1Reading 31-1READING 31-1Reprinted from AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD CHEMISTRY. Vol. 24. No. 6, Page 1180, Nov./Dec. 1976. Copyright 1976 by the American Chemical Society and reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.A Compendium of Inorganic Substances Used in European Pest Control before 1850Allan E. Smith* and Diane M. SecoyA list of 24 inorganic chemicals used in European agriculture up to 1850 for pest control is given, together with descriptions of their recorded usage from classical times. Attempts have been made to assess their possible effi cacy.The use of pesticides is sometimes considered to have dated from the latter half of the 19th century. However, a survey of the classical literature (Smith and Secoy, 1975) has shown that there were frequent references to chemicals and natural products which appear to have been used for the control of plant disease and for killing unwanted plants and animals. As a result of further research into contemporary writings, a compendium of inorganic chemicals used for pest control in European agriculture from earliest recorded times until the middle of the 19th century is now presented with attempts to assess their possible success.AlumReference is made to the use of alum as a fl y repellant in the “Geoponika” (13,12), compiled by Cas-sianus Bassus in the 6th or 7th century A.D., and also by Hill (1586, p 68). The insects were reputedly driven away from places where the compound had been sprinkled. Hill further maintained that fl ies would not touch plants which had been sprinkled with a mixture of alum, origanum, and milk.From the 18th century onward alum became a common additive for seed steeps used for the prevention of smut diseases and as such was recommended by Mortimer (1721, p 84), Hale (1756, p 364), Duhamel du Monceau (1762, p 94), and Somerville (1800). An unknown contributor signing himself P.H. [The Farmer’s Magazine (Edinburgh), 1801] held that alum dissolved in tobacco liquor would kill caterpillars on gooseberry bushes.Alum is now defi ned as hydrated potassium aluminum sulfate, but in the past the term was also gener-ally given to other double sulfates containing aluminum. Alum is an stringent and could have acted as an insect repellent by changing the fl avor of plants. The high osmotic pressure of a concentrated solution of alum or alum in tobacco solution could have an effect on soft-bodied forms.AntimonyA recipe of unknown authorship in The Farmer’s Magazine (1778) called for 1 oz of cantharides and 1 oz of crude antimony to be powdered together and added to 0.5 lb. of currants and 1 pint of oatmeal. This poisoned bait was to be placed near rats’ nests together with a supply of water for the rats to drink after eating the mixture.According to Taylor (1957, p 147), before the 19th century the word “antimony” was correctly applied only to the black mineral stibnite (the trisulfi de). As a rat poison the above concoction should have been effective although the cantharides may have proved more toxic than the antimony.Arsenical CompoundsSandarach (or realgar) and orpiment (or auripigmentum) are sulfi des of arsenic and were known and used by classical agriculturists. Arsenical compounds and “arsenic” (the oxide of the metal) have been in continuous use from early times as a poison to kill pests and vermin. Thus, the burning of arsenical * Agriculture Canada, Research Station, Regina, Saskatchewan, S4P 3A2, Canada (A.E.S.), and the Biology Depart-ment, University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan, S4S 0A2, Canada (D.M.S.).2Reading 31-1sulfi des to kill scorpions was referred to in the “Geoponika” (13,9). The 12th century Arab writer Ibn-Al-Awam (1864, Vol. 2, p 338) and Speed (1659, p 176) wrote that birds could be killed using baits treated with arsenical poisons. Worlidge (1668, p 194) and Ellis (1742, p 187) mentioned the use of arsenic as a rat poison, while the “Geoponika” (13,12), Hill (1586, p 68), de Bonnefons (1669, p 102), Worlidge (1669, p 199), Mortimer (1721, p 208), Hale (1756, p 707), and Speechly (1779, p 342) recorded its effectiveness for killing fl ies and other insects.According to Buttress and Dennis (1.947) arsenic (the oxide) was reported by Aucante in 1755 as being used in Germany for treating seed as a means of preserving them from disease. About the same time Hale (1756, p 372) mentioned that farmers in England added arsenic to their seed steeps for the control of smut diseases. Arsenic as a seed steep additive was similarly discussed by Mills (1763, p 403) and Duhamel du Monceau (1764, pp 292 ff). The latter described the earlier work of Tillet on control of the smut disease bunt (Tilletia sp.) indicating that Tillet had found arsenic satisfactory. The Abbe Tessier (1786) considered arsenic a dangerous additive and its use was eventually banned in France following deaths from high levels of arsenic in bread. The adding of arsenic to seed steeps in Britain was continued and mentioned by An-drews (1786), Young (1787), and Marshall (1788, pp 10 ff). Both Prevost (1807) and Young (1809, p 469) concluded that steeping seed in arsenic was successful against smut. Sinclair (1817, p 341) strongly objected to arsenic in steeps not only because of the danger to humans but because it killed, game birds which ate the treated seed.Pliny (17, 47) during the 1st century A.D. made ref erence to the use of a dusting of sandarach and ashes as a means of preventing grape rot, but no one else seems to have used arsenic for the treatment of such diseases until the latter half of the 19th century.Arsenical compounds are very toxic and have fungicidal properties; therefore, the uses described should have proved Successful.BitternBittern was a by-product of the early salt industry when salt was obtained by evaporation of sea water to the point where the sodium chloride crystallized out. These crystals were removed and the remaining solution, containing calcium and magnesium salts, was known as bittern. Worlidge (1683, p 36) maintained that bittern destroyed all vegetation and recommended its application for killing weeds in gravel paths and walks.As a weed killer, bittern should have been as effective as any concentrated mineral solution.Chalk (Calcium Carbonate)The Roman author Varro, during the 1st century B.C., advocated (1, 57) that in granaries the wheat be sprinkled with powdered chalk, seemingly as a pest deterrent. Both Palladius (1, 122), who wrote during the
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