Nicotine Poisoning

[stackcats]

I'm looking for information on the absorption of nicotine through the skin, specifically how long a dose remains in the body.

My story is set in England, 1919, and involves an assassin trying to win a bet; he must kill the hostess of a party, without being detected, in the middle of her speech at a dinner party.

Comments

[reapermum]

I'd go with spiking a cigarette. Nicotine was easy to obtain in those days. It was used to kill aphids (greenfly) and my gardening book, published in 1945, says it is cheap and readily available. But not to eat crops sprayed with it within a week of spraying.

[stackcats]

Thanks - one thing I couldn't find out was how readily available it might have been, so that's very useful.

[reapermum]

As a garden spray you dissolved an ounce of pure nicotine in ten gallons of water which had previously been mixed with a pound of soft soap. You bought the nicotine from a chemist's shop (pharmacy) and had to sign the Poisons Book to record your purchase.

[reapermum]

And of course it would have been bought by his gardener along with the lead arsenate and the Paris green. He'll need such a small amount of nicotine compared to the amount the gardener uses that it won't be missed from the garden shed and his name won't be in the Poison Book.

[stackcats]

Thank you so much for your help! The story is shaping up nicely now :0)