Penny le Couteur & Jay Burreson (39 page)

Toxicity alone has been enough to ensure fame for some alkaloids. The poisonous component of the hemlock plant,
Conium maculatum,
responsible for the death of the philosopher Socrates in 399 B.C., is the alkaloid coniine. Socrates, convicted on charges of irreligion and the corruption of the young men of Athens, was sentenced to death by drinking a potion made from the fruit and seeds of hemlock. Coniine has one of the simplest structures of all the alkaloids, but it can be just as lethal a poison as more complicated alkaloid structures such as that of strychnine, from the seeds of the Asiatic tree
Strychnos nux-vomica.

In their “flying salves”—greases and ointments that supposedly promoted flight—witches often included extracts from mandrake, belladonna, and henbane. These plants all belong to the
Solanaceae
or nightshade family. The mandrake plant,
Mandragora officinarum,
with its branched root said to resemble the human form, is native to the Mediterranean region. It has been used since ancient times as a means of restoring sexual vitality and as a soporific. There are a number of curious legends surrounding the mandrake plant. When pulled from the ground, it was said to emit piercing screams. Whoever was in the vicinity was in danger from both the associated smell and the unearthly cry. That such a characteristic was common knowledge is reflected in Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet,
where Juliet says: “. . . with loathsome smells, and shrieks like mandrakes' torn out of the earth, / That living mortals, hearing them, run mad.” The mandrake plant was rumored to grow beneath a gallows, springing to life from the released semen of the condemned men hanged there.

The second plant used in flying ointments was belladonna or deadly nightshade (
Atropa belladonna
). The name comes from the practice, common among women in Italy, of dropping juice squeezed from the black berries of this plant into their eyes. The resulting dilation of the pupil was thought to increase their beauty; hence
belladonna,
Italian for “beautiful lady.” Greater amounts of deadly nightshade taken internally would eventually induce a deathlike slumber. It was probable that this was also commonly known and possible that this was the potion drunk by Juliet. Shakespeare wrote (in
Romeo and Juliet
) “through all thy veins shall run/A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse shall keep,” but eventually “in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk death/Thou shalt continue two and forty hours, / And then awake as from a pleasant sleep.”

The third member of the nightshade family, henbane, was probably
Hyoscyamus niger,
though other species might also have been used in witch's potions. It has a long history as a soporific, a pain reliever (particularly for toothache), an anesthetic, and possibly a poison. The properties of henbane also seem to have been well known: Shakespeare was again only reflecting the common knowledge of his time when Hamlet was told by his father's ghost that “thy uncle stole, / With juice of cursed hebona in a vial, / And in the porches of mine ears did pour / The leperous distilment.” The word
hebona
has been ascribed to both the yew and ebony trees as well as henbane, but from a chemical viewpoint we think henbane makes more sense.

Mandrake, deadly nightshade, and henbane all contain a number of very similar alkaloids. The two main ones, hyoscyamine and hyoscine, are found in all three plants in varying proportions. One form of hyoscyamine is known as atropine and is still valued today, in very dilute solutions, to dilate the pupil of the eye for ophthalmic examinations. Large concentrations produce blurry vision, agitation, and even delirium. One of the first symptoms of atropine poisoning is the drying up of bodily fluids. This property is taken advantage of in prescribing atropine, where excess saliva or mucus secretion may interfere with surgery. Hyoscine, also known as scopolamine, has gained a probably undeserved reputation as a truth serum.

Combined with morphine, scopolamine is used as the anesthetic known as “twilight sleep,” but whether one babbles the truth under its effect or just babbles is not clear. Still, writers of detective novels have always liked the thought of a truth serum, and it will probably continue to be quoted as such. Scopolamine, like atropine, has antisecretory and euphoric properties. In small amounts it combats travel sickness. U.S. astronauts use scopolamine as a treatment for motion sickness in space.

As bizarre as it might seem, the poisonous compound atropine acts as an antidote for groups of even more toxic compounds. Nerve gases such as sarin—released by terrorists in the Tokyo subway in April of 1995—and organophosphate insecticides, such as parathion, act by preventing the normal removal of a messenger molecule that transmits a signal across a nerve junction. When this messenger molecule is not removed, nerve endings are continuously stimulated, which leads to convulsions and, if the heart or lungs are affected, to death. Atropine blocks the production of this messenger molecule, so provided the right dosage is given, it is an effective remedy for sarin or parathion.

What is now known about the two alkaloids atropine and scopolamine, and was obviously known by the witches of Europe, is that neither is particularly soluble in water. As well, they would have recognized that swallowing these compounds might lead to death rather than the euphoric and intoxicating sensations they wanted. Hence extracts of mandrake, belladonna, and henbane were dissolved in fats or oils, and these greases were applied to the skin. Absorption through the skin—transdermal delivery—is a standard method of taking certain medications today. The nicotine patch for those trying to quit smoking and some travel sickness remedies and hormonal replacement therapies use this route.

As the records of witches' flying salves show, the technique was known hundreds of years ago as well. Today we know that the most efficient absorption is where the skin is the thinnest and blood vessels lie just under the surface; thus vaginal and rectal suppositories are used to ensure rapid absorption of medications. Witches must also have known this fact of anatomy, as flying ointments were said to be smeared all over the body or rubbed under the arms and, coyly, “in other hairy places.” Some reports said witches applied the grease to the long handle of a broom and, sitting astride, rubbed the atropine-and-scopolamine-containing mixture onto the genital membranes. The sexual connotations of these accounts are obvious, as are the early engravings of naked or partially clothed witches astride broomsticks, applying salves and dancing around cauldrons.

The chemical explanation is, of course, that the supposed witches did not fly on broomsticks to sabbats. The flights were ones of fancy, illusions brought on by the hallucinatory alkaloids. Modern accounts of hallucinogenic states from scopolamine and atropine sound remarkably like the midnight adventures of witches: the sensation of flying or falling, distorted vision, euphoria, hysteria, a feeling of leaving the body, swirling surroundings, and encounters with beasts. The final stage of the process is a deep, almost comalike sleep.

It is not difficult to imagine how, in a time steeped in sorcery and superstition, users of flying ointments really did believe they had flown through the night sky and taken part in wild dancing and wilder revelries. The hallucinations from atropine and scopolamine have been described as particularly vivid. A witch would have no reason to believe the effects of her flying ointment were solely in her mind. It is also not difficult to imagine how the knowledge of this wonderful secret was passed on—and it would have been considered a wonderful secret. Life for most women in these times was hard. Work was never ending, disease and poverty ever present, and a woman's control over her own destiny unheard of. A few hours of freedom, riding the skies to a gathering where one's sexual fantasies were played out, then waking up safely in one's own bed must have been a great temptation. But unfortunately the temporary escape from reality created by the molecules of atropine and scopolamine often proved fatal, as women accused of witchcraft who confessed to such imagined midnight exploits were burned at the stake.

Along with mandrake, deadly nightshade, and henbane, other plants were included in flying ointments: foxglove, parsley, monkshood, hemlock, and thorn apple are listed in historical accounts. There are toxic alkaloids in monkshood and hemlock, toxic glycosides in foxglove, hallucinogenic myristicin in parsley, and atropine and scopolamine in thorn apple. Thorn apple is a
Datura;
devil's apple, angel's trumpet, stinkweed, and jimsonweed are some of the other plants in this genus. Now widely distributed in the warmer parts of the world,
Datura
furnished alkaloids for witches in Europe as well as for initiation rites and other ceremonial occasions in Asia and the Americas. Folklore associated with
Datura
usage in these countries reveals hallucinations involving animals, a very common aspect of witches' flights. In parts of Asia and Africa
Datura
seeds are included in mixtures to be smoked. Absorption into the bloodstream through the lungs is a very rapid method of obtaining a “hit” from an alkaloid, as European tobacco smokers later discovered in the sixteenth century. Cases of atropine poisoning are still reported today, with thrill-seekers using flowers, leaves, or seeds of
Datura
to pursue a high.

A number of plants from the nightshade family were introduced into Europe from the New World soon after the journeys of Columbus. Some that contained alkaloids—tobacco (
Nicotiana
) and peppers (
Capsicum
)—gained immediate acceptance, but surprisingly, other members of this family—tomatoes and potatoes—were initially regarded with great suspicion.

Other alkaloids that are chemically similar to atropine are found in the leaves of several species of
Erythroxylon,
the coca tree, native to parts of South America. The coca tree is not a member of the nightshade family—an unusual situation, as related chemicals are normally found in related species. But historically plants were classified on morphological features. Revisions now consider chemical components and DNA evidence.

The main alkaloid in the coca tree is cocaine. Coca leaves have been used as a stimulant for hundreds of years in the highland areas of Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia. The leaves are mixed with a paste of lime, then tucked between the gum and the cheek, where the alkaloids, released slowly, help counter fatigue, hunger, and thirst. It has been estimated that the amount of cocaine absorbed this way is less than half a gram daily, which is not addictive. This traditional method of coca alkaloid use is similar to our use of the alkaloid caffeine in coffee and tea. But cocaine, extracted and purified, is a different matter.

Isolated in the 1880s, cocaine was considered to be a wonder drug. It had amazingly effective local anesthetic properties. Psychiatrist Sigmund Freud considered cocaine a medical panacea and prescribed it for its stimulating properties. He also used it to treat morphine addiction. But it soon became obvious that cocaine itself was extremely addictive, as addictive as any other known substance. It produces a rapid and extreme euphoria, followed by an equally extreme depression, leaving the user craving another euphoric high. The disastrous consequences on human health and modern society of abuse of cocaine are well known. The cocaine structure is, however, the basis for a number of extremely useful molecules developed as topical and local anesthetics. Benzocaine, novocaine, and lidocaine are compounds that mimic the pain-destroying action of cocaine by blocking transmission of nerve impulses, but they lack cocaine's ability to stimulate the nervous system or disrupt heart rhythm. Many of us have thankfully experienced the numbing effect of these compounds in the dentist's chair or the hospital emergency room.