The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York

by Deborah Blum

poison seemed a different kind of evil, insidious and cowardly, without the redeeming heroics of combat.

The women were exhaling radon gas.

Essentially, it exists in a state of perpetual breakdown, discarding excess parts as it decays.

Depending on one’s perspective, it was one of the benefits, or curses, of ten years of Prohibition: every drink was a stiff one.

The Prohibition era had been a great source of material for building an excellent science of alcohol intoxication.

By the end of a day, first-time drinkers had blood-alcohol levels 66 percent higher than the experienced imbibers.

Self-terminations totaled 1,471, an average of three deaths per day. That meant that nearly one-fourth of the city’s violent deaths could be attributed to despair.