Hyoscyamus, commonly called henbane, is a herb which has been employed from remote times. Benedictus Crispus, Archbishop of Milan, in a work written shortly before A.D. 681, alludes to it under the name of hyoscyamus and symphoniaca, and in the tenth century its virtues are particularly recorded by Macer Floridus. In the early Anglo-Saxon works it is called henbell and sometimes belene. In a French herbal of the fifteenth century it is called hanibane or hanebane. From a very early period it has been employed as a sedative and anodyne, for producing sleep, although simple hallucinations sometimes accompany its use.
An old tradition states, that once in the refectory of an ancient monastery the monks were served with henbane, instead of some harmless root, in error by the cook. After partaking of the dish, they were seized with the most extraordinary hallucinations. At midnight one monk sounded the bell for matins, while others walked in the chapel and opened their books, but could not read. Others sang roystering drinking songs and performed mountebank antics, which convulsed the others with uncontrollable laughter, and the pious monastery for the nonce was turned into an asylum. Certain stones which were sold for large sums of money were supposed to change colour when brought near a poisonous substance, and they were consequently much sought after by high personages. The horn of the unicorn was said to become moist when placed near poisoned food. Bickman records his belief that several slow poisons were known to the ancients which cannot now be identified. The Carthaginians also seem to have been acquainted with similar poisons, and, according to tradition, administered some to Regulus, the Roman general. But we cannot endorse Bickman's belief.
An incident which happened to the army led by Mark Antony against the Parthians, and described by Plutarch, is said to have been caused by aconite. At one time during the expedition, "the soldiers being very short of provisions, sought for roots and pot-herbs ... and met one that brought on madness and death. The eater immediately lost all memory and knowledge, busying himself at the same time in turning and moving every stone he met with, as if he were on some important pursuit. The camp was full of unhappy men stooping to the ground, and digging up and removing stones, till at last they were carried off by bilious vomiting.... Whole numbers perished, and the Parthians still continued to harass them. Antony is said to have frequently exclaimed: 'Oh! the ten thousand!' alluding to the army which Xenophon led in retreat; both a longer way and through more numerous conflicts, and yet led in safety."
Nine active or virulent poisons are mentioned by most ancient writers on Indian medicine, many of which are at present not identified. Most of them are apparently varieties of aconite. Besides these, they employed opium, gunja, datura, roots of Nerium odorum and Gloriosa superba, the milky juices of Calotropis gigantea and Euphorbia neriifolia, white arsenic, orpiment, and the poison extracted from the fangs of serpents.
Most of the older Sanscrit MSS. are written on paper prepared with orpiment to preserve them from the ravages of insects. Three varieties of Datura yield atropine, a powerful poison. These plants were frequently employed in India for putting a sudden end to domestic quarrels, and to this practice may be traced the origin of the custom of "Suttee," or widow burning, as the Brahmins found from experience that, by making a wife's life conterminous with the husband's the average husband lived considerably longer.
It is worthy of note that the diamond was celebrated as a medicinal agent by the Hindoos, who prepared it by roasting seven times and then reducing it to powder. It was given in doses of one grain as a powerful tonic.
[1] The celebrated "Orvietano" was doubtless some preparation of antimony.