Introduction - Uppsala Monitoring Centre

Disturbed sleep 1597, 1619,
1756, 1763,
1776
Respiratory
depression
873 x x x
Coma x x x x
Death 370 BC, 777,
1595, 1619,
1733, 1789
x x x x
Allergic symptoms = pulmonary oedema and, oedema of glottis and uvula
Although the first mention of the use of henbane was in 3500 BC it is not until the
18 th century that most adverse events, other than mental problems, were reported.
Again there was a gap of 700 years with only two reports of toxicity 873 to 1595.
Prior to 1790 there is no mention of dry mouth, Loss of memory, hallucinations,
increased pulse, irritability, dysarthria, urine retention, diuresis, rash, sweating,
headache, tachypnea, confusion, paralysis, respiratory depression or coma. Those
in italics are those that could be explained by scientific terms not in use then. In the
King’s American dispensatory 1898 it says ‘On account of not producing headache,
it is preferred to opium’, although it goes on to say that henbane can cause it. This
may mean that it is rare. The aphorism ‘hot as a hare, blind as a bat, dry as a bone,
red as a beet, mad as a hen’ (Morton, 1939) and originally applied to atropine also
applies to hyoscyamus (bold in the table). Yet ‘dry mouth’ is not mentioned until
1898. The many mentions of disturbed sleep before contrasts with the period
afterwards where there is no mention.
There is a steadily increasing awareness of all the ADRs with the passing years
and by 1898 we have a full picture. Again it is difficult to pair off the graphic
descriptions of symptoms of bygone years with our more precise terminology, e.g.