Introduction - Uppsala Monitoring Centre

drugs’ said of henbane: ‘The black (Henbane niger seeds) are
accounted poisonous: but they are not used.’ (see 1735).
1756 ‘A mechanical account of poisons in several essays’ by Richard
Mead. 5 th edition (1 st edition 1702) London: J. Brindley,
Mercury Sublimate: ‘violent griping pains, distension of the belly,
vomiting of a slimy frothy matter, sometimes mixed with blood and
stools of the same, an intolerable heat and thirst with cold sweats,
tremblings, convulsions... spasms, contractions, palsies’. Compare
the wording with that of De Quincy in 1718.
‘The Effects of Semen Hyoscyamui Albi’ by Dr Archibald Hamilton:
‘Lassitude, dryness of throat, swallowing was like to choke him,
gripes in his belly, convulsions, tremors, startings, eyes open and
rolling, insomnia, degree of insensibility after nearly 25 grs.’
(Hamilton, 1756).
1757 ‘l-hsüeh Yüan Liu Lun’ (WG) by Hsu Ta-Ch’un. The author in
chapter 22 says ‘It is difficult to kill a person through [a treatment
with] the wrong drugs’ and goes on to say ‘Only drugs with a very hot
or very dry [nature] kill people in a most violent way. The reason is
that hot natured drugs are often toxic. Also their yang nature is
urgent and fierce. As soon as they enter the body’s viscera and
bowels, the blood bubbles up and the influences rise. If a person’s
yin influences were depleted beforehand, or if it is a hot day, or if the
patient has been harmed by summer-heat or [other] heat already, as
soon as he takes hot [drugs] the two fires clash, and all types of
terrible symptoms will appear at the same time. [The patient’s] eyes
turn red and his stools are blocked, his tongue loses its moisture and
his teeth dry out. His mouth is thirsty and his heart is troubled, his
flesh shows cracks and his spirit is disturbed.’ (Unschuld, 1998). This
is the only instance in which I have found adverse event symptoms
have been given in the early Chinese literature other than in 1596.
The symptoms are those of the Solanaceae family containing
tropane alkaloids, e.g. henbane.
Dr You-Ping Zhu of the Hwa To Centre for Chinese medicine at
Groningen University commented ‘You are probably right in thinking
that classical Chinese herbal texts do not mention specific adverse
reactions associated with specific herbs. In TCM, safety is taken into
consideration in the overall treatment strategy in relation to patients’
specific conditions rather than simply look at specific herbs
independent of patients’ conditions.’ (personal communication,
2008).