Orvietan or orviétan was a medical concoction popular during the 17th and 18th century. It was used as a panacea

Panacea (medicine)

The panacea , named after the Greek goddess of healing, Panacea, also known as panchrest, was supposed to be a remedy that would cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely...

 against poisonings with criminal intent, as well as against mushroom poisoning

Mushroom poisoning

Mushroom poisoning refers to harmful effects from ingestion of toxic substances present in a mushroom. These symptoms can vary from slight gastrointestinal discomfort to death. The toxins present are secondary metabolites produced in specific biochemical pathways in the fungal cells...

s, snakebite

Snakebite

A snakebite is an injury caused by a bite from a snake, often resulting in puncture wounds inflicted by the animal's fangs and sometimes resulting in envenomation. Although the majority of snake species are non-venomous and typically kill their prey with constriction rather than venom, venomous...

, scorpion

Scorpion

Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...

 stings, bites by rabid

Rabid

Rabid is a 1977 horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg. It features Marilyn Chambers in the lead role, supported by Frank Moore, Howard Ryshpan, Joe Silver and Robert A...

 animals and against the plague

Bubonic plague

Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...

.

Origins

Gerolamo Ferranti started producing and selling orviétan in early 17th century Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. He was a fairground attraction, asking onlookers to give him unknown poisons to swallow and watch him cure himself with the remedy. Other charlatan

Charlatan

A charlatan is a person practicing quackery or some similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, fame or other advantages via some form of pretense or deception....

s in the business were Jean Vitrario, Desiderio Descombes, and Cristoforo Contugi. Though most physicians and pharmacists were skeptical, the reputed medical doctor Johann Schröder

Johann Schröder

Johann Schröder was a German physician and pharmacologist who was the first person to recognise that arsenic was an element. In 1649, he produced the elemental form of arsenic by heating its oxide, and published two methods for its preparation.-References:...

 published his own recipe in Pharmacopeia Medico-Chymica in 1655. The first pharmacist to include orviétan in his compendium was Moyse Charas

Moyse Charas

Moyse Charas was an apothecary in France during the reign of Louis XIV. He became famous for publishing compendiums of medication formulas, many of which had been kept secret for centuries to maintain a monopoly....

 in Pharmacopée Royale Galénique et Chymique, 1676.

Ingredients

Orvietan was a concoction of partially toxic herbs, wine and dissolved honey, but existed in powdered form too (sold in lead boxes). Patrizia Catellani and Renzo Console analyzed 35 different recipes for mixing orvietan, published between 1655 and 1857. The number of ingredients varies from 9 to 57. The most frequent 26 ingredients are: Garden Angelica

Garden Angelica

Angelica archangelica, commonly known as Garden Angelica, Holy Ghost, Wild Celery, and Norwegian angelica, is a biennial plant from the Apiaceae family Apiaceae family, formerly known as Umbelleferae...

, Healing Wolfsbane, Birthwort, Bistort, Sweet Flag

Sweet Flag

Acorus calamus, commonly known as Sweet Flag or Calamus and erroneously as "rush" or "sedges", is a plant from the Acoraceae family, in the genus Acorus. It is a tall perennial wetland monocot with scented leaves and more strongly scented rhizomes...

, Carline Thistle, Dittany

Dittany

Dittany can refer to three different plants, the first two with similar medical properties, the second two closely related:* Dictamnus albus of the rue family...

, Gentian

Gentian

Gentiana is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the Gentian family , tribe Gentianeae and monophyletic subtribe Gentianinae. With about 400 species, it is considered a large genus.-Habitat:...

, Masterwort

Masterwort

Masterwort typically refers to the plant Peucedanum ostruthium or Imperatoria ostruthium in the family Apiaceae, and not to be confused with great masterwort, Astrantia major, in the same family.-Use:...

, Black Salsify

Black salsify

Scorzonera hispanica, black salsify or Spanish salsify, also known as black oyster plant, serpent root, viper's herb, viper's grass or simply Scorzonera, is a perennial member of the genus Scorzonera in the sunflower family , cultivated as a root vegetable in the same way as some of the members of...

, Tormentil

Tormentil

Common Tormentil is a herbaceous perennial belonging to the rose family , also known as Septfoil or simply as "tormentil" .-Characteristics:It is a low, clumb-forming plant with slender, procumbent...

, Valerian

Valerian (plant)

Valerian is a hardy perennial flowering plant, with heads of sweetly scented pink or white flowers which bloom in the summer months. Valerian flower extracts were used as a perfume in the sixteenth century....

, Blessed Thistle, Dittany of Crete, Rue

Rue

Rue is a genus of strongly scented evergreen subshrubs 20–60 cm tall, in the family Rutaceae, native to the Mediterranean region, Macaronesia and southwest Asia. There are perhaps 8 to 40 species in the genus...

, Germander, Laurel berries

Bay Laurel

The bay laurel , also known as sweet bay, bay tree, true laurel, Grecian laurel, laurel tree, or simply laurel, is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glossy leaves, native to the Mediterranean region. It is the source of the bay leaf used in cooking...

, Juniper berries

Juniper

Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the...

, cinnamon

Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a spice obtained from the inner bark of several trees from the genus Cinnamomum that is used in both sweet and savoury foods...

, cloves, viper meat

Viperidae

The Viperidae are a family of venomous snakes found all over the world, except in Antarctica, Australia, Ireland, Madagascar, Hawaii, various other isolated islands, and above the Arctic Circle. All have relatively long, hinged fangs that permit deep penetration and injection of venom. Four...

, the two concoctions mithridate

Mithridate

Mithridate, also known as mithridatium, mithridatum, or mithridaticum, is a semi-mythical remedy with as many as 65 ingredients, used as an antidote for poisoning, and said to be created by Mithradates VI Eupator of Pontus in the 1st century BC...

 and theriac

Theriac

Theriac or theriaca was a medical concoction originally formulated by the Greeks in the 1st century AD and became popular throughout the ancient world as far away as China and India via the trading links of the Silk Route...

, as well as white wine, and honey

Honey

Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

.

Literary references

Literary works mentioning orvietan include Tabarin

Tabarin

Tabarin was the street name assumed by the most famous of the Parisian street charlatans, Anthoine Girard , who amused his audiences in the Place Dauphine by farcical dialogue with his brother Philippe , with whom he reaped a golden harvest by the sale of quack medicines for several years after 1618...

's Inventaire Universel des Œuvres de Tabarin (1622), Molière

Molière

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...

's L'Amour médecin (1665), Voltaire

Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...

's Pot-pourri (1765), Mme de Sevigne

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné was a French aristocrat, remembered for her letter-writing. Most of her letters, celebrated for their wit and vividness, were addressed to her daughter.-Life:...

's correspondence, and Walter Scott

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....

's Kenilworth

Kenilworth (novel)

Kenilworth. A Romance is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, first published on 8 January 1821.-Plot introduction:Kenilworth is apparently set in 1575, and centers on the secret marriage of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, and Amy Robsart, daughter of Sir Hugh Robsart...

 (1821), though Scott translates it as Venice treacle.

External links

• L’Orvietano, una Panacea Popolare e Controversa