A pharmacological appreciation of Shakespeare's Hamlet : on instillation of poisons into the ear / by David I. Macht.

  • Macht, David I.
Date:
[1918]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A pharmacological appreciation of Shakespeare's Hamlet : on instillation of poisons into the ear / by David I. Macht. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/28 (page 8)
    [168] English translation of Pliny by Holland appeared in 1600. Inasmuch as the first quarto edition of Hamlet was probably written in 1600, though not published until 1603, Shakespeare undoubtedly must have been familiar with Holland's work and very probably might have had it in mind in issuing the later editions, and for that reason might have changed the reading of hebona to hebenon. On the Toxicology of Hyoscyamus The poisonous properties of hyoscyamus or henbane are too well known to be given here in detail. Henbane is certainly just as poisonous and in fact more poisonous than the yew-tree. Cases of poisoning with hyoscyamus are not at all uncommon and are described in the literature, ancient, medieval and • modern. Detailed descriptions of such cases may be found in Blyth, Robert, Kunkel, Peterson and Haines and other text-books on toxicology. It is well to bear in mind, further¬ more, that while hyoscyamin, the lethal dose of which is a little over one grain, is the principal constituent of hyoscyamus niger, the crude plant also contains variable quantities of the even more powerful alkaloids, atropin and liyoscin or sco- polamin. The minimal lethal doses of hyoscin are even less than that of hyoscyamin. A strong extract of hyoscyamus would therefore be a very powerful poison. Discussion Whether hebona or yew-tree, or whether hebenon or henbane, is the correct reading in the passage before us will probably be never settled, nor will we venture to assert an opinion as to which drug or poison Shakespeare meant. Indeed, for the appreciation of Hamlet either reading may be chosen. As a pharmacologist, however, I cannot help surmising that both hebona and hebenon might have been written by Shakespeare himself. It would not be too far-fetched to suppose that the idea of a powerful poison was suggested to the author by the yew-tree on the one hand, while the unusual administration of it through the ears was suggested by henbane, on the other. Certainly the practice of instilling hyoscyamus into the ear was not unknown in Shakespeare’s times, and the appearance