Abraham Lincoln used it as a laxative. Winston Churchill’s father, Lord Randolph Churchill, used it to treat syphilis. Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible may have been under its influence when he killed his son, Ivan Ivanovich, in 1581. The first Chinese emperor, Qin Shi Huang, died after drinking it. Ironically, he believed it would prolong […]
Mark James Miller
Central Coast novelist Mark James Miller is a retired Allan Hancock College English instructor and the author of Red Tide, The White Cockade and The Summer Soldiers. The opinions expressed are his own.
