Most Execrable and Abominable or Irreligious | Lapham's Quarterly
In 1524 Pope Clement VII ordered a test of an antidote oil created by surgeon Gregorio Caravita. A test subject took a dose of poison in front of a small crowd of invited personages. In both of the antidote’s two trials, apothecaries provided the poison—a good quantity of a deadly aconite called napellus in the first test, arsenic in the second. Although a pharmacist was present, the papal physician, Paolo Giovio, oversaw the trial. Pope Clement commanded that the antidote be tried on “co...
Source: laphamsquarterly.org