Hyoscyamus niger
HRB-0150Entry “HENBANE” in the 1850 textIn Culpeper’s 1652 first edition
Old claims, quoted verbatim: not medical advice. A warning sits above the claims and never hides them; no warning does not mean safe, only that no source here has flagged the plant.
Historical correspondence. Ruled by Saturn, by Culpeper. A traditional astrological assignment, kept apart from the modern evidence; it is not a finding.
The fume of the dried herb, stalks and seed, burned, quickly heals swellings, chilblains or kibes in the hands or feet, by holding them in the fume thereof.
And applied with vinegar to the forehead and temples, helps the head-ache and want of sleep in hot fevers.
The leaves of Henbane do cool all hot inflammations in the eyes, or any other part of the body;
And applied with vinegar to the forehead and temples, helps the head-ache and want of sleep in hot fevers.
and are good to assuage all manner of swellings of the privities, or women’s breast, or elsewhere, if they be boiled in wine, and either applied themselves, or the fomentation warm;
Take notice, that this herb must never be taken inwardly; outwardly, an oil ointment, or plaister of it, is most admirable for the gout, to cool the veneral heat of the reins in the French pox; to stop the toothache, being applied to the aching side:
The oil of the seed is helpful for deafness, noise, and worms in the ears, being dropped therein;
Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, a new edition (London: Thomas Kelly, 1850). Project Gutenberg eBook #49513. SRC-CUL-1850
Quotations are verbatim from the 1850 text, line breaks joined. Modern research and the European regulator’s verdict on each claim are on the Concordance page, kept apart from this historical record.