# Poison in your ear **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 30, 2008, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-in-your-ear/458185 "2008-07-30T01:53:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quillyshadow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/dec6dc/32.png) [@Quillyshadow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quillyshadow)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-in-your-ear/458185/1 "2008-07-30T01:53:34Z")
I would like to know if it is actually possible to die from poison being inserted into your ear à la Hamlet? Also, what is the physiological process that causes death if a person is stabbed in the ear, say, with a steel spike? I mean, I realize the brain getting stabbed a few times wouldn’t be good for you, but I am curious as to WHY it would kill. Is there too much bleeding? Does the brain ‘short circuit’?. And just to be really morbid, would it be a quick death? (No, I am not planning anything. Yet.) Cheers, René ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-in-your-ear/458185/2 "2008-07-30T02:08:30Z")
Well, that part of the brain responsible for breathing is pretty much in the path of a spike coming in through the ear. Likewise, the “centre of consciousness” ([reticular activating system](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reticular_Activating_System)) is also likely to be hit and that would lead to instantaneous loss of consciousness. In terms of bleeding, it is virtually impossible to bleed to death from brain bleeding if the blood stays within the skull. There just ain’t the space for a significant volume of blood to accumulate. By the same token, if there is bleeding, and the blood builds up within the skull, there is a consequent increase in “intracranial pressure”. An abrupt and major increase in intracranial pressure is lethal. As an aside, the bone ‘underneath’ the ear is the strongest in the skull. It would be a real challenge to push a spike through the ear, through such bone, and then into the brain. ---
**Author:** ![Quillyshadow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/dec6dc/32.png) [@Quillyshadow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quillyshadow)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-in-your-ear/458185/3 "2008-07-30T03:11:23Z")
Thanks for the quick response! Ah, well that explains a lot (the death by ear spiking), although I may have a bone to pick with Midsomer Murders if what you say about it being extremely difficult to penetrate the bone near the ear is true, because I saw a little old lady get stabbed with a receipt spike through the ear in a recent episode. 😃 I am still interested in what kind of poison would kill if it was dripped into the ear. I am guessing something that is absorbed through the skin would do the trick. But still, if any skin absorbs it, why stick it in their ear? Why not just soak a pair of socks in the stuff or drip it down the back of their neck? Anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-in-your-ear/458185/4 "2008-07-30T03:21:14Z")
[New Light on the Murder of Hamlet’s Father](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403E1DD1539F931A15754C0A964948260) > [@](#): > > THE manner of Hamlet’s father’s death - a dose of poison in the ear - could have been suggested to Shakespeare by a medical discovery of the time, the description by Bartolommeo Eustachio of the internal connection between the ear and the throat. > > … > > Dr. Avrim R. Eden, an associate professor of otolaryngology at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan, and Dr. Jeff Opland, professor of medieval English at Rhodes University in South Africa, raised the possibility that Shakespeare got the idea directly or indirectly from Eustachio’s essay, ‘‘De Auditus Organis.’’ This was published about 40 years before the first performance of Shakespeare’s ‘‘Hamlet’’ in about 1601. > > Although the ancient Greeks had known of the eustachian tube, Eustachio gave the first detailed description, and, as Dr. Eden said in an interview, this was undoubtedly known to learned people in Elizabethan England, including presumably physician friends of Shakespeare. It was a time of many advances in understanding the nature and function of parts of the human body. > > … > > Eustachio’s work was a ‘‘clear indication,’’ Dr. Eden and Dr. Opland wrote, that physicians of the time knew that a fluid placed into an ear with a perforated membrane - a punctured eardrum - could find its way to the mouth and be swallowed. Perforated eardrums were quite common then, the authors noted, and up until antibiotics came into use they reduced ear infections. ---
**Author:** ![puppygod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@puppygod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puppygod)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-in-your-ear/458185/5 "2008-07-30T08:28:13Z")
[QUOTE=Quillyshadow] I am still interested in what kind of poison would kill if it was dripped into the ear. I am guessing something that is absorbed through the skin would do the trick. But still, if any skin absorbs it, why stick it in their ear? Why not just soak a pair of socks in the stuff or drip it down the back of their neck? Anyone? [/QUOTE] For example nicotine can VERY easily be absorbed through skin with lethal effects. As for why ear, my WAG was always that it was to not leave visible marks. Skin that come into contact with poison could have visible stains or reddening, but nobody would be looking into ear canals for signs of poison. ---
**Author:** ![MrBelding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7feea3/32.png) [@MrBelding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrBelding)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-in-your-ear/458185/6 "2008-07-30T12:49:58Z")
What dosage of Nicotine? Because touching a cigarette wouldn’t do anything. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-in-your-ear/458185/7 "2008-07-30T14:11:04Z")
[QUOTE=MrBelding] What dosage of Nicotine? Because touching a cigarette wouldn’t do anything. [/QUOTE] It has to be purified. Pure liquid nicotine is very poisonous to humans. Coffee is a favorite delivery method, as it mitigates the taste. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-in-your-ear/458185/8 "2008-07-30T16:25:05Z")
[QUOTE=hotflungwok] It has to be purified. Pure liquid nicotine is very poisonous to humans. Coffee is a favorite delivery method, as it mitigates the taste. [/QUOTE] Suppose I administer the smallest sure-fire lethal dose of pure nicotine to a healthy adult… About how long does it take to kill him, and how does the victim present (if that’s the term), i.e. if we were watching, what would be the vic’s symptoms? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-in-your-ear/458185/9 "2008-07-30T20:32:49Z")
I don’t recall with any certainty, but IIRC it takes Nicotine a while to work. Maybe hours. The “smallest possible dose” is pretty large. You have to apply a lot of it to the skin or a huge amount ingested. ---
**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:** [July 30, 2008, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-in-your-ear/458185/10 "2008-07-30T20:40:25Z")
It wouldn’t have been available to Hamlet’s step-father, of course, but if you put any poison in DMSO or similar coumpounds (DMFA) and poured it in his ear, or smeared in on any skin, it would be absorbed through the skin. poison in DMSO applied to something the victim will touch has been the method used in a number of murder mysteries. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-in-your-ear/458185/11 "2008-07-30T22:10:10Z")
I always thought that the poison in the ear business in _Hamlet_ was supposed to be some kind of metaphor until I read of the [1997 attempt by Mossad agents to kill Khalad Meshal](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/12/02/MN91442.DTL%5B/url) by poisoning him through the ear. As **KarlGauss** notes, very significant areas of the brain’s autonomic functionality are located directly between the ears, but are, unfortunately for would-be assassins, well-protected against light attacks. (This is a prime aiming spot for snipers, though.) A stiletto through the ear, however, would be exceedingly painful. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-in-your-ear/458185/12 "2008-07-31T12:56:04Z")
Shakespeare may well have been influenced by reports that Mary, Queen of Scots, had used poison in the ear to dispatch her first husband, Francis II. > [@](#): > > Another curious detail of the murder may be observed here. The ghost declares that he was murdered by poison—henbane—poured in his ear while he slept. Now, Mary’s accusers, [See Leslie, Bishop of Ross (Hatfield Papers).] to heap calumny upon her, had accused her of conniving also at the murder of her first husband—Francis II of France. That unhappy prince died from an abscess in the ear, but it was a common rumour that it was caused by poison inserted in the ear. [Link](http://www.sourcetext.com/sourcebook/library/winstanley/hamlet/2.htm) ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poison-in-your-ear/458185/13 "2008-07-31T14:33:36Z")
[QUOTE=smiling bandit] I don’t recall with any certainty, but IIRC it takes Nicotine a while to work. Maybe hours. The “smallest possible dose” is pretty large. You have to apply a lot of it to the skin or a huge amount ingested. [/QUOTE] Actually, the lethal dose of nicotine for a human adult is around 50mg, but it has to be delivered almost all at once, as the body normally breaks nicotine down fairly quickly. It can be absorbed through the skin or ingested. Spilling liquid nicotine on your skin can deliver a fatal dose. Nicotine poisoning causes vomiting and nausea, headaches, difficulty breathing, stomach pains and seizures.