Poison
The treatment of various types of Poison including plant poisons, the bites of venomous animals and insects, and metal and mineral poisons has been an important part of medicine from a very early time. In the most basic primitive tribes, knowledge of plants used against local poisons is one of the earliest classes of medicines to be recognized.
During the Ancient Greece and Roman periods, poisons were well known and often used. This led to the composition of great compounds against poison, the pinnacle of which was Mithridate named after its inventor King Mithridate of Pontus who ruled 120–63 BCE. So paranoid was he of poisoning that he spent years learning antidotes against various Poisons. Many of these were composed into his grand antidote Mithridate, containing over 60 ingredients, and used as a universal antidote for nearly 2 millennia.
1. Animal Poison
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Snake Bite 1. Blackberry: ‘The Berries or the Flowers are a powerful remedy against the Poison of the most Venomous Serpents, as well drunk as outwardly applied. (Culpeper) 2. Centuary: ‘A dram of the Powder thereof taken in Wine, is a wonderful good help against the biting and Poison of the Adder’. (Culpeper) 3. Elecampane ‘stays the spreading of the venom of Serpents’. 4. Germander: ‘It is most effectual against the Poison of all Serpents, being drunk in Wine and the bruised herb outwardly applied used with Honey’. (Culpeper) 5. ‘Sometimes Poisons are so great puislant to Poison, that Wolfsbane [Aconitum napellus] given in warm wine is approved to be a most wholesome medicament for those that are stung by a Viper or a Scorpion, as some most experienced physicians affirm’. (Mizaldus) 6. A small amount of Realgar (about 200mg) can be taken with several crushed Garlic cloves, washed down with water. |
Rabies 1. ‘It will not be amiss to add here what was showed by an Oracle, that the root of Eglantine Rose, or Sweet Briar, is the principle and only remedy against the biting of a Mad Dog’. (The Secrets of Art and Nature) 2. ‘An old German physician claimed to have cured 47 cases of Hydrophobia with Elecampane, without a single failure’. (Ellingwood’s Therapeutist) 3. An ancient Greek remedy was to rub the part bitten with Garlic, and then drink a decoction of the same. This has been used by several Physicians in the past century or so with reportedly good success. 4. Beat Rue, mix with Olive oil and apply. The same can be taken internally. 5. Beat Walnuts and Alum and apply. 6. Burn paper to ashes, mix into a paste with Oil and apply. Powder Against Rabies Theriac of Crabs |
2. Plant Poisons
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Opium 1. Feverfew: ‘It is an especial Remedy against Opium taken too liberally’. (Culpeper) 2. Mugwort: ‘The Herb it self being fresh or the Juice thereof taken, is a special Remedy upon the overmuch taking of Opium’. (Culpeper) 3. Asafetida Aconite 1. Fresh Ginger 2. Licorice 3. Asafetida 4. Garlic 5. Ground Pine: ‘It is an especial Remedy for the Poison of the Aconites of all sorts’. (Culpeper) 6. Herb True-Love: ‘The Leaves or Berries hereof are effectual to expel Poison of all sorts, especially that of the Aconites’. (Culpeper) 7. Borax |
Poisonous Mushrooms 1. Vomit as soon as possible 2. Give Rue, Marjoram and Honey in drink 3. Theriac or Mithridate 4. Eating raw Garlic is said to counteract Toxic Mushrooms and was used by the peasants instead of Theriac. |
3. Mineral Poisons
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Mercury Garlic China root Sarsaparilla Lead Lemon juice Garlic Horsetail |
General Formulas Against Poison
1. Child’s Urine mixed with wine and drunk. (Syrian “Book of Medicine“)
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Bezoardic Powder of Viper Bezoardic Powder of Deer horn Troches of Vipers Red Hungarian Powder The Saxonian Powder Powder for Mortal Poison The Goa Stone Electuary Against Poison of Frankfurt Electuary of Juniper Berries Electuary of Nuts Electuary of Sulphur (Unani) Theriac of 4 Ingredients (Diatessaron) Theriac of Sealed Earth The Orvietan Antidote Hiera Logadii Theriac Mithridate Tincture of Rue Treacle Vinegar of France Hiera Logadii Great Decoction 25 (Thang chen nyer lnga) Indian Bael Pills (Bilwadi Gutika) (Ayurveda) |