The Elements of Murder
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loginAn earlier book of mine The Shocking History of Phosphorus (published asThe Thirteenth Element in the USA) dealt with the way that that dangerouselement had impinged on human beings over the centuries. There werechapters on its environmental impact, together with those on its uses,misuses, and abuses in everyday life – not least by murderers. These chap-ters provided most of the human interest stories and it was this that led meto think about other dark elements and The Elements of Murder is theresult. Just as with phosphorus, the story of the dangerously toxic elementsbegan in the days of alchemy when for hundreds of years they were usedin vain attempts to discover a way of creating unlimited wealth via thePhilosopher’s Stone, or securing health and longevity via the Elixir of Life.Of course both searches failed but along the way these alchemical experi-ments poisoned famous scientists and even killed a king, as we shalldiscover.
