Were also used in six different versions of mithridatum reported by Galen ( 3). Various musks wereĬommonly used in perfumes and ointments to mask offensive odors, thus enhancing the overall aroma. The other two components were honey, for mixing the ingredients, and castor (musk from beaver glands). Thirty-four of which were from plants (Table 1 ⇓). This mithridatum contained thirty-six ingredients, The recommended dose was an amount the size of an almond, to be taken daily. Celsus proposed that the antidote was useful in seriousĬonditions, such as a fall from a height or for internal pains, and was necessary against poisons in food or venomous bites. Mithridates created the remedy now called mithridatum, possibly with the aid of his botanist-physician, Crataeus, and theĮarliest known formulae for mithridatum contain many of the ingredients suggested by Zopyrus plus some additional odoriferousĪbout 100 years after the death of Mithridates, Celsus wrote down a formula for mithridatum ( 4) that included fifteen of the twenty plants in Zopyrus’s formula. Most of the ingredients in megalium and cyphi ( 3). In the first century bce, Zopyrus, physician to King Ptolemy, in Alexandria, wrote a letter to Mithridates in which he described a remedy that included Used as an incense by priests in their rituals, as well as used as an unguent or potion ( 2). Centuries later, Plutarch described a similar mixture, called “Egyptian cyphi,” with some additional ingredients, that was Megalium contained five ingredients: A resin plus oil of balanos, cassia, cinnamon, and myrrh ( 1). Previous Section Next Section History of MithridatumĪbout 300 bce, Theophrastus wrote in his treatise on odors that a sweet-smelling mixture known as “megalium” could relieve the inflammationĬaused by any wound. Recent studies on secondary metabolites in plants, however, have opened the possibility of examining the ingredients of the Until well into the twentieth century, the study of pharmacology focused on alkaloids, from d-tubocurarine to morphine, that acted on receptors in the nervous system, and the old antidotes were forgotten or dismissed. Was isolated from opium and its structure determined, followed by other alkaloids, including a number of atropine-relatedĬompounds. Thus, it was thought that “systemic poisons” were present in illnesses and these could be ameliorated byĮarly in the nineteenth century, the attitude toward alkaloids changed they became compounds of interest as drugs. A “poison” could also develop inside a person without exposure to poisonous Lotions and potions believed to antagonize poisons. Venoms of poisonous animals were also included. A “poison” commonly referred to an extract of plants containing alkaloids such as henbane (hyoscyamine), wolf’sīane (aconitine), or poison hemlock (coniine). In Mithridates’s day, “poison” and “antidote” had somewhat different connotations than For the nextĢ000 years, an antidote called “mithridatum” or “mithridatium” was included in materia medica and pharmacopoeia throughout Europe. 63 bce), King of Pontus on the Black Sea, made himself immune to poisons by taking an antidote of his own devising.
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