# Is it actually possible to build up an immunity to iocane powder? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 21, 2012, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-actually-possible-to-build-up-an-immunity-to-iocane-powder/641706 "2012-11-21T09:36:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-actually-possible-to-build-up-an-immunity-to-iocane-powder/641706/21 "2012-11-22T10:59:17Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I don’t know, but the bite of an adder can lead to math errors. Precious. So precious. I loved it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-actually-possible-to-build-up-an-immunity-to-iocane-powder/641706/22 "2012-11-22T14:00:25Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > No it doesn’t. It labels the account of him struggling to commit suicide as legendary, not the entire practice of Mithridatism. People don’t read what KI have actually written. I wrote that it “makes it sound like that”, not that this is what you said. In other words, much as your original is misleading in its phrasing. I shouldn’t try to be meta. Nobody gets it. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-actually-possible-to-build-up-an-immunity-to-iocane-powder/641706/23 "2012-11-23T07:11:07Z")
What about bullets? Can you work up an immunity to bullets? ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-actually-possible-to-build-up-an-immunity-to-iocane-powder/641706/24 "2012-11-23T07:59:05Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > What about bullets? Can you work up an immunity to bullets? I once read an account of someone who was immune to arrows. It was in a book called “Dungeons and Dragons.” ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-actually-possible-to-build-up-an-immunity-to-iocane-powder/641706/25 "2012-11-23T09:44:16Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It’s not simply legend. As I’ve observed before on this Board, herpetologist William E. Haast, founder of the Miami Serpentarium, practiced this. His blood was in demand as a treatment for snakebite where there was no available antivenin: > > [Bill Haast - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Haast) That’s like the most awesome real-world superpower ever! “Bitten by a snake, you say? Here, let me cure you – with my blood!!” EDIT: And he lived to 101? Sounds like those 172 snake bites didn’t really much impact his life expectancy… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-actually-possible-to-build-up-an-immunity-to-iocane-powder/641706/26 "2012-11-23T13:26:05Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > People don’t read what KI have actually written. Yeah, I get that too, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2012, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-actually-possible-to-build-up-an-immunity-to-iocane-powder/641706/27 "2012-11-25T06:59:57Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I once read an account of someone who was immune to arrows. It was in a book called “Dungeons and Dragons.” Great historical document. As far as iocane powder, not for a Sicilian… I don’t feel so g [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-actually-possible-to-build-up-an-immunity-to-iocane-powder/641706.md?page=1)