Introduction - Uppsala Monitoring Centre

Part. VII. Of poisons from plants
Part VIII. Of poisons that come from living creatures
Part IX. Of diseases by witchcraft, incantation, and charms
By Daniel Sennertus, N Culpeper, and Abdiah Cole, Doctors of
Physick. 1662’.
Opium: ‘is hot, which Scaliger Exercit 119 affirms, calling it by the
name of Amphiam or Aphioure, and also Vesalius Mercurialis, and
Capivaccius 120 , and Erastus 121 , and they confirm it by reasons:
1. Its inflaming and burning quality
2. Its strong scent
3. The bitter taste
4. Its burning the mouth and lips
5. Its causing thirst
6. Its heating the mind
7. It provokes venery
8. It causeth itching
9. It causeth sweat.’
Hellebore: ‘If it be taken in great quantity without preparation; it
purges violently upwards and downwards, and causes great pains in
the stomach and guts, hickets 122 , suffocation, difficult breathing,
trouble of mind, sudden weakness, heart-beating, and they die by
convulsions or suffocation.’
1664 ‘A brief examination and censure of several medicines of late years
extol’d for universal remedies and arcana’s of the highest preparation’
by George Starkey. ‘No less dangerous is that mercurial preparation
not more famous about town and country, for its monstrous price, then
infamous for its salivative quality, of which an ounce of fine gold is but
the perchase of eight grains (518 mgm), and that quantity exceeds a
single dose but one grain (65 mgm)’…
‘It would confirm the old scandal, that hath been from the
beginning thrown upon Chymical medicines, to wit, that they are full
of danger, and quickly Kill or Cure.’
1665 ‘Medicina Instaurata or: a brief account of the true grounds and
119 Scaliger Exercit = Julius Caesar Scaliger (1484-1558) an Italian physician who wrote ‘Exotericarum
exercitationen’ in 1557.
120 Capivaccius = Capivaccius Hieronimus (or Girolamo) (1523-1589) who wrote ‘Opusculmde differentiis
doctinarum logicis, philosophis, atque medicis pernecessarium’
121 Erastus = Thomas Erastus (1524-1583) A Swiss theologian
122 Hickets = hiccups