Apothecary uses of cinnamon

The name was and still is used for the aromatic bark of two species of plants: Cinnamomum cassia (“Chinese cinnamon”) and Cinnamomumzeylanicum (“true cinnamon”), both indigenous to south-eastern Asia. The differences between them are rather small: the latter bark is lighter in color, more frail, with a more delicate, but richer taste. Pharmaceutical sources from Transylvania include both terms– Cassia and Cinamom.

 The plant was known and used since antiquity. There are biblical references for the use of cinnamon oil in the temple from Jerusalem and Greek and Roman doctors used it frequently. It was an expensive gift, worthy of royalty and the gods. In the Middle Ages it was an exotic, luxury good, used both in healing and as a spice for cooking and an ingredient for perfumes.

 The properties of cinnamon recommend it as hypotensive, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, and analgesic. It was often used in digestive problems. The midwifery manuals of the Early Modern period it is the post popular remedy for female problems and in birth giving, as it stimulates uterine contractions and stops uterine hemorrhage. 

Cinnamon was always used to incite the senses. The Bible records the habit of scenting the lovers’ bed with cinnamon, myrrh, and aloe, while the Queen of Sheba used cinnamon essential oil to seduce King Solomon. Later on, its aphrodisiac properties were increased by its exotic origin and it was used in sensual perfumes, elixirs of love and recipes meant to “incite the passions of Venus”.

 The History of Pharmacy Collection of Cluj-Napoca, part of the National History Museum of Transylvania, includes 12 pharmaceutical vessels, dated to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, for different ingredients and substances made of cinnamon: powder, pulp, essential oil, syrup, or tincture. The number and diversity of these vessels (made of wood, transparent and opaque class, faience) reflect its popularity as a pharmaceutical ingredient.

Henbane as apothecary ingredient

Hyoscyamus niger, or Henbane, is a plant with all parts used medicinally for their multiple effects: sedative, psychoactive, antineuralgic, antispasmodic, anesthetic, and soporific. Though recommended against nervous agitation and various types of pain, the plant is toxic in high doses. Its pharmaceutical use was similar to that of opium, though it was weaker and did not cause constipation.

Henbane has a long history of use. The earliest was probably during the Neolithic, in magic fumigations and drinks that caused visual hallucinations and a sensation of flight. It is mentioned by Discorides, in his list of Dacian plants. Pliny the Elder talks of Herba Apollinaris, that some have equated with Henbane: the ancient Greeks believed that god Apollo himself discovered the plant and offered it to Aesculapius; it was also consumed by the priestesses of Apollo in his temple at Delphi in order to enter into a trance and prophesize.

In the old pharmacopoeias and natural medicine, the plant is recommended in various afflictions, among which tooth aches, when leaves or seeds of Henbane were fumigated into the patient’s mouth or turned into a concoction that he/she held in the oral cavity. It was also used in ophthalmology, since it dilates the pupils and contains atropine.

The History of Pharmacy Collection in Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania, includes eight jars, dated to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, for the preservation of various products made of Henbane: extracts, seeds, oil. The jars (made of wood, glass, porcelain, glazed pottery) have been used in pharmacies from Cluj-Npoca, Turda, Baia Mare, and Iaşi.