Mithridatism

Mithridatism is the practice of protecting oneself against a poison by gradually self-administering non-lethal amounts. The word derives from Mithridates VI, the King of Pontus, who so feared being poisoned that he regularly ingested small doses, aiming to develop immunity. Having been defeated by Pompey, legend has it that Mithridates tried to commit suicide using poison but failed because of his immunity and so had to resort to having a mercenary run him through with his sword.

In practice
There are only a few practical uses of mithridatism. It can be used by zoo handlers, researchers, and circus artists who deal closely with venomous animals. Mithridatization has been tried with success in Australia and Brazil and total immunity has been achieved even to multiple bites of extremely venomous cobras and pit vipers. Venomous snake handler Bill Haast used this method. Snake handlers from Myanmar tattoo themselves with snake venom for the same reason.

It has been suggested that Russian mystic Rasputin was able to resist the poison of assassins due to mithridatism, but this was never proved.

Indian epics talk about this practice too. It has been said that, during the rule of the king Chandragupta Maurya (320-298 BCE), there was a practice of selecting beautiful girls and administering poison in small amounts until they grow up, thus making them insensitive to poison. These maidens were called vishakanyas (visha = poison, kanya = maiden). It was believed that making love with vishakanyas can result in death of their partners, hence they were employed to kill enemies.

It is important to note that this practice is not effective against all types of poison. While some (primarily natural) poisons, such as poisonous venoms and tree extracts, can have an immunity built up in this fashion, other (primarily synthetic or base chemical) poisons, such as cyanide, will either pass through the system without leaving any lasting immunity or will build up in the system to lethal levels over time. Certain toxic substances, such as hydrofluoric acid and heavy metals, are either lethal or have little to no effect (or may even be beneficial in low doses, but in such a way as to have no effect on later doses at higher levels), and thus cannot be used in this way at all.

In fiction
Mithridatism has been used as a plot device in novels, films, video games, and TV shows including, among others, Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo, Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Rappaccini's Daughter", Yoshiaki Kawajiri's Ninja Scroll, Dorothy Sayers's Strong Poison, Agatha Christie's The Mysterious Affair at Styles, William Goldman's The Princess Bride (and the movie of the same name).

In poetry
A.E. Housman's "Terence, this is stupid stuff" (originally published in A Shropshire Lad) invokes mithridatism as a metaphor for the benefit that serious poetry brings to the reader. The final section is a poetic rendition of the Mithridates legend:


 * ''There was a king reigned in the East:
 * ''There, when kings will sit to feast,
 * ''They get their fill before they think
 * ''With poisoned meat and poisoned drink.
 * ''He gathered all that springs to birth
 * ''From the many-venomed earth;
 * ''First a little, thence to more,
 * ''He sampled all her killing store;
 * ''And easy, smiling, seasoned sound,
 * ''Sate the king when healths went round.
 * ''They put arsenic in his meat
 * ''And stared aghast to watch him eat;
 * ''They poured strychnine in his cup
 * ''And shook to see him drink it up:
 * ''They shook, they stared as white's their shirt:
 * ''Them it was their poison hurt.
 * ''- I tell the tale that I heard told.
 * ''Mithridates, he died old.