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As you already correctly deduced, the discovery of poisons was in former times quite accidental, but once its potency was discovered, the (mis)use of it was predictable. It must be also said that our ancestors were very carelessly with poisonous substances. The old houses used wallpapers and paint which were spiked with arsenic, lead and antimony. Copper arsenite or Scheele's Green, Copper (II)-acetate and White lead were used for the resulting luscious colors.

The alchemists and later the chemists did test substances on themselves; while the alchemists were often reckless by trying their concoctions undiluted, the chemists were more carefully and used strong dilutions which were carefully increased in potency. Still taste and smell were methodically used until the first part of the 20th century. Christian Wilhelm Posselt and Karl Ludwig Reimann e.g. tested the extracted nicotine on the tip of the tongue and remarked the burning feeling (Nicotine is by the way very poisonous and is used as insecticide). Carl Wilhelm Scheele was not so lucky, his continued testing of every discovered substance finally overpowered his body and killed him. LSD was experienced by Albert Hofmann despite precautions: He chose a dilution which was considered safe, but LSD was so powerful that he still got an 20 times overdose.

Since the advent of science, the information about the potency of poisons was now recorded independent of the cause: accident, suicide or homicide. Animal tests were used, but they were never really completely reliable. LSD seemed to be noneffective in animal tests, but is one of the most potent human drugs in relation to its quantity. The poison of the funnel-web spider is ineffective against dogs or cats, but could be fatal for humans. In contrast wonderful tasting chocolate is deadly for dogs and cats. This can be a bit mitigated by using primates as test animals, but they are still different enough that deductions from results must be taken with care.

What we learned is that the effect of most poisons is unreliable. There are many, many recorded instances of humans dying on harmless doses caused by an overreaction and also people surviving incredible overdoses of e.g. cyanide poisoning. So the value of $\pu{LD_{50}}$ is a rule of thumb how poisonous a substance really is. Chemistry is now advanced enough that people have a pretty good idea how poisonous the result is, but there will be always uncertainty about the exact effects.

The only way to get an impression of the exact effects would be apart from heroic self-tests human experimentation and as repugnant as it is, this has been in fact done deliberately. paracetamol's link to the old Romans mentioned that they not only tested animals, but also slaves. During WWII the infamous Nazi and the Japanese Unit 731 experiments tested poisons on prisoners.

As you already correctly deduced, the discovery of poisons was in former times quite accidental, but once its potency was discovered, the (mis)use of it was predictable. It must also be said that our ancestors were very careless with poisonous substances. The old houses used wallpapers and paint which were spiked with arsenic, lead and antimony. Copper arsenite or Scheele's Green, Copper (II)-acetate and White lead were used for the resulting luscious colors.

The alchemists and later the chemists did test substances on themselves. While the alchemists were often reckless by trying their concoctions undiluted, the chemists were more careful and used strong dilutions which were carefully increased in potency. Still, taste and smell were methodically used until the first part of the 20th century. Christian Wilhelm Posselt and Karl Ludwig Reimann e.g. tested the extracted nicotine on the tip of the tongue and remarked the burning feeling (Nicotine is by the way very poisonous and is used as insecticide). Carl Wilhelm Scheele was not so lucky, his continued testing of every discovered substance finally overpowered his body and killed him. LSD was experienced by Albert Hofmann despite precautions: He chose a dilution which was considered safe, but LSD was so powerful that he still got a 20 times overdose.

Since the advent of science, the information about the potency of poisons has been recorded independent of the cause: accident, suicide or homicide. Animal tests were used, but they were never really completely reliable. LSD seemed to be noneffective in animal tests, but is one of the most potent human drugs in relation to its quantity. The poison of the funnel-web spider is ineffective against dogs or cats, but could be fatal for humans. In contrast, wonderful tasting chocolate is deadly for dogs and cats. This can be mitigated a bit by using primates as test animals, but they are still different enough that deductions from results must be taken with care.

What we learned is that the effect of most poisons is unreliable. There are many, many recorded instances of humans dying on harmless doses caused by an overreaction and also people surviving incredible overdoses of e.g. cyanide poisoning. So the value of $\pu{LD_{50}}$ is a rule of thumb how poisonous a substance really is. Chemistry is now advanced enough that people have a pretty good idea how poisonous the result is, but there will always be uncertainty about the exact effects.

The only way to get an impression of the exact effects would be (apart from heroic self-tests) human experimentation, and as repugnant as it is, this has been in fact done deliberately. Paracetamol's link to the old Romans mentioned that they not only tested animals, but also slaves. During WWII the infamous Nazi and the Japanese Unit 731 experiments tested poisons on prisoners.

As you already correctly deduced, the discovery of poisons was in former times quite accidental, but once its potency was discovered, the (mis)use of it was predictable. It must be also said that our ancestors were very carelessly with poisonous substances. The old houses used wallpapers and paint which were spiked with arsenic, lead and antimony. Copper arsenite or Scheele's Green, Copper (II)-acetate and White lead were used for the resulting luscious colors.

The alchemists and later the chemists did test substances on themselves; while the alchemists were often reckless by trying their concoctions undiluted, the chemists were more carefully and used strong dilutions which were carefully increased in potency. Still taste and smell were methodically used until the first part of the 20th century. Christian Wilhelm Posselt and Karl Ludwig Reimann e.g. tested the extracted nicotine on the tip of the tongue and remarked the burning feeling (Nicotine is by the way very poisonous and is used as insecticide). Carl Wilhelm Scheele was not so lucky, his continued testing of every discovered substance finally overpowered his body and killed him. LSD was experienced by Albert Hofmann despite precautions: He chose a dilution which was considered safe, but LSD was so powerful that he still got an 20 times overdose.

Since the advent of science, the information about the potency of poisons was now recorded independent of the cause: accident, suicide or homicide. Animal tests were used, but they were never really completely reliable. LSD seemed to be noneffective in animal tests, but is one of the most potent human drugs in relation to its quantity. The poison of the funnel-web spider is ineffective against dogs or cats, but could be fatal for humans. In contrast wonderful tasting chocolate is deadly for dogs and cats. This can be a bit mitigated by using primates as test animals, but th

What we learned is that the effect of most poisons is unreliable. There are many, many recorded instances of humans dying on harmless doses caused by an overreaction and also people surviving incredible overdoses of e.g. cyanide poisoning. So the value of $\pu{LD_{50}}$ is a rule of thumb how poisonous a substance really is. Chemistry is now advanced enough that people have a pretty good idea how poisonous the result is, but there will be always uncertainty about the exact effects.

The only way to get an impression of the exact effects would be apart from heroic self-tests human experimentation and as repugnant as it is, this has been in fact done deliberately. paracetamol's link to the old Romans mentioned that they not only tested animals, but also slaves. During WWII the infamous Nazi and the Japanese Unit 731 experiments tested poisons on prisoners.

As you already correctly deduced, the discovery of poisons was in former times quite accidental, but once its potency was discovered, the (mis)use of it was predictable. It must be also said that our ancestors were very carelessly with poisonous substances. The old houses used wallpapers and paint which were spiked with arsenic, lead and antimony. Copper arsenite or Scheele's Green, Copper (II)-acetate and White lead were used for the resulting luscious colors.

The alchemists and later the chemists did test substances on themselves; while the alchemists were often reckless by trying their concoctions undiluted, the chemists were more carefully and used strong dilutions which were carefully increased in potency. Still taste and smell were methodically used until the first part of the 20th century. Christian Wilhelm Posselt and Karl Ludwig Reimann e.g. tested the extracted nicotine on the tip of the tongue and remarked the burning feeling (Nicotine is by the way very poisonous and is used as insecticide). Carl Wilhelm Scheele was not so lucky, his continued testing of every discovered substance finally overpowered his body and killed him. LSD was experienced by Albert Hofmann despite precautions: He chose a dilution which was considered safe, but LSD was so powerful that he still got an 20 times overdose.

Since the advent of science, the information about the potency of poisons was now recorded independent of the cause: accident, suicide or homicide. Animal tests were used, but they were never really completely reliable. LSD seemed to be noneffective in animal tests, but is one of the most potent human drugs in relation to its quantity. The poison of the funnel-web spider is ineffective against dogs or cats, but could be fatal for humans. In contrast wonderful tasting chocolate is deadly for dogs and cats. This can be a bit mitigated by using primates as test animals, but they are still different enough that deductions from results must be taken with care.

What we learned is that the effect of most poisons is unreliable. There are many, many recorded instances of humans dying on harmless doses caused by an overreaction and also people surviving incredible overdoses of e.g. cyanide poisoning. So the value of $\pu{LD_{50}}$ is a rule of thumb how poisonous a substance really is. Chemistry is now advanced enough that people have a pretty good idea how poisonous the result is, but there will be always uncertainty about the exact effects.

The only way to get an impression of the exact effects would be apart from heroic self-tests human experimentation and as repugnant as it is, this has been in fact done deliberately. paracetamol's link to the old Romans mentioned that they not only tested animals, but also slaves. During WWII the infamous Nazi and the Japanese Unit 731 experiments tested poisons on prisoners.

As you already correctly deduced, the discovery of poisons was in former times quite accidental, but once its potency was discovered, the (mis)use of it was predictable. It must be also said that our ancestors were very carelessly with poisonous substances. The old houses used wallpapers and paint which were spiked with arsenic, lead and antimony. Copper arsenite or Scheele's Green, Copper (II)-acetate and White lead were used for the resulting luscious colors.

The alchemists and later the chemists did test substances on themselves; while the alchemists were often reckless by trying their concoctions undiluted, the chemists were more carefully und used strong dilutions which were carefully increased in potency. Still taste and smell were methodically used until the first part of the 20th century. Christian Wilhelm Posselt and Karl Ludwig Reimann e.g. tested the extracted nicotine on the tip of the tongue and remarked the burning feeling (Nicotine is by the way very poisonous and is used as insecticide). Carl Wilhelm Scheele was not so lucky, his continued testing of every discovered substance finally overpowered his body and killed him. LSD was experienced by Albert Hofmann despite precautions: He choosed a dilution which was considered safe, but LSD was so powerful that he still got an 20 times overdose.

Since the advent of science, the information about the potency of poisons was now recorded independent of the cause: accident, suicide or homicide. Animal tests were used, but they were never really completely reliable. LSD seemed to be noneffective in animal tests, but is one of the most potent human drugs in relation to its quantity. The poison of the funnel-web spider is ineffective against dogs or cats, but could be fatal for humans. In contrast wonderful tasting chocolate is deadly for dogs and cats. This can be a bit mitigated by using primates as test animals, but th

What we learned is that the effect of most poisons is unreliable. There are many, many recorded instances of humans dying on harmless doses caused by an overreaction and also people surviving incredible overdoses of e.g. cyanide poisoning. So the value of $LD_{50}$ is a rule of thumb how poisonous a substance really is. Chemistry is now advanced enough that people have a pretty good idea how poisonous the result is, but there will be always uncertainty about the exact effects.

The only way to get an impression of the exact effects would be apart from heroic self-tests human experimentation and as repugnant as it is, this has been in fact done deliberately. paracetamol's link to the old Romans mentioned that they not only tested animals, but also slaves. During WWII the infamous nazi and the Japanese Unit 731 experiments tested poisons on prisoners.

As you already correctly deduced, the discovery of poisons was in former times quite accidental, but once its potency was discovered, the (mis)use of it was predictable. It must be also said that our ancestors were very carelessly with poisonous substances. The old houses used wallpapers and paint which were spiked with arsenic, lead and antimony. Copper arsenite or Scheele's Green, Copper (II)-acetate and White lead were used for the resulting luscious colors.

The alchemists and later the chemists did test substances on themselves; while the alchemists were often reckless by trying their concoctions undiluted, the chemists were more carefully and used strong dilutions which were carefully increased in potency. Still taste and smell were methodically used until the first part of the 20th century. Christian Wilhelm Posselt and Karl Ludwig Reimann e.g. tested the extracted nicotine on the tip of the tongue and remarked the burning feeling (Nicotine is by the way very poisonous and is used as insecticide). Carl Wilhelm Scheele was not so lucky, his continued testing of every discovered substance finally overpowered his body and killed him. LSD was experienced by Albert Hofmann despite precautions: He chose a dilution which was considered safe, but LSD was so powerful that he still got an 20 times overdose.

Since the advent of science, the information about the potency of poisons was now recorded independent of the cause: accident, suicide or homicide. Animal tests were used, but they were never really completely reliable. LSD seemed to be noneffective in animal tests, but is one of the most potent human drugs in relation to its quantity. The poison of the funnel-web spider is ineffective against dogs or cats, but could be fatal for humans. In contrast wonderful tasting chocolate is deadly for dogs and cats. This can be a bit mitigated by using primates as test animals, but th

What we learned is that the effect of most poisons is unreliable. There are many, many recorded instances of humans dying on harmless doses caused by an overreaction and also people surviving incredible overdoses of e.g. cyanide poisoning. So the value of $\pu{LD_{50}}$ is a rule of thumb how poisonous a substance really is. Chemistry is now advanced enough that people have a pretty good idea how poisonous the result is, but there will be always uncertainty about the exact effects.

The only way to get an impression of the exact effects would be apart from heroic self-tests human experimentation and as repugnant as it is, this has been in fact done deliberately. paracetamol's link to the old Romans mentioned that they not only tested animals, but also slaves. During WWII the infamous Nazi and the Japanese Unit 731 experiments tested poisons on prisoners.