Everything is poison, there is poison in everything. Only the dose makes a thing not a poison.” This quote, attributed to Paracelsus, the Swiss physician and alchemist born in 1493 who has been called the father of toxicology, still rings true. It seems barely a day passes that we are not made aware of a new toxic substance that threatens our children or are informed by the media about the dangers of toxins found in our food, air, and water. Poisons and toxic substances are commonplace in everyday modern life. Yet poisons and other toxic substances have been a subject of fascination since ancient times. Archaeologists have found evidence that primitive humans used poisons with their hunting weapons to hasten the death of their prey. Humankind’s great interest in poisons eventually extended to ways they could be used against their own kind, and this use bred a great deal of fear, especially among people in positions of power who were afraid that poisons would be used against them.One such individual was Mithridates VI, a king of Pontus in ancient northern Turkey about 114 b.c. He was so paranoid about being poisoned that he dedicated much of his life to finding antidotes toknown toxic substances of his time. He left behinda wealth of notes about poisons and antidotes, including the 54 ingredients of an antidote he had concocted to ward off any attempts by his enemies to poison him.