Citation

Pereira NA, Jaccoud RJ, Mors WB. Toxicon 1996; 34(5): 511-516.

Affiliation

Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1996, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/0041-0101(95)00123-9

PMID

8783445

Abstract

Theriacs (electuaries prepared by mixing extracts of many plants) were known from antiquity until the eighteenth century as remedies for all kinds of envenomation, above all those due to the bites and stings of venomous animals, especially snakes. In colonial Brazil, the 'Brazilian theriac' was developed by Jesuit priests by gradually substituting native plants for components of their European model. Most of these ingredients, mentioned in an old manuscript, can be identified by their common names, which have survived the centuries.

Language: en