Club Meeting

On Thursday 4th November the speaker at the Rotary Club of South Queensferry's virtual meeting was Ian Dale, a member of Rotary Glasgow. His subject was poisons and he titled his talk How to Poison Your ...... . Ian began by describing the characteristics of different types of poisons: mineral, animal, micro-organ and synthetic.

Greek philosopher Socrates (469-399 BC) is believed to have been condemned to death by being forced to drink hemlock. In sixteenth-century Venice the first school of poisoning was opened. Ragusa, now Dubrovnik, is reputed to have the oldest pharmacy opened in 1315. Among many famous poisoning cases, Ian cited Madeleine Smith, William Pritchard and Dr Crippen. Morrison Handley-Schachler thanked Ian Dale for a most unusual and fascinating presentation. Sybille Handley-Schachler introduced the speaker and President Derek Clark chaired the meeting.