# cyanide



## Jack of all trades (Nov 23, 2017)

Can anyone point me in the right direction for info on cyanide? Everything I'm finding is modern, but I'm looking for its use and detection in the late 1800s to early 1900s.

Thanks!!


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## moderan (Nov 23, 2017)

Here's a start -- apparently arsenic was the beauty contest winner, though. See also Crippen, Hawley. More stuff to help you through the laudanum forest.


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## Plasticweld (Nov 23, 2017)

Jack I used to use Cyanide in one of the business I owned to strip of old chrome so that the parts could be gold plated.  Cyanide is one of the few chemicals that can kill you or make you sick, but does  not stay in your system. If we ever felt overwhelmed, we could just step outside and get some fresh air.  It is also did not remain in your blood stream or body for long periods of time like some of the other chemicals we used.


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## Birb (Nov 23, 2017)

I feel bad because I knew this test, but I forgot the name. I know that somewhere around the 1800s-1900s detection methods using chemistry for cyanide were available, as around the early 1900s toxicology was beginning to become a thing and forensics was being born.

Alas, as I said, I forgot the name of the test, but if it'll be a good start there is a test where a sample of tissue which is believed to have been contaminated with cyanide is place into a solution that turns blue in the presence of the toxin. That's all I can remember, hope it helps.


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## Ralph Rotten (Nov 23, 2017)

In the 1800s cyanide was popular in some types of metal refining.  Back then there was no EPA so miners would dump it in rivers and fields.  Who cared if you poisoned a few Injuns back then, right?  

Not many industrial restrictions on the use of the stuff.


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## Jack of all trades (Nov 23, 2017)

Thanks, guys!!

I know I took the lazy way to research, but every link I clicked on was about cyanide now.

So it is quite within the realm of possibility to have a doctor in the 1880s or 1890s detect the use of cyanide in the death of a patient, right? There's the almond odor and pink tissues. Anything else? 

I need to find out if they performed autopsies back then, too.


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## Jack of all trades (Nov 23, 2017)

Plasticweld said:


> Jack I used to use Cyanide in one of the business I owned to strip of old chrome so that the parts could be gold plated.  Cyanide is one of the few chemicals that can kill you or make you sick, but does  not stay in your system. If we ever felt overwhelmed, we could just step outside and get some fresh air.  It is also did not remain in your blood stream or body for long periods of time like some of the other chemicals we used.



Ooh! Sounds like a business to be glad to be out of, at least with respect to the poisonous chemicals.


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## Jack of all trades (Nov 23, 2017)

Birb said:


> I feel bad because I knew this test, but I forgot the name. I know that somewhere around the 1800s-1900s detection methods using chemistry for cyanide were available, as around the early 1900s toxicology was beginning to become a thing and forensics was being born.
> 
> Alas, as I said, I forgot the name of the test, but if it'll be a good start there is a test where a sample of tissue which is believed to have been contaminated with cyanide is place into a solution that turns blue in the presence of the toxin. That's all I can remember, hope it helps.



Thanks for this. I'll poke around a bit more and see if I can find that name.


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## Jack of all trades (Nov 23, 2017)

moderan said:


> Here's a start -- apparently arsenic was the beauty contest winner, though. See also Crippen, Hawley. More stuff to help you through the laudanum forest.



Thanks. I think I want to stick with cyanide. It's just a quick reference, but I don't want it to be impossible.


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## Jack of all trades (Nov 23, 2017)

Ralph Rotten said:


> In the 1800s cyanide was popular in some types of metal refining.  Back then there was no EPA so miners would dump it in rivers and fields.  Who cared if you poisoned a few Injuns back then, right?
> 
> Not many industrial restrictions on the use of the stuff.



We haven't really advanced very far, unfortunately. Restrictions get put into place for one thing, so something else is used that also jeopardizes health and safety. It's a never ending battle.


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## Plasticweld (Nov 23, 2017)

Jack of all trades said:


> Ooh! Sounds like a business to be glad to be out of, at least with respect to the poisonous chemicals.



The EPA shut us down with new law changes.  One day we were compliant the next month we were not. When the sizes tanks were changed and how they were regulated for air quality.  It was going to cost $65,000 to up date and we did not have the money.  The government put us out of business.  It turned out to be a blessing in one way, but over the years it was the second time that we lost a business to changing government regulations.


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## JustRob (Nov 24, 2017)

Maybe searching for references to it using its older name, prussic acid, might be more successful. Perhaps that's also something to bear in mind if you're mentioning it in a period story. My searches for "prussic acid nineteenth century" got some potentially interesting hits.


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## Jack of all trades (Nov 24, 2017)

Plasticweld said:


> The EPA shut us down with new law changes.  One day we were compliant the next month we were not. When the sizes tanks were changed and how they were regulated for air quality.  It was going to cost $65,000 to up date and we did not have the money.  The government put us out of business.  It turned out to be a blessing in one way, but over the years it was the second time that we lost a business to changing government regulations.



Sorry for your loss. Hope it turned out for the best for all involved.


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## Jack of all trades (Nov 24, 2017)

JustRob said:


> Maybe searching for references to it using its older name, prussic acid, might be more successful. Perhaps that's also something to bear in mind if you're mentioning it in a period story. My searches for "prussic acid nineteenth century" got some potentially interesting hits.



Will give that a try. Thanks!


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