Arsenic is a poison that causes a slow, painful death; historically, it has been used in many famous murders. A large does is fatal, but, since it builds up in the system, small doses over time are equally fatal.
Cyanide, another poison, is commonly said to smell like "bitter almonds." It's a component of the poisonous gas that was used in Nazi Germany and is still used today in gas-chamber executions in the United States.
Belladonna (aka "deadly nightshade") is a poisonous plant which, in sub-lethal doses, may cause hallucinations and is thought to be a component of the "flying ointment" used by medieval witches. It contains the alkaloid scopolamine, which in minute doses is used by ophthalmologists to induce dilation of pupils; but mostly it causes death.
"Crippin" refers to Hawley Harvey Crippen, a homeopathic doctor who was famously executed in 1910 for the murder of his second wife Cora Turner; there was evidence that he poisoned her with scopolamine--however, since scopolamine is commonly used in homeopathy, some say it was an accidental overdose.
I think the song is really Kate Bush's humorous rejection of homeopathic medicine, which was a popular fad at the time the song was written.
Arsenic is a poison that causes a slow, painful death; historically, it has been used in many famous murders. A large does is fatal, but, since it builds up in the system, small doses over time are equally fatal.
Cyanide, another poison, is commonly said to smell like "bitter almonds." It's a component of the poisonous gas that was used in Nazi Germany and is still used today in gas-chamber executions in the United States.
Belladonna (aka "deadly nightshade") is a poisonous plant which, in sub-lethal doses, may cause hallucinations and is thought to be a component of the "flying ointment" used by medieval witches. It contains the alkaloid scopolamine, which in minute doses is used by ophthalmologists to induce dilation of pupils; but mostly it causes death.
"Crippin" refers to Hawley Harvey Crippen, a homeopathic doctor who was famously executed in 1910 for the murder of his second wife Cora Turner; there was evidence that he poisoned her with scopolamine--however, since scopolamine is commonly used in homeopathy, some say it was an accidental overdose.
I think the song is really Kate Bush's humorous rejection of homeopathic medicine, which was a popular fad at the time the song was written.