Death lamps

The role of arsenic in ancient warfare was ingenious. It was cited as an ingredient of the devilish incendiary material used by Marcus Graccus to burn the Roman naval fleet (1, p 438). Early Chinese alchemical texts recommended arsenic sulfides for making toxic smoke bombs or holy smokes for mass poisoning of soldiers—one of the earliest references to chemical warfare. Death lamps in which oil and wax impregnated with arsenic were burned to poison victims slowly presumably owe their roots to the holy smokes of ancient Chinese (27). 

On February 24, 1829, Berzelius wrote to Eilhard Mitscherlich, "Wollaston s death grieves me. His specifications for making platina pliable were circulated at the same time as the news of his death. As I got iridium to cohere in an analogous manner, I was struck all the more by his simple method, went out into the laboratory, where I had a wet filter with platina on it, partly washed, which I pressed in a vice, dried, and ignited over a spirit lamp in a small platina crucible, and got it so coherent that it could no longer be broken with the fingers and could easily be cold-hammered. That s as far as I have yet gone. That was ten minutes work, then I had to let it wait for a better time (83). 

Tungsten lamps Densest element, EM stain Cis-platin anticancer drug Auranofin Therapy for rheumatoid arthritis The Mad Hatter Pawterwine cups -Decline and fell of the Roman Empire Death by alpha patide emission ... 

Acetylene is both very flammable and explosive. Anyone who works with the compound or uses it in any form should know how to use the device that contains the gas. Acetylene also has the somewhat unusual chemical property of reacting with certain metals, such as copper and silver, to form highly explosive compounds known as acetylides. Lamps, torches, and other devices built to hold and dispense acetylene can not contain any of these metals. High concentrations of the gas also pose a health hazard to humans. It is classified as an asphyxiant, a gas that can produce disorientation, unconsciousness, and death when inhaled to excess. 

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