Poisoning of Socrates with a poison mixture was well documented and poison Hemlock had been identified as the main ingredient
Also coniine is among the first isolated alkaloids
With the progress in chemistry in the second half of 19th century, isolation and identification of chemical structure of coniine was established
Because of its popularity as a toxic substance since historical times, pharmacological studies concerning coniine had started quite early, in the 1890s.
First publication concerning physiological actions of coniine was published in 1898