Introduction - Uppsala Monitoring Centre

types of hellebore. There was a gap of 700 years from 873 to 1491 without any
reports of toxicity.
Those AEs reported prior to 1000 AD: death, thirst, mouth and throat burning,
swelling of tongue and throat, shivering, trembling, vomiting, diarrhoea, burning in
the stomach, convulsion, palpitation of the heart, somnolence, and itching.
Late arrivals – after 1800: salivation, stupor, collapse, precordial oppression,
heart failure, dizziness, watery eyes, dimness of vision, dilated pupils, difficulty in
swallowing, headache and tinnitus. (those in italics first described by Hahnemann).
It is difficult to find any reason why those reported after 1800 should not have
been discovered earlier.
Present day evidence emphasises salivation, burning in the mouth and throat as
well as bradycardia. Again the different phraseology makes it difficult to know
whether the ancients were describing the same thing as the modern writers. Reports
by different authors tend to confirm that an event was caused by the drug, but
several authors have been known to copy verbatim from previous authors so it is not
absolute confirmation.
Chapter 10. Henbane
ndications: inflammation, gout, pain, eye diseases, to stop bleeding, palpitations,
I
excessive lacrimation, helping eyelids to grow, toothache, earache, insanity,
epilepsy, and black bile (Lev & Amar, 2008).
Table 5. Adverse reactions to Henbane
* = Scopolamine bold type indicates a symptom mentioned in aphorism
Dry
mouth/throat
1756 x x
Thirst 1729, 1763 x x x