The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
by Deborah Blum
In "The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York," Deborah Blum explores the emergence of forensic science during the tumultuous period of Prohibition, highlighting the intersection of public health, criminal justice, and societal change. Central themes include the dark realities of chemical exposure, as illustrated by the tragic fates of workers exposed to toxic substances, and the negligence surrounding death investigations, where causes were often misdiagnosed or dismissed altogether. Blum emphasizes the chilling nature of calculated poisonings, contrasting the premeditated actions of murderers with those of more impulsive killers. The book also critiques the complicity of governmental and corporate entities in perpetuating public health crises, as seen in the indifference of chemical companies to the dangers their products posed to consumers. The narrative reflects a society grappling with the consequences of alcohol consumption and the failures of the legal system to address these issues effectively. Figures like Alexander Gettler emerge as pioneers in toxicology, advocating for the rigorous investigation of deaths and the importance of understanding poisons, such as wood alcohol, which claimed countless lives. Ultimately, "The Poisoner's Handbook" serves as a poignant reminder of the fragility of human life amid industrial indifference and the desperate need for accountability and scientific rigor in the quest for justice and public safety.
12 popular highlights from this book
Key Insights & Memorable Quotes
Below are the most popular and impactful highlights and quotes from The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York:
In Washington, D.C., where the Volstead Act—which provided for enforcement of the Eighteenth Amendment—had been militantly approved, the police reported nearly a ten-fold increase in drunk driving arrests since the legislation was enacted.
In a best-selling book, 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs (reprinted nine times by 1935), a pair of consumer-advocate authors complained that American citizens had become test animals for chemical industries that were indifferent to their customers' well-being. The government, they added bitterly, was complicit.
In his examination of the young dial painters, he’d discovered a fact that was impossible to dismiss. The women were exhaling radon gas.
...death certificates were filled out with no effort at determining cause. Among the entries were 'could be suicide or murder,' and 'either assault of diabetes.' In one instance, a coroner had attributed a death to 'diabetes, tuberculosis, or nervous indigestion.' A few death certificates simply read 'act of God.
Standard Oil issued a cool response: “These men probably went insane because they worked too hard,” according to the building manager. And those who didn’t survive had merely worked themselves to death. Other than that, the company didn’t see a problem.
The name explains the structure: carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen bond into a ring-shaped structure called a cresol (also found in creosote), and phosphorus hangs on to the ring like an exhausted swimmer gripping a life preserver.
Nicotine had been isolated and synthesized in the nineteenth century. In pure form, it took an ounce at most to kill the average adult.
There was the Bennett Cocktail (gin, lime juice, bitters), the Bee’s Knees (gin, honey, lemon juice), the Gin Fizz (gin, lemon juice, sugar, seltzer water), and the Southside (lemon juice, sugar syrup, mint leaves, gin, seltzer water).
That same January the city government had released a report declaring that thanks to ill-informed, corrupt, and occasionally drunken coroners, murderers in New York were escaping justice in record numbers.
I see poisoners—so calculating, so cold-blooded—as most like the villains of our horror stories. They’re closer to that lurking monster in the closet than some drug-impaired crazy with a gun. I don’t mean to dismiss the latter—both can achieve the same awful results. But the scarier killer is the one who thoughtfully plans his murder ahead, tricks a friend, wife, lover into swallowing something that will dissolve tissue, blister skin, twist the muscles with convulsions, knows all that will happen and does it anyway.
During the previous summer U.S. public health workers had accidentally killed four sailors, on two different foreign vessels, by fumigating against possible plague-carrying rats.
From almost every standpoint ethyl alcohol must be regarded as the most important poison with which medical men and jurists have to deal,” Gettler wrote in a paper, listing a seemingly endless record of fatalities. “No other poison causes so many deaths or leads to or intensifies so many diseases, both physical and mental, as does [this] alcohol in the many forms in which it is taken.
