Today’s Alkaline Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
The deadly form of cyanide is hydrogen cyanide (HCN) which requires acid for its formation. It is believed that infamous Russian monk Rasputin survived an attempted potassium cyanide poisoning in 1916 because his stomach was not acidic, a rare, but not unknown, condition.
Culled from: The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison
Rasputin’s is a favorite story of mine. So imagine my disappointment when I read, in “Royal Babylon” by Karl Shaw, that the doctor who was put in charge of poisoning the Mad Monk, Lazovert by name, confessed later that he had lost his nerve and not used the poison after all.