LOL, I have a degree in Chemistry, and someone induced me to watch “Breaking Bad”, and I felt much safer living in the house with my wife when she is angry with me when I saw what you had to do to get the ricin out of the castor beans...:)
Heh, and I am only kidding...my wife wouldn’t poison me.
I think.
Reminds of that famous Churchill anecdote which I really love:
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Lady Nancy Astor: Winston, if you were my husband, I’d poison your tea.
Winston Churchill: Nancy, if I were your husband, I’d drink it.
Not too long ago when pharmaceutical companies were far and few in between the only resources humans had was to make do with what was available in regards to plants, trees etc. and if you knew how some of that stuff works, it was just as effective and potent as what has been developed later on by drug companies. Take for example valerian root, its use dates back to he Roman empire and was used to calm down heart palpitations and to induce sleep. It is easily made by taking about a pound of valerian root and soak it in high octane vodka used as a solvent to extract the oil. It is a process known as making a tincture, and believe me it works very well, it also has an unforgettable smell but it works. On second thought and in this case it probably is less troublesome to go to Wall Mart and buy the pills, as I have seen them there.
Different application require different solutions or solvents, others use steam to extract the essential oils. Or take for example in the bygone days when they used the bark from weeping willows to extract a very similar component to what is known today as Aspirin. Or when your eye doctor uses atropine to dilute your pupils it originally was derived from a nightshade plant in the family of nightshade plants by the name of belladonna, many times young children mistake these berries as edibles which they are not, also known as crazy cherries, which results in poisoning. It is an interesting subject and like anything else it can be used for good or for bad.
Free Republic sure has a nice group of people and deserves to be financially supported as I would hate to see it vanish, because of lack of support. Have a great day and a much better one tomorrow.