also suggests that if used in war, poison might run out. I have read in a German encyclopedia that Charlemagne tried to have christmas roses in court gardens cultivated, but failed. If the failure was administrative or if it was hard to grow christmas roses back then, I can’t say. The purpose was as medicine and not arrow poison.

Legally Lewin offers more information, it seems that sometimes poisoned weapons were handled legally as separate from poison, but that they would have also been covered by blanket bans on poison. It seems also that poison weapons were banned under penalty of death in the Holy Roman Empire, and were regulated in France (there was a general ban on poison in France, that may have also effected poison weapons for hunting).

I think it is hard to determine to if these historical records are just what was recorded of a widespread use of poison arrows or if they are noteworthy exceptions, especially as many of the sources could be called into question.

[Ryan S.]

I read some more about poison swords in Lewin. He lists Beowulfs sword as being poisoned, but other translations say it is cursed. Also I read about the use of lemon juice in Menado on swords. It is supposed to make the wounds heal slower. Lewin also mentions kris daggers. So I looked for other sources, and found on wikipedia that a “poison” was introduced to the blade during forging. Wikipedia isn’t clear, but it mentions arsenic, and specifically citrus juices. Putting the two together, it seems that at least some weapons said to be poisoned were not in fact poisoned, but treated with an acidic juice.