Murder, Magic, and Medicine

by John Mann

Book Overview

People have always been curious about the plants and animals with which they coexist. Primitive cultures identified edible and poisonous plants by a process of trial and error, and then began to exploit the toxic materials for hunting, euthanasia, executions, and murder. Other plants were found to have stimulatory or hallucinogenic effects: these not only formed the basis of magico-religious rites, they also encouraged experimentation which led to...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0198558546
• ISBN13: 9780198558545
• Release Date: June 1994
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Intriguing influence of plants and microoganisms on history.

John Mann creatively links science and history together by referencing historical events, like the witch trials, to chemicals produced naturally by microorganisms, plants and animals. I use this book in an introductory science course to demonstrate how important natural products are in our society today -- whether the chemical is beneficial or deadly. Easy reading for the non-scientist, but factual enough for the scientist.