In article ,
Jeff Layman wrote:

The trouble is that unlike modern insecticides, those from 80 years ago
are deadly to us in a very short time. Screw up and you /don't/ get a
second chance. You may find it interesting that the book recommends
glasshouse fumigation by using cyanide! That's bad enough, but the
method would give kittens to even those who care little about
elf'n'safety. Basically, you put a jar of conc sulphuric acid in the
middle of the greenhouse, and drop solid potassium cyanide in it. Then
run for the door, making sure you don't trip on the way out!

Merely strong dilute, surely? Concentrated would oxidise quite
quite a lot of the cyanide on the way out!

Apparently, that method was used on ships against rats, had to
be done in the hold (cyanide is very light), and the electricity
had to be off. The people who did it needed to study the way
out when on the way in very carefully! That's reliable second-
hand information, by the way.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.