![]() ![]() Christie described the symptoms of thallium poisoning very well: lethargy, tingling, numbness of the hands and feet, blackouts, slurred speech, insomnia, and general debility, and she is sometimes blamed for bringing this poison to the attention of would-be poisoners. The plot involves a murdered priest and a pub owned by three modern-day witches. In 1952 she wrote The Pale Horse, in which the murderer used it to dispose of people’s unwanted relatives and disguised his activities as black magic curses. ![]() Agatha Christie built one of her murder mysteries around thallium poisoning. Meanwhile others were using it to kill vermin, and always thallium brought tragedy in its wake. Thallium’s deadly nature was not at first appreciated and it became part of the treatment for ringworm of the scalp, given in relatively large doses to children because it caused their hair to fall out, the better to treat the disease. He compared the colour to that of a fresh green shoot, so he based its name on the Greek word for this, which is thallos. William Crookes named thallium after the bright green colour it produced when its salts were put into a Bunsen burner flame.
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