At The European Conservative, Dr. Dalrymple summarizes the history of arsenic as the poisoners’ favorite choice over the past two centuries.

My point is this: I am far from claiming that the history of arsenic in the 19th century is the most important subject to which a man may bend his mind, there being millions of others just as important and just as fascinating. There is, therefore, no reason or excuse to be bored in this world: boredom, of course, being an even greater cause of social pathology than arsenic.