John (Consultant Editor, Dictionary of Natural Products, London, UK) Buckingham 
Bitter Nemesis [PDF ebook] 
The Intimate History of Strychnine

Encouraged by the medicinal success of quinine, early 19th century scientists hoped strychnine, another plant alkaloid with remarkable properties, might also become a new weapon against disease. Physicians tried for over a century, despite growing evidence to the contrary, to treat everything from paralysis to constipation with it. But strychnine p