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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    [166] where hebon is generally taken for heben, the yew-tree, branches of which were much used by archers in old England for mak¬ ing their bows. In Spenser^s Eaerie Queene, we find the fol¬ lowing verses: “Lay now thy deadly Heben bow apart” (I, Pr. 3, 5). “ His speare of heben wood behind him bare ” (I, vii, 37, 2). “ Trees of bitter gall and Heben sad ” (II, vii, 52, 2). “Heben lance and covered shield” (II, viii, 19, 6). The yew-tree, taxus baccata, has borne the reputation of being poisonous from remote antiquity. Dioscorides, speaking of the Juice of green yew leaves, writes that it speedily pro¬ duces death.® Pliny speaks of it as “ taxus tristis et dira,’^ and adds that drinking-cups made from this tree were found [167] to impart a deadly property to the wines drunk out of them. Statius,^ Lucretius “ and Plutarch,^ all describe the taxus or yew-tree as being poisonous. Metuendaque succo taxus,^^ says the first of these; the Juice of the yew is to be feared.^’ Nicholson indeed points out that Shakespeare’s expression, cursqd hebona ” and holds such enmity with blood of man,” may have been suggested by Pliny’s description of the plant. Spenser’s epithet of deadly ” applied to the heben bow must also refer to the poisonous properties of the yew. Shakespeare himself mentions the yew-tree four times in his plays and in every case connects it with death or some sad event. Thus in Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene 4, line 55, we read: “ My shroud of white, stuck all with yew, 0 prepare it.” In Titus Andronicus, Act II, Scene 3, line 107, we read: “ But straight they told me they would bind me here, Unto the body of a dismal yew.” In Macbeth, Act IV, Scene 1, line 27, the witches howl: “ Slippes of yew Silvered in the moon’s eclipse.” And in Richard II, Act III, Scene 2, line 113, we find: “ Learn to bend their bows Of double fatal yew.” The expression “ double fatal ” in the last quotation refers evidently to the poisonous properties of the yew in addition to its being a weapon of warfare. All the citations given above