Leg tips by Bryan Lee
Tag: reference
cocktails…..
((I need suggestions for the name of drinks for a goofy Warhammer 40k story I intend to write, I’m using this account because it has a large audience… any suggestions?… they don’t need to sound too 40kish just normal enough to sound like something you would be served in a bar))
(I’m real bad at this)
– A Grand Marshall
– Baneshot
– White Vostroyan
– Hivespire
– Gold Glory
– Black Martyr
– Crusader’s Shot
– Mech’s SourImperial Fister
Sex in the warp
– Borderline Heresy
– Promethiumball
– Mechanicus Standard
– Nuln Oil (😬)
– Lahmian Medium (🙄)
– Fenrisian Ale
– Grox on the Rocks-The Emperor’s Tears
-Astartes Pattern Hangover
-Brain Melta
-Fires of Retribution
-Sanguine Angels
-Cadian Courage
The 6 Liechtenauer tradition lineages
“(…) There are basically six major groups of Liechtenauer manuals/masters:
- Ps-Doebringer (MS 3227a) stands out as being largely disconnected from all other surviving works–unique terminology, different conceptual understanding in places, and a distinct presentation of Liechtenauer’s verse.
- The Society of Liechtenauer, as listed by Paulus Kal, consists mostly of masters with a pretty direct connection to either Liechtenauer or to each other–their manuals tended to travel together, mixed and matched into a variety of anthologies in the 1400s. This group also includes Sigmund Ringeck, the only glossator of Liechtenauer’s verse who isn’t anonymous today, and Paulus Kal, the first major illustrator of Liechtenauer’s teachings. And with only half of the society firmly identified with known manuals, it’s entirely possible that many or even most of the anonymous manuscript fencing manuals originated with one or another of the unknown masters.
- The Nuremberg complex consists of a number of derivative works of a lost original, including Codex Wallerstein, one section of the Glasgow Fechtbuch, the sketches of Albrecht Durer, the writings of the Marxbruder Antonius Rast, and a few others. (Codex Wallerstein may actually be the original manual here, but if that’s the case it’s missing a lot of content that it once contained.) This seems to be associated with Nuremberg largely because of the Durer and Rast connections, but both were well-traveled men so that’s not certain–regardless of its city of origin, all of these manuals describe a coherent body of techniques with are not found in the same form elsewhere. These generally don’t show any direct connection to Liechtenauer’s work, but they are included a few different times alongside Liechtenauer’s direct teachings, so I assume that the compilers had some reason for doing so and follow suit.
- The Augsburg complex consists of a short treatise by Miralaus, the illustrated works of Joerg Wilhalm Hutter, the sketches of Gregor Erhart, and finally the compilation of Paulus Hector Mair. Mair also included Nuremberg content (and many other manuals) in his giant manuscripts, and it may be that the Nuremberg and Augsburg complexes actually originate from the same region and are merely different pieces of a single syllabus taught by the guilds of one or both cities.
- The Marxbrüder didn’t leave enough writings to discern what they were teaching, but they definitely possessed the teachings of Liechtenauer and jealously guarded their status as the premier fencing guild.
- The Freyfechter were responsible for most of the printed German manuals, including Paurenfeyndt (and the reprinting by Egenolff), Meyer, Sutor, Heussler, and Verolini. Meyer also produced the latest surviving manuscript anthology, mostly copied from Codex Lew but including a few treatises of unknown origin (and his own musings on how to adapt dussack fencing to the side sword).
Other than these, there are various lesser texts that sometimes contain a garbled fragment of the verse and sometimes not. The most elaborate of these is the Gladiatoria, but there are many others. Many of these may also have been written by members of the Society of Liechtenauer, but without names attached there is no way of knowing.
Now, if we’re talking about real technical differences and not differences of presentation, the waters get murkier. Within the unarmored longsword, there are basically six strands of teachings: ps-Doebringer’s gloss, Ringeck/ps-Danzig’s gloss (which mostly agrees with Kal’s illustrations), Martin Syber’s verse, the Nuremberg techniques, the Augsburg techniques, and the Freyfechter school (exemplified by Paurnfeyndt); Joachim Meyer and his followers made a strong attempt to unify Ringeck, Syber, and Paurnfeyndt into one system, but people seem to either love his work or hate it.
Sword and buckler I know less about, but it seems to boil down to the MS I.33 on one hand and Andre Liegniczer on the other (plus the brief treatments by Talhoffer and Kal, which are fairly similar to Liegniczer).
Messer I also know little about, but the dominant teaching is Lecküchner, and his material is repeated all over the place, as well as being cribbed in verse form by Peter Falkner and extremely abridged by Egenolff’s people. There are only a few other messer manuals, all of them very brief, until we get to Mair–and God only knows where he got those plays from.”
Michael Chidester (source)
Some notes on pocket knife grips and HEMA techniques
I’m in a new city where I can legally carry my CRKT, but socially it is pretty unacceptable. The little leather loop on the pocket clip is for deep carry in the juncture between my right thigh and groin. I clip it behind my belt, near a belt loop so it doesn’t cause my pants to sag in that spot, but that makes deployment difficult, so the loop is kind of like a pull tab that can be accessed quickly. On deployment, I’m mostly likely to use it as a palm stick, because a few good whacks with a 250gr knife, even closed, is good enough to get space to run. I know a lot of HEMA folks can’t carry defensive tools in their countries, but for anyone able to and thinking about a pocket knife, some points on grip for consideration:
1. Hammerfirst grip, point forward: pocket knives tend to lack guards, and under duress or if something slippery like blood gets introduced to the situation, you are likely to slip forward onto the blade. Nothing is bracing the grip. Has it’s uses, but I would not rely on this in self defense.
2. Saber grip: your thumb braces the grip, less likely to slip forward, but if someone can get a hand on your hand, you’ve trapped your own thumb, and they’re likely to break it by grabbing hard and jerking your hand around.
3. Icepick grip, edge forward: this is fine for bracing with the thumb, but note that the blade hinges forward. As you hook and pull or move with the knife, you’re placing stress on a liner lock that may or may not hold in a direction trying to close it. The Hissatsu here has a bar of metal that goes down between the frame and the liner lock, preventing it from doing that, but most conventional pocket knives do not. The last thing you’d want in a self defense scenario is to close your knife onto your own fingers.
4. Scythe grip: with the edge turned inwards, any hooking action presses opposite the direction of closing, keeping the knife open even during a liner lock failure. Also, any hook results in a slice to the opposing limb, any stab can be withdrawn with a rip. It’s good in tight, and with the thumb brace, unlikely to result in your hand slipping forward. The hooking and binding techniques from HEMA dagger can be used easily with this grip.
5. Using the loop: for added retention, the index finger can be inserted through the loop. In the event of a disarm, leave enough wiggle room to get your finger out or to yank the loop off the pocket clip. A note, however: if you have time in a self defense scenario to get your finger in the loop intentionally, no one is going to rule in your favor in the court proceedings. Self-defense means putting up with any insult and a few injuries to get away, where everyone is alive with the minimal in damage. Stupid games win stupid prizes, as the old saying goes.
What are some non verbal indications that someone is good with guns (any and all)? Like, how someone holds a gun, their stance, where their holster is, etc.
In most cases it’s easier to know when someone doesn’t know
what they’re doing. With that, there are enough that I wouldn’t pretend to be
able to create an exhaustive list. The big ones that will send anyone with
firearms training up the wall are trigger discipline and barrel control.Trigger discipline is about keeping your finger off the
trigger until you are ready to fire. It’s a really simple thing, and something everyone handling a gun should
practice. Hollywood hates it. Or at least, some directors in Hollywood
(apparently) think their actors should have their fingers on the trigger at all
times, “because it looks more dangerous.” Which, you know, it actually is.
Stupidly dangerous.Most people who know what they’re doing will rest their
index finger along the frame over the trigger. This isn’t the only way, some
will simply have their finger sticking out at an awkward angle (and a lot of
people will do that during reloads).Barrel control is keeping the firearm pointed in a safe
direction at all times. “Safe,” is a bit of a loaded term here, since, if your
goal is to use the gun on someone, you’re going to be pointing it at them.
Again, this is basic safety. This is a little more involved, because no matter
what you do, the gun will be pointed somewhere. The important part is
remembering that, and not pointing the gun at someone’s thigh when you’re not
using it.As with trigger discipline, this is an incredibly basic
element of gun safety, that a lot of people who don’t know what they’re doing
will easily miss.There are a lot of other potential tells, someone who drops
their magazines rather than retaining them, probably doesn’t know what they’re
doing. (This is the practice of discarding a partial or empty magazine when
reloading, instead of keeping it.) TV and film love presenting people dropping
mags, probably because it looks more dramatic, but it is a pretty good sign
that someone’s only education came from mass media.Concealment isn’t cover. This is one of the few that does
tend to separate trained shooters from untrained ones. In a shock to no one, bullets
pass through objects in their environment. Taking cover means far more than hiding
behind a car door or couch.So, concealment means you cannot see your opponent. Cover
means they’re hiding behind something that will take a bullet. Most of the
time, just because you can’t see someone, doesn’t mean you can’t shoot them.
Someone hides behind a wall in a home or office? Yeah, you can shoot straight
through that. Drywall, almost all furniture, most parts of a vehicle, most
garage doors… none of that will stop a pistol round. When you start dealing
with rifle rounds, even things like exterior walls start getting iffy. Trained
shooters will fire through concealment. Amateurs who learned how to shoot from
Call of Duty and reruns of old Arnold movies will try to take cover behind a
couch.Firing until you run dry. This is a little trickier because
trained shooters will do this on the range. No one’s shooting back, and you’re
going to immediately repack the mag anyway.
In the field though, emptying your magazine is a seriously dangerous
situation. Reload partials when you have the opportunity to, don’t wait for it
to run empty, and have a non-functional gun when you need it.The problem with all of this information is; it doesn’t
really answer your question. It tells you things to look for with someone who
doesn’t know what they’re doing. Not how to identify someone who really does.
This is because it’s far easier to identify things that an incompetent shooter
will do, rather than tells that are exclusive to someone who really knows what
they’re doing in contrast to someone who has a basic understanding of gun use.Some of these also aren’t easy to operationalize. For
example, with stance, There’s Weaver, Chapman, Center Axis Relock, Modern Isosceles, and many more. There isn’t
a, “correct,” or, “elite,” way to do choose one of these, and many experienced
shooters will tailor their stance to match the situation they’re in on the fly.
The exact way they do that, or if they choose something that isn’t a functional stance, like Gangster
Style (holding a handgun horizontally at arm’s length), can tell you about
their training and how comfortable they are with a gun, but it’s not something
you can easily explain in abstract. (At least not without going into all of the
pros and cons of the various stances, and spending a lot of time going through
all of the debate on the subject.) There’s also a lot of blending between some
of these stances, and “adapted,” “reverse,” or “modern” variants of them.It’s easy to distinguish someone who doesn’t know what they’re
doing from someone who’s had some basic training, but distinguishing between
someone who knows what they’re doing, and someone who is actually good with the
weapons can be tricky.I am sorry if that doesn’t really answer your question.
-Starke
The Knight, the Firefighter and the Infantryman
This interesting video created for an exhibition at the Swiss Military Museum at the Castle of Morges compares the mobility and flexibility of an armoured knight, a modern infantryman and a firefighter, from the Fribourg Fire Brigade, during an assault course run. The assault course is at one of the Swiss Army’s training centres, the Place d’Armes de Biere. The Infantryman is wearing modern Swiss military uniform and equipment including sidearm and SIG 550 rifle.
The load carried by the three men is similar but distributed differently. While not a strictly scientific test it does demonstrate how mobile a medieval knight could be if he was fit, which knights and men-at-arms invariably were. The armoured knight wearing 29kg of armour (slightly more than the firefighter and 2kg less than the modern infantryman) was able to come second of the three men. He was actually able to navigate the obstacles slightly better than the firefighter (because of the more equal weight distribution).
It would have been interesting to see how the knight would have coped carrying a weapon such as a sword or pole axe and a shield as both the infantryman and firefighter were carrying their equipment. The end of the video also included some interesting data including heart rates and blood levels.
The video goes a long way to help dispel the myth that the medieval armoured knight was an inflexible, immobile warrior who once unhorsed was defenceless.
If you enjoy the content please consider supporting Historical Firearms through Patreon!
As fantastic and brilliant as this is, watching the Knight run through all I could hear was this.
Google has built a stunning, searchable archive of 3,000 years of world fashion
“We Wear Culture” is a collaboration between Google and more than 180 museums, schools, fashion institutions, and other organizations from all parts of the globe. It’s part of Google’s Arts & Culture platform, which is digitizing the world’s cultural treasures, and functions as a searchable guide to a collective archive of some 30,000 fashion pieces that puts “three millennia of fashion at your fingertips,” Google says.
But it isn’t just a database. Google has worked with curators to create more than 450 exhibits on different topics—say, how the cheongsam changed the way Chinese women dress—making the site an endlessly entertaining, educational portal filled with stunning imagery touching on everything from modern Japanese streetwear to the clothes worn at the court of Versailles.
i can already tell this has made writing for historical fandoms – the worst part of which, for me, is absofuckinglutely hands-down the clothing – much easier.
OMG, TAG YOUR PORN
Gahooogy hooooo
Google has built a stunning, searchable archive of 3,000 years of world fashion
A Warhammer 40,000 Lore Update
It seems as though a lot of folks, while having a vague idea of what’s going on, aren’t actually aware of the details regarding the momentous events currently occurring in Warhammer 40,000 lore. In order to rectify that I thought I’d provide a brief primer in order to prepare everyone for the arrival of eighth edition. However, I would still urge folks to read about these events at the source.
Let’s begin.
The 13th Black Crusade: At the close of the 41st millennium a disease known as the Plague of Unbelief sweeps across the sectors bordering the Eye of Terror, crippling the Imperium’s defences. It is followed by the massed invasion of the forces of Chaos, striking from the Eye itself – the Imperium Navy suffers two crippling defeats at the Frenerax Dust Cloud and Ormantep, allowing the Archenemy to strike with near-impunity. Death Guard forces ravage the Agripinaa sector, while the
Emperor’s Children butcher the world of Belisar, warbands of Night Lords attack the Scarus Sector and the Violators “liberate” the prison world of Saint Josmane’s Hope. Cells of Alpha Legion reveal themselves across Segmentum Obscurus, badly delaying Space Marine reinforcements in protracted struggles. Even the homeworld of the Iron Hands comes under assault, initiating the largest armoured clash since the battle of Tallarn. With the surrounding sectors engage in total war, Abaddon’s main thrust breaks the Imperial Navy’s presence in the Cadian system after three days of fighting, and invades Cadia itself.
The initial Chaos invasion is held long enough for a massed sector-wide counter-attack by the Imperial Navy, which successfully breaks the Chaos blockades of many Imperial worlds. This coinsides with the arrival of the full might of the Imperium – Space Marine Chapters, Titan Legions, the Inquisition, the Adepta Sororitas, among others. Just as it seems as though the tide will be stemmed, rituals conducted by the Word Bearers cause warp storms to flare across the regions around the Eye, cutting off much of the reinforcements and opening the way for Abaddon’s final ground assault on Cadia.
The attack coincides with the arrival of a number of factions – the Necron Lord Trazyn the Infiniate, ancient Adeptus Mechanicus master Belisarius Cawl, and the Imperial Fist’s mobile fortress monestery Phalanx. Also bolstered by Saint Celestine and Inquisitor Greyfax, the Imperial forces weather Abaddon’s attacks. Cawl and Trazyn agree to work together to maintain the Cadian pylons, which Abaddon is seeking to destroy in order to cause the spread of the Eye’s warp storms.
Abaddon’s last attack is met by the surviving Imperial forces. Abaddon himself is forced to teleport to safety after being wounded by Saint Celestine. However he directs fragments of the broken warship Vengeful Spirit be used to bombard Cadia. As the planet starts to shatter and the pylons fail the Imperial forces evacuate the system, led by the Phalanx. The reach the world of Kalisus, pursued by the forces of Chaos, where the eldar lead by Eldrad Ulthran guide them to a webway portal.
The Fracture of Biel-tan: As these events unfolded a Biel-tan native, Yvraine, became an emissary of the eldar god of death, Ynnead, and introduced a plan to birth the god without the need to sacrifice the entirety of the eldar. However, Biel-Tan was subjected to a daemonic invasion led by Skarbrand and the Masque of Slaanesh. The Masque was able to invade Biel-Tan’s Infinity Circuit and began destroying the souls within. Yvraine revealed that in order to resurrect Ynnead and purge the Masque from Biel-tan she required an Avatar of the god as well as the ancient eldar Crone Swords. In order to give birth to Yncarne, Yvraine conducted a ritual in Biel-tan’s Infinity Circuit that cost countless Eldar souls. However, while shattered, Biel-tan endured and remains united on the path to resurrect Ynnead.
The Ultramar Campaign: Following victory at Cadia, Abaddon received a disturbing prophecy from his sorcerers, and dispatched a force to attack the Ultramar sector. The Imperial evacuees from Cadia emerged from the eldar webway to find Macragge and its surrounds assailed by the Archenemy. Cawl was able to convince Marneus Calgar that he had the ability to resurrect their Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, in time to resist the rising Chaos assaults. With a specially made suit of power armour and the resurrecting abilities of Yvraine, they are able to bring Guilliman back to consciousness. His counter-attack shatters the Chaos forces invading Ultramar. Briefed on the situation, Guilliman declares his intention to journey to ancient Terra to stand before the Emperor, and launches the Terran Crusade.
The Terran Crusade: Guilliman forges a grand army of the Imperium and begins his journey to Terra, unifying the embattled Ultima Segmentum on the way. With Cadia having fallen vast swaths of the Imperium are now best by Chaos. Even worse, Guilliman’s resurrection causes an escalation of the Great Game being played out in the immaterium, which in turn creates a huge warp fissure spread across the length of the galaxy. Known as the Great Rift or the
Cicatrix Maledictum, it has all-but cut off half of the galaxy. Mortarion, Magnus and Fulgrim are also aware of their brother’s return.
Over seven months Guilliman’s crusade battle their way to the Segmentum Solar, but on the way become embroiled in fighting in the Maelstrom. A ritual by Magnus the Red drags the Imperial fleet into an ambush by the Red Corsairs, who have been gifted a Blackstone Fortress by Abaddon. After repeated attacks while the Imperials attempt to navigate the Maelstrom, Kairos Faitweaver succeeds in capturing Guilliman, forcing the rest of the crusade to surrender. The Imperials are moved to the Blackstone Fortress.
Onboard the Chaos vessel a battle erupts between disagreeing Khronate and Tzeentch factions, allowing Cypher and the Fallen to reveal their true allegances and free the Imperial prisoners. Accompanied by the eldar Sylandri Veilwalker they successfully escape through a webway portal, their retreat covered by the sudden appearance of the Legion of the Damned. Guilliman duels the mighty Bloodthirster Skarbrand and, with the aid of Black Templar Marshall Amalrich, banishes it.
Inside the Webway, the Imperials and their eldar allies come under renewed Chaos Assault, this time from Magnus’ Thousand Sons who had foreseen their escape. Guilliman deduces that Magnus wants the Eldar to open up the Webway Gate to Terra in order to allow his Thousand Sons to exploit the breach and invade the planet. Not wishing to play along with Magnus’ scheme, Guilliman and Veilwalker instead move for the Webway Portal to Luna.
Guilliman and the others arrive in the craters on Luna’s surface. However before Veilwalker can seal the gate the Thousand Sons burst through, this time accompanied by Magnus himself. A vicious battle erupts as the Imperials and eldar attempt to stop Magnus from capturing Terra’s moon. Brothers once more engage in a fateful duel as Guilliman battles Magnus. The Daemon Primarch’s psychic powers overwhelm Guilliman, but before he can be defeated Battlefleet Solar, Imperial Fists, Sisters of Silence, and the Adeptus Custodes arrive from Terra. The Thousand Sons are now being pushed back, and the null-field created by the Silent Sisters negates some of Magnus’ powers. This allows Guilliman to drive his sword through the Daemon Primarch’s back. Magnus is forced back through the Webway Portal as Veilwalker closes the gate. With the gate closed the rest of the Thousand Sons, as well as the Eldar, simply vanish.
The Throne Room: With the battle over, Guilliman and his forces land at the Imperial Palace. The Primarch confronts Shield-Captain Adronitus and orders that he is allowed entry past the Eternity Gate so he may confer with the Emperor himself. Hesitantly Adronitus agrees, on the condition that Guilliman enter the chamber alone. As Guilliman enters the Emperor’s throne room, the Custodes arrest Cypher and his Fallen.
A day later, Guilliman steps out from the Eternity Gate. What transpired before the Golden Throne is not known. However he gathers all of the High Lords of Terra and declares himself the new Lord Commander of the Imperium. The Primarch declares that dark days are ahead, and he will reorganize the Imperium and its fighting forces in order to confront it and ensure humanity’s survival.
The Primaris: Having taken stock, Guilliman declares the Indomitus Crusade, a great campaign to drive back the forces of Chaos and reseal the Eye of Terror and the Great Rift. He also meets once more with Cawl and authorises the final stages of a plan set in motion ten thousand years earlier, which will see the deployment of the next stage of the Emperor’s great project – the Primaris Marines. These new warriors – and the ability to gene-forge them – will be disseminated to Imperial forces across the galaxy. The Ultima Founding, the next, great founding of Space Marine Chapters, is authorised.
The Indomitus Crusade begins…
Bernice King, the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King and Coretta King, posted this on her Facebook page.
Reblog this to save several million lives.
I upset myself because I didn’t realize that Dr King was so recent that his daughter is still alive, and using facebook.
A handy list of poisons for writing reference, provided to you by me, Bella
Poisoning is one of the oldest murder tactics in the books. It was the old equalizer, and while it’s often associated with women, historically men are no less likely to poison you. This is not a guide on how to poison people, you banana bunches, it’s a guide on writing about poisons in fiction so you don’t end up on a watch list while researching them. I’ve taken that hit for you. You’re welcome. These are just a few of the more classic ones.
- Hemlock: Hemlock (conium maculatum) is one of the more famous ones, used in ancient times most notably in Socrates’ forced suicide execution. So it goes. The plant has bunches of small, white flowers, and can grow up to ten feet tall. It’s a rather panicky way to die, although it wouldn’t show: hemlock is a paralytic, so the cause of death is most often asphyxiation due to respiratory paralysis, although the mind remains unaffected and aware.
- Belladonna: Atropa belladonna is also called deadly nightshade. It has pretty, trumpet-shaped purple flowers and dark, shiny berries that actually look really delicious which is ironic since it’s the most toxic part of the plant. The entire plant is poisonous, mind you, but the berries are the most. One of the most potent poisons in its hemisphere, it was used as a beauty treatment, so the story says, and rubbed into the eyes to make the eyes dilate and the cheeks flush. Hench the name beautiful lady. The death is more lethargic than hemlock, although its symptoms are worse: dilated pupils, sensitivity to light, blurred vision, tachycardia, loss of balance, staggering, headache, rash, flushing, severely dry mouth and throat, slurred speech, urinary retention, constipation, confusion, hallucinations, delirium, and convulsions. It’s toxic to animals, but cattle and rabbits can eat it just fine, for some reason.
- Arsenic: Arsenic comes from a metalloid and not a plant, unlike the others here, but it’s easily the most famous and is still used today. Instead of being distilled from a plant, chunks of arsenic are dug up or mined. It was once used as a treatment for STDs, and also for pest control and blacksmithing, which was how many poisoners got access to it. It was popular in the middle ages because it looked like a cholera death, due to acute symptoms including stomach cramps, diarrhea, confusion, convulsions, vomiting, and death. Slow poisoning looked more like a heart attack. The Italians famously claimed that a little arsenic improved the taste of wine.
- Strychnine: Strychnine (strick-nine) is made from the seed of strychnos nux vomica and causes poisoning which results in muscular convulsions and eventually death through asphyxia. Convulsions appear after inhalation or injection—very quickly, within minutes—and take somewhat longer to manifest after ingestion, around approximately 15 minutes. With a very high dose, brain death can occur in 15 to 30 minutes. If a lower dose is ingested, other symptoms begin to develop, including seizures, cramping, stiffness, hypervigilance, and agitation. Seizures caused by strychnine poisoning can start as early as 15 minutes after exposure and last 12 – 24 hours. They are often triggered by sights, sounds, or touch and can cause other adverse symptoms, including overheating, kidney failure, metabolic and respiratory acidosis. During seizures, abnormal dilation, protrusion of the eyes, and involuntary eye movements may occur. It is also slightly hallucinogenic and is sometimes used to cut narcotics. It also notably has no antidote. In low doses, some use it as a performance enhancer.
- Curare: Chondrodendron tomentosum is lesser known than its famous cousins, but kills in a very similar way to hemlock. It is slow and terrible, as the victim is aware and the heart may beat for many minutes after the rest of the body is paralyzed. If artificial respiration is given until the poison subsides, the victim will survive.
- Wolfsbane: Aconitum has several names; Monkshood, aconite, Queen of Poisons, women’s bane, devil’s helmet) and is a pretty, purple plant with gourd-shaped flowers. The root is the most potent for distillation. Marked symptoms may appear almost immediately, usually not later than one hour, and with large doses death is near instantaneous. Death usually occurs within two to six hours in fatal poisoning. The initial signs are gastrointestinal including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. This is followed by a sensation of burning, tingling, and numbness in the mouth and face, and of burning in the abdomen. In severe poisonings pronounced motor weakness occurs and sensations of tingling and numbness spread to the limbs. The plant should be handled with gloves, as the poison can seep into the skin.
- Foxglove: Digitalis is large with trumpet-shaped flowers that can be many colors, but usually a pinkish shade. It may have from the term foxes-glew, which translated to fairy music. Intoxication causes nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, as well as sometimes resulting in xanthopsia (jaundiced or yellow vision) and the appearance of blurred outlines (halos), drooling, abnormal heart rate, cardiac arrhythmias, weakness, collapse, dilated pupils, tremors, seizures, and even death. Slowed heartbeat also occurs. Because a frequent side effect of digitalis is reduction of appetite and the mortality rate is low, some individuals have used the drug as a weight-loss aid. It looks a bit like comfrey, which is an aid for inflammation. Make sure not to confuse the two.
Aliquid de Magis 