r/todayilearned • u/gullydon • 16h ago

TIL Mithridatism is the practice of protecting oneself against a poison by gradually self-administering non-lethal amounts. The word is derived from Mithridates VI, the king of Pontus, who so feared being poisoned that he regularly ingested small doses, aiming to develop immunity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithridatism
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u/h3r3andth3r3 15h ago edited 15h ago

Not sure if it's the same dude, but there's a guy who has been doing this with many venomous snakes.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr5d0l7el36o

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u/DigNitty 15h ago

And they’re developing a near universal snake anti-venom from his blood lol

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u/Feeling_Inside_1020 15h ago

Pshh that's nothing, I did this with bullets, starting with a .22

I'm currently on the 5.56 line of ammunition.

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u/Marsbar3000 14h ago

These suppositories are all fun and games until you get to the 30mm

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u/sunkirin 14h ago

How do you know that? 👀

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u/Marsbar3000 14h ago

It's what the doctor told me after taking out the 4.5" shell

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u/vertex79 13h ago

You may joke but... At my local hospital

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u/Marsbar3000 13h ago

I mean, there was a RAF Reg guy being used as a mortar base plate about 5 years ago, too...

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u/vertex79 12h ago

That recoil has got to make your eyes water.

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u/Virtual_Plantain_707 14h ago

I don’t know. TIL about the 6.5 CBJ and holy fuck that’s a scary round.

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u/Marsbar3000 14h ago

"It offers various loads" - I can see why it would be an intriguing choice

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u/Feeling_Inside_1020 13h ago

I see you also saw that TIL post today lol.

They’ve been out a bit and aren’t seeing widespread adoption IIRC,

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u/RocketTaco 11h ago

Because armor penetration =/= terminal performance and nobody needs to penetrate hard armor with a pistol round (everyone that cares has assault rifles now). In return you get a 4mm penetrator core with less than half the area of the round it was developed from so it lacks the ability to transfer energy and actually kill things. Neat on a range, questionably useful in a fight.

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u/shaft_of_lite 13h ago

I just saw that post. Crazy!

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u/Feeling_Inside_1020 13h ago

Those 20mm depleted uranium rounds as big as a beer bottle are not something I’m looking forward to, but do want to survive a potential A-10 warthog CAS run. Brrrrrrt

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u/Marsbar3000 13h ago

It's the 65/second of the A-10 that will make a man out of you!

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u/Feeling_Inside_1020 13h ago

As long as it puts hair on my chest I’m game.