Today in the studio we have a first American edition of the catchily titled Directions on the Treatment for Persons who have Taken Poison, and those in a State of Apparent Death, Together with the Means of Detecting Poisons and Adulterations in Wine, also, of Distinguishing Real from Apparent Death by Mathieu Joseph B. Orfila. While we wouldn’t necessarily recommend following its medical advice, the book provides a fascinating look at early toxicology. It describes the effects and (alleged) treatments of various potions, poisons, and scorpion stings—a helpful resource to anyone working on a historical murder mystery. Join us for anecdotes about antidotes on a killer episode of the #brattlecast.
Brattlecast #81 - One Book Collections
Perhaps amassing 2000 copies of Walden isn’t exactly what Thoreau meant when he exhorted us to ‘Simplify, simplify,’ however, some collectors do simplify their libraries by collecting different editions of a single book. Books like the Bible, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, and the works of Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Dante Alighieri have been published so often, with such a variety of bindings, languages, and illustrations, that a collection of even one of these books would be impossible to ever complete. We’ll take a look at a few of these monomaniacal collections on this week’s brattlecast.