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.

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    of Holland’s translation of Pliny just about the date of the first [168] quarto edition of Hamlet lends further support to this view. Much has been made of, by older writers, of Shakespeare’s description of the effects of the poison as an argument for and against the yew or the henbane theory by the respective critics on the one side or the other. These arguments are amusing to the modern toxicologist, as we cannot say that the symptoms pictured in the passage before us are more applicable to the one poison than the other. Nor have we a right to expect the author to have known the detailed symptomatology pro¬ duced by either. Three features are mentioned in connection with the hebona or hebenon poisoning which we are discussing. Firstly, Shakespeare speaks of the rapidity of the toxic effect: “ Swift as quicksilver it courses through The natural gates and alleys of the body.” Secondly, reference is made to peculiar leprosy-like cutaneous manifestations of the poisonous effect: “ A most instant tetter barck’d about Most lazar-like, with vile and loathsome crust All my smooth body.” Thirdly, mention is made as to the circulatory effect: “ With a sudden vigour it doth posset And curd, like eager droppings into milk, The thin and wholesome blood.” It cannot be said that the yew-poisoning runs a more rapid course than that following hyoscyamus. Both are rapid in their action. Harrison quotes an old French writer as stating that the yew-tree gives rise to a characteristic cutaneous eruption and uses this point as a strong argument in favor of hebona, the yew. None of the modern authorities, however, describe any specific cutaneous lesions in connection with poisoning by taxus haccdta. In fact, skin eruptions result perhaps more commonly after the giving of hyoscyamus and belladonna even in non-lethal doses. Lewin describes erythema, urti¬ caria, pustules, and even purpura occurring in sensitive per¬ sons after therapeutic doses of hyoscyamus preparations. Nor does modern toxicology and pharmacology show any specific ejffect of toxin or hyoscyamin on the blood corpuscles or the [169] plasma, so that Shakespeare’s simile must be taken merely as