Hippocrates, lead poisoning

Basic toxicity has been identified from careful observation and experimentation in the workplace and in the lab. Over the years, from the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans, and probably long before that, we have learned that exposure to certain substances can cause bodily harm. Hippocrates, the founder of medicine in Ancient Greece, described the occurrence of lead poisoning among lead miners and metal workers as long ago as 400 B.C. The Roman historian, Pliny, described in his encyclopedia in the second half of the first century A.D., the dangers of mercury poison-... 

The metal lead has been used for more than 2,000 years and has been associated with poisoning for much of that time. The ancient peoples who used it were aware of at least some of the symptoms of lead poisoning, for example in 300 bc Hippocrates described a case of lead poisoning. It has been responsible for poisoning in many different ways, including contamination of the human environment, which is probably the most important current source of exposure. 

Mineral poisons were also well known in the ancient world. In particular, the ores and compounds of arsenic, antimony, copper, mercury, and lead were familiar to many cultures. Pseudo-Dioscorides detailed the poisonous effects of arsenic (meaning sometimes the sulfide, sometimes the white oxide), litharge (red lead or lead oxide), cinnabar (mercuric sulfide), and white lead (lead acetate). Hippocrates, Nicander, Dioscorides, Galen, and Paul of Aegina wrote clinical accounts of lead poisoning, of which there were occasional epidemics, and miners were known to be at risk from the fumes created by smelting processes. 

Together with reports of the use of lead are descriptions of its toxic side-effects. These were known to ancient physicians, and the first report is ascribed to Hippocrates (370 BC) who noted symptoms of a metal colic in a metal worker (Jones and Withington, 1923-1931). However, there is no reason to believe that this colic was due to lead, so that this supposition is based more on recent tradition than fact (for a discussion of the issues involved, see Waldron, 1973). The first accurate account of lead poisoning is probably that in the Therica and Alexipharmaca (i, 600) of Nicander (2nd century BC), who described symptoms of poisoning by ceruse (white lead) as constriction of the palate and gums, asperity of the tongue, hiccups, a dry cough, nausea, heaviness of the head, unnatural vision and torpor (Major, 1965). 

Greco-Roman era to ca. 200 CE Acute abdominal distress, vomiting, muscle pain, paralysis, hallucination death in extreme, untreated cases Acute lead poisoning with acute encephalopathy and peripheral neuropathic features Hippocrates Nikander Galen Vitruvius Dioscorides Pliny the Elder Major (1945), Waldron (1973), Nriagu (1983a,b 1985), Relief and Cilliers (2006)... 

The earliest description of acute lead poisoning has been attributed to Hippocrates, who in 370 BC reported a severe attack of colic and constipation... 

Although lead has been used since ancient times for medicinal purposes, its toxic properties were also understood. Thus, lead colic was reported by Hippocrates, and about 50 A.D., poisoning of lead workers was documented by Pliny. Ramazzini observed toxicity to potters working with lead in 1700, but it was not until 1933 that Kehoe demonstrated wide exposure to lead in the environment. Lead produces adverse effects on children with respect to behavior and reduced I.Q. scores, even at very low levels (5). 

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