POISONS AND SUPERSTITION
AMONG the ignorant, poisons have ever been closely associated with
superstition, and thus we find in the dark ages, even among the more
civilized nations of the West, a belief in the occult concerning those
things the action of which they did not understand. To most of the
poisonous herbs used by the ancients certain curious superstitions were
attached. The mandrake, in particular, excited the greatest veneration
on this account. It is supposed this plant is the same which the
ancient Hebrews called Dudaïm. That these people held it in the highest
esteem in the days of Jacob is evident from the notice of its having
been found by Reuben, who carried it to his mother; and the inducement
which tempted Leah to part with it proves the value then set upon this
remarkable plant. It was believed to possess the property of making
childless wives become mothers. Mandrake was among the more important
drugs employed by the ancients for producing anæsthesia. Doses of the
wine made from the root were administered before amputating a limb
or the application of the hot iron cautery. Pliny says: "Mandrake is
taken against serpents, and before cutting and puncture, lest they be
felt. Sometimes the smell is sufficient." According to Apuleius, half
an ounce of the wine would make a person insensible even to the pain of
amputation. Lyman states it was this wine, "mingled with myrrh," that
was offered to the Saviour on the Cross, it being commonly given to
those who suffered death by crucifixion to allay in some degree their
terrible agonies. In Shakespeare's time mandrake still kept its place
in public estimation as a narcotic. Thus we have Cleopatra asking for
the drug, that she may "sleep out this great gap of time" while her
Antony is away; and Iago, when his poison begins to work in the mind of
the Moor, exclaims--
"Not poppy, nor mandragora
Nor all the drowsy syrups of this world,
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep."
Some of the old names applied to the plant, such as semihomo and
anthropomorphon, refer to the appearance of the root, while the
term "love-apples" applied to the fruit relates to their imaginary
aphrodisiacal properties. It is mentioned in the Scriptures in
connexion with such episodes. Josephus states "baaras" (supposed to
be mandrake) was capable of expelling demons from those possessed.
Demosthenes, the Athenian orator, is said to have compared his
lethargic hearers to those who had eaten mandrake. Dioscorides states
that "a drachm of mandragora taken in a draught, or eaten in a cake,
causes infatuation, and takes away the use of reason." The Greeks
bestowed on it the name of "Circeium" derived from the witch Circe.
They believed that when the mandrake was dragged up from the earth, it
gave a dreadful shriek, and struck the daring person dead who had had
the presumption to pull it up. The method of obtaining it, therefore,
was by fastening the plant to the tail of a dog, who thus drew the root
from the ground. The shriek was supposed to be due to an evil spirit
who dwelt in the plant. The Romans also were very particular in the
manner in which they obtained the root. Pliny tells us that he who
would undertake this office should stand with his back to the wind,
and before he begins to dig, make three circles round the plant with
the point of a sword, and then turning to the west proceed to take it
up. The small roots, which are much twisted and gnarled, sometimes
bear a resemblance to the form of man, and this was turned to account
by some of the old German doctors, who fashioned them into rude images
and sold them as preventives of evil and danger. They called them
Abrunes. These images were regularly dressed every day and consulted as
oracles and were manufactured in great numbers. They were introduced
into England in the time of Henry VIII, and met with ready purchasers.
To increase their value and importance, the roots were said by the
vendors to be produced from the flesh of criminals which fell from the
gibbet and that they only grew in such situations. Lord Bacon notices
their use in the following paragraph--"Some plants there are, but rare,
that have a morsie or downie root, and likewise that have a number of
threads like beards, as mandrakes, whereof witches and impostours make
an ugly image, giving it the form of a face at the top of the root,
and these strings to make a broad beard down to the foot." Madame de
Genlis states that "the mandrake roots should be wrapped in a sheet,
for that then they will bring increasing good luck." The plant is still
used medicinally in China, where it is said to be largely taken by the
mandarins, who believe it will give them increased intellectual powers
and prolong their lives. From recent investigation the activity of the
mandrake root is proved to be due to an alkaloid called mandragorine.
The black hellebore, Melampus root or Christmas rose, another poisonous
plant known to the ancients, was believed to have magical properties.
It was called after Melampus, a great physician, who flourished at
Pylos, about one hundred years after the time of Moses, or about one
thousand five hundred and thirty years before the birth of Christ. He
is reputed to have cured the daughters of Proetus, King of Argos, of
mental derangement with hellebore. Pliny mentions that the daughters
of Proetus were restored to their senses by drinking the milk of goats
which had fed on hellebore. Black hellebore root was used by the
ancients to purify their homes and to hallow their dwellings, and they
believed that by strewing it about it would drive away evil spirits.
This ceremony was performed with great devotion, and accompanied with
the singing of solemn hymns. They also blessed their cattle in the same
manner with hellebore to keep them free from spells of the wicked.
For these purposes it was dug up with many religious ceremonies--such
as drawing a circle round the plant with a sword; then, turning to
the east, a humble prayer was finally offered up by the devotee, to
Apollo and Aesculapius for leave to dig up the root. The flight of
the eagle was particularly attended to during the ceremony, for when
this bird approached near the spot during the celebration of the
rite, it was considered so ominous as to predict the certain death of
the person who uprooted the plant in the course of the year. Others
ate garlic previous to the rite, which was supposed to counteract
the poisonous effluvia of the plant. Dioscorides relates that when
Carneades, the Cyrenaic philosopher, undertook to answer the books of
Zeno, he sharpened his wit and quickened his spirit by purging his head
with powdered hellebore. It is recorded that the Gauls never went to
the chase without rubbing the point of their arrows with this herb,
believing that it rendered all the game killed with them the more
tender. It is of this plant Juvenal sarcastically observes: "Misers
need a double dose of hellebore."
With several uncivilised nations in Africa, the practice of compelling
persons accused of crime or witchcraft to undergo the ordeal of
swallowing some vegetable poison is still carried on. For this purpose
certain tribes in Western Africa use the Calabar bean, sometimes
called the ordeal bean, which contains a powerful poisonous principle,
called Physostigmine. It was customary, at one time, in Old Calabar,
and the mouth of the Niger, where the plant grows, to destroy it
whenever found, a few only being preserved to supply seeds for judicial
purposes, and of these seeds the store was kept in the custody of the
native chief. Witchcraft, indeed, may be said to play the chief part in
the daily life of all African natives, and to witchcraft they attribute
every ill that befalls them. Two classes of witchcraft are supposed
to exist--the one practised secretly by evil-doers, and the other
practised by the witch doctors with the view of destroying the effects
of the former. Witch doctors are, in fact, the greatest power in the
land; they hold the lives of all in their hands, and are daily employed
to satisfy the passions of their neighbours. "According to native
ideas," says one who has had a long experience among the native tribes,
"death or sickness never occurs through natural causes, but is always
the result of somebody's act. Whenever any one is accused of having
practised witchcraft, or of having committed any other crime, Calabar
bean or Muavi is used to decided the case. The taking of these is the
great trial by ordeal, and, usually, except when the accuser is a witch
doctor, accused and accuser have both to submit to the test. Chiefs,
however, may appoint a deputy to undergo the ordeal in their stead.
Muavi consists of a specially prepared drug, usually made by scraping
the wood of a certain tree known to the witch doctors; this is mixed
with water, and both parties swallow the decoction. In a very short
time the drug begins to act. Vomiting sets in, followed by convulsions
and death. Of course, in most cases the result depends on the dose
given. Sometimes both accuser and accused are seized with vomiting; in
that case the natives say that the medicine has been badly prepared,
and the operation is repeated. At other times both die; in that case
also the medicine was no good, but the trial cannot be renewed, as may
be readily understood. When the guilt of one of the parties has been
established by his death, his property is at once looted, his wife and
children being killed. So great, however, is the faith of the natives
in the infallibility of the Muavi test, and they so fully believe that
in case of innocence they will be proof against the deadly effects of
the drug, that they will never hesitate to submit themselves to the
trial; in fact, they will frequently volunteer to go through it, and
insist upon taking muavi even when falsely accused. From this account
it will be easily seen that the witch doctor who prepares the muavi can
easily get rid of any person he may wish. In some districts the drug
used for the trial, instead of causing death, when it has not acted as
an emetic, merely causes purging; but the result is the same, as the
man is at once put to death." This is probably due to a weaker decoction
of the drug having been prepared. The same traveller states, in many
instances his own men have offered to take muavi in order to refute the
slightest charge. Trial by ordeal, which still survives in the Dark
Continent, was practised by other and more civilized nations in the
early Christian era.