FAMOUS PHARMACISTS


PHARMACISTS HAVE HAD A DRAMATIC IMPACT ON THE WORLD – AND NOT JUST IN PHARMACY! SP TAKES A LOOK AT A WRITER, WHO WAS FAMOUS FOR HER USE OF POISON


IN HER NOVELS – AND WITH GOOD REASON!


STRANGER THAN FICTION


f you’ve ever watched an Agatha Christie fi lm and marvelled at her knowledge of poisons, then you may be unsurprised to fi nd out she was actually a pharmacist, who began working as a novelist in 1920 when she was challenged by sister Madge to come up with a detective story.


I


Her detective – a retired fi ve feet four inch Belgian police offi cer – none other than the elegant and moustachioed and coiffeured Hercule Poirot – was to become one of the best-known detectives of his time and helped to make Christie the bestselling novelist of all time.


BUT IT COULD ALL HAVE BEEN SO DIFFERENT….


Christie had actually started out as a volunteer nurse in the First World War. On Christmas Eve 1914, she married her aviator husband, Archibald Christie, but, just one day after Christmas, Archibald left to serve in the Royal Flying Corps and, in his absence, Agatha became a volunteer nurse. In 1915, after working for some time in the hospital pharmacy, she became a pharmacist.


At this time, all prescriptions were 46 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST


prepared by hand with great skill – primarily to ensure correct dosages. Christie revelled in this work and went in to undergo further training so that she could take exams to become a dispenser or apothecary’s assistant. As a result, she began studying both theoretical and practical aspects of chemistry.


It has been suggested that Christie suffered from anxiety while working as a hospital pharmacist, and that her worried state propelled her into writing. One night, in fact, her anxiety about her work bothered her so much that she got out of bed and went back to the hospital, since she wanted to double-check that she had not put a lid used for carbolic acid back onto an ointment jar.


During this time, she also received tuition from a Mr P, a pharmacist in the town, who liked to carry lumps of curare or arrow poison in his pocket to make him feel powerful. This sinister character was to later make an appearance in Christie’s novel ‘The Pale Horse’.


The pharmacy connection goes even deeper at this point since it was actually Harold Davis, a pharmacist


at the University College Hospital in London, who was said to have inspired Christie to use thallium poisoning in ‘The Pale Horse’ since, if ingested in large amounts, it can harm the nervous system, lungs, heart, liver, and kidney, making it the perfect murder weapon!


As a result of her pharmacy work, Christie was to accumulate vast knowledge and experience in a vast array of poisons. Indeed, through her novels, she uses no fewer than 30 killer compounds as murder methods.


Her knowledge was, in fact, so vast, that the St Alban’s poisoner, Graham Young, actually claimed to have gained his knowledge of poisons by reading her books!


In light of her vast knowledge of chemistry, it’s perhaps hardly surprising that Christie was to choose poisoning as her preferred method of murder: a point which was highlighted by the fact that her fi rst published novel, ‘The Mysterious Affair at Styles’ was reviewed in no less than the Pharmaceutical Journal.


‘This novel,’ said the reviewer, ‘has the rare merit of being correctly written.’


Christie maintained her interest in drugs throughout her writing career and her level of research was second to none. During the Second World War, she again volunteered as a dispenser at the University College Hospital, London. Her work at the hospital kept her up to date with new developments in drugs and pharmacy practice and obviously helped to inform her novels.


At the start of her career, substances such as arsenic and strychnine were still in medicinal use, although they were being phased out as new drugs, such as barbiturates, were being introduced at a rapid rate. It is perhaps for that reason that many of her plots centre around the administering of overdoses of prescribed drugs and the switching of prescriptions.


Christie did, however, use many poisons that were never used as medicines, such as cyanide. Cyanide was actually readily available in the 30s and 40s in the form of pesticides that could be bought over the counter and the 30s’ poisoner only had to walk to the garden or shed to fi nd a ready supply! •


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