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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    Hebona oe Hebenon Various explanations of these words are given by different [166] scholars. I have found altogether five interpretations: some holding that hebona or hebenon means the yew-tree; others that it refers to henbane or hyoscyamus niger; still others explain it as ebony; a few suggest that the word may refer to hemlock; and a few others think that the deadly nightshade or belladonna is here meant. Thus Grey ^ says, Hebenon stands by metathesis, for hene- bon, that is, henbane, of which the most common kind, hyoscya¬ mus niger is certainly narcotic, and perhaps, if taken in con¬ siderable quantity, might prove poisonous.” Singer ^ says: The French word hebenin applied to anything made from ebony comes indeed very close to the hebenon of Shakespeare.” Elze® suggests: Perhaps should we not conjecture that hem¬ lock was intended here ? ” Beisley “ states, on what grounds it is not clear, that “ Hebenon might have been originally written eneron, one of the names common at that time for solanum maniacum, called also the deadly nightshade.” Tschisohwitz ® says: Hebona can be only a mistaken substitution of the Spanish and Italian ebano, the French ebene and the Latin ebenus and hebenus, all of which mean ebony. Nicholson “ and Harrison,^ on the other hand, both of whom are profound Shakespearean scholars, adduce some very good evidence that hebona is the original reading and that it refers to the yew- tree, well known to the ancients for its poisonous properties. A review of all the evidence on the subject leaves only two explanations of the word worthy of consideration: that of hebona, meaning the yew-tree, and that of hebenon as a cor¬ ruption of the word henbane. Concerning Heben, the Yew-Tree There is a great deal of evidence in favor of the hebona of the quarto texts of Hamlet as having reference to the English yew-tree or taxus baccata. Though the form hebona is some¬ what unusual, the word hebon is not uncommon among other Elizabethan writers. Thus in Marlowe^s Jew of Malta, Act III, Scene 4, we find: . . . . “ The blood of Hydra, Lerna’s bane The Juice of Hebon, and Cocytus’ breath.”