Page 10 - Pharmacy History 34 February 2008

Mandrake –
An ancient herbal discovered
By Terry Sutcliffe, Auckland NZ
I recently purchased the pharmacy container (illustrated) from an antique dealer friend who had kept three of these tins for 20
years intending to convert them into lamp bases. Fortunately I persuaded him to sell them to me rather than being hacked up. The other two are labeled ‘BETT. RT PUL’ ‘LUNGWORT’.(All three are similarly painted, lidded tins and all stand 13 inches high, with a diameter of seven inches.)
The label ‘MANDRAKE RT’ immediately conjured up two impressions, firstly my boyhood reading of Mandrake the magician comics, and secondly a strong interest to research the story behind this 19th century tin’s mystical contents.
I initially referred to Cowen & Helfand’s book Pharmacy, An Illustrated History where I read the brief early, fascinating history of this plant, and that it went out of fashion by the 17th Century. So why was there still in use in the 19th century, this tin for storing mandrake?
I further referred to my 1909 edition of Squires Companion to the British Pharmocopaeia and found reference to mandragora, so it was still listed in some reference books.
Mandrake has had many appellations over time, enhancing its mystery, some being ... Satan’s apple; devil’s testicles; love apple; circe’s plant.
Mandragora officinarum is of the Nightshade family and a perennial plant with no stalk, but having leaves up to 12 inches by 5 inches and bearing golden fruit the approximate size of a small apple, (it traditionally grew in the Eastern Mediterranean region).
Another plant of the genus Solanaceae is M. Autumnalis. It has similar pharmacological properties to belladonna, and was used as a narcotic.
The root can grow to over half a metre in length and its strange shape has given rise to its anthropomorphic association. The root bore a resemblance to the human form, often as it forked into 2 ‘legs’ and has shooting ‘arms’ on each side.
Old references sometimes also further classified the roots into male and female, dependant on further ‘attributes’ (refer illustrations).
The root is the object of much mystery, folklore and medicinal use through the ages.
Historically it was well known in ancient Egypt and is mentioned in the 1700 BC Ebers papyrus, listing 700 medical plants. Its use then was to increase fertility and was an aphrodisiac.
use was to make a concocotion of pressed Mandrake juice combined with wine and reduced by boiling. The patient either inhaled the vapours through a sponge (and hopefully a profound sleep would occur) or drank a draught of it. The correct quantity had to be administered, otherwise permanent sleep was induced!
Diosciordes recommends a concoction of this juice mixed
with honeymead as a purgative to eliminate ‘mucous and gall’ though again the dosage was critical.
Als,o the juice was added to a suppository which acted as a powerful emmenagogoue and abortive.
We find mandrake becoming a popular magical plant in the Middle Ages, from whence most of the current mystique emanates.
It was regarded as a miracle talisman capable of curing just about anything. The magical roots, either mandrake women or mandrake men were strong personal allies who could perform true miracles for their owners. This included anything from attracting love, getting rich quick and striking unsuspected luck, warding off misfortunes, becoming invincible in battles, and countering evil spirits and spells.
Right from the time of harvesting the plant, to purchasing the root, to care and custody of your personal mandrake root, the ownership and handling of the root was full of superstition.
The root is the object of much mystery, folklore and medicinal use through the ages.
A further practical property associated with mandrake in the ancient world was as a narcotic, and often used
as an anaesthetic in surgery, as it induced a state of oblivion through its sleep including quality. However, the quantity was all important, as
the root contains highly poisonous alkaloids. The preferred method of
10 Pharmacy History Australia
volume 4 no 35 September 2008