Mandrake: The Gallows Fruit

Guestpost by Costanza De Cillia

Growing, in the shadow of the gallows, is a monstrous fruit. It is a prodigious aphrodisiac, but it also serves as an indispensable ingredient in the witch’s recipe book-who, according to legend, mixes it with the fat of stillborn children, thus creating an ointment with which she can fly to the sabbath.
As Pliny and Dioscorides relate, this
anodyne natural was applied as an analgesic before surgical operations because of the discrete soporific and sedative properties attributed to it by learned medicine prior to the 16th century, which made use of it in various forms-from the extract of the fruit, to the seeds, to the actual root.

Countless ailments were said to be cured by the mandrake: it was used both for external and internal use, as well as to heal infertility and impotence (its renowned value as an erotic stimulant is even attested by one of the epithets of the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite Mandragoritis, and, by the more puritanical, by nicknames for it as the apple or even testicle of the devil), both against menstrual disorders, quartan fever, excess black bile (the dreaded melancholia, the cause of numerous ailments, including mental ones), diseases characterized by inflammation of one or more parts of the body, from the eyes to the anus, against abscesses, indurations, and even tumors.
Mandrake was used according to the many uses suggested by premodern pharmacopoeia, but also as a fetish: it was sold as an amulet by the
root-diggers, a branch of merchants who specialized in extracting the plant-who, however, apparently peddled in its place roots of bryony or other common plants, tactically carved.

A vegetable at the intersection with the other kingdoms-the mineral, because of its chthonic origin, and the animal, indeed, even human… – sought after yet feared, admirable and deadly, the mandrake belongs to the family of the infamous nightshade, associated like its “sister” with witchcraft for its psychoactive properties due to its high concentration of scopolamine, a tropane alkaloid found mainly in its roots. It is a solanacea, whose intricate, vaguely anthropomorphic shaped roots have intrigued the human imagination since ancient times, so much so that it has been attributed a sex (which determines its shape and color), human-like genitalia and a rather difficult character, which causes it, for example, to hide from impure people and allow itself to be tamed only by those who show it a cross or spray it with menstrual blood or urine.

This sort of personification has resulted in the plant sometimes being treated as a small individual, made of living flesh: a homunculus, literally, endowed among other things with a power execrable. Around the figure of this prodigious plant, in fact, hovers for centuries a gloomy legend : it is said that it screams, when extracted from the earth, with such shrieks as to make the unwary “pickers” lose their senses or even kill them on the spot. This deadly capacity of the prized booty then necessitates complex contrivances by which those about to dig the mandrake out of the ground can preserve their health (and survive it).
The most common contrivances follow a common pattern: at the center of all variants, there is in fact the sacrifice of a
dog (the only exception is the one Frazer attributes to the Jewish tradition, in which a donkey), most often with black fur; to this animal before dawn on Friday-not coincidentally, the day named after the goddess of love-the plant is tied, of whose roots a single strand is left still buried. The dog, purposely hungry, is then made to run away with the call of a tasty morsel; in doing so it snatches the entire plant from the ground, which bursts into deadly squeals, which, unfortunately, cause the sudden death of the unsuspecting animal. The humans present-who up to that point have kept their ears well covered or even plugged with cotton sealed with pitch or wax-can then approach and pick up the plant, which, thus “let loose,” is now rendered harmless.

A fascinating aspect of the mandrake is its origin, according to legend, which makes it a literal fruit of hanging-the product of thecross between man and the earth(Zarcone).
Certain Anglo-Saxon and Germanic traditions call this plant
gallows man, mad plant e dragon doll, terms that evoke the human and somewhat monstrous origin of the mandrake. Indeed, the seed from which this fabled “capestro flower” is formed would be precisely the human one, scattered on the ground at the moment of death by the criminal subjected to the infamous execution par excellence.

Already climbing the steps of the gallows, the dying man imagines himself suspended between heaven and earth, thrown into a limbo from which only divine forgiveness could pull him to safety, as well as rejected by the community gathered there to voraciously admire his agony, in all its physiological aspects.
The suspension of which the condemned man was a victim would obliterate his body(Tarlow – Battel Lowman), annihilating it as a social object, placing it in exile in a liminal zone both geographically and metaphorically (as, moreover, also occurred in the display of the corpse through
gibbet); the rope, the instrument of execution, which although theoretically should have fractured or dislocated the upper cervical vertebrae of the condemned man, leading him quickly to death, most often ended up strangling him, thus disrupting his features and causing him to inevitably evacuate feces, urine and, depending on the sex of the victim, menstrual blood or seminal fluid.

Not to be overlooked is the fact that, by virtue of the magical-medical theory of the transfer of life energy from the dead person to his or her survivor, people eagerly sought contact with the body of the punished offender, still imbued with vitality (which gave him or her invaluable medical potency). These are the secrets of the corpse, passed down in a veritable consumer literature in which, as Camporesi explains, therapeutic occultism combines with necromantic pharmacopoeia and natural magic to crown a Faustian dream of long life and eternal youth.

According to a logic that considers putrefaction a black copulation capable of making the dead a “wellspring of health,” the living can keep healthy by preying on the deceased; it can even transmit its own ills to it, deriving from them the energy that the spirits, in turmoil in those last moments, still bestow on the corpse. The dead person is thus paradoxical dispenser of life (Camporesi).
That is why the
stroke, or the touch of the hanged man, was believed to be curative: the hand of the corpse was shaken or put in contact with the parts of the body affected by skin diseases, blemishes, goiters and excrescences (from leek to wart to sebaceous cyst), as Davies and Matteoni masterfully explain. Imagine, then, how much power may reside in the seminal legacy left by the hanged man: the mandrake, inhuman progeny of the gallows!

The plant that ignites eros and brings death arises from the intersection of these same two principles, that is, from the climax reached in so-called “angelic lust.”
This euphemism designates the post-mortem priapism observed since antiquity in the corpse of the executed, especially if it died by strangulation. This is a phenomenon that has inspired not only various essays on sexology and the psychology of deviance but also great novelists such as Sade, Musset, Joyce and Burroughs. We are thus speaking of a “mortal erection” that was sometimes followed even on the scaffold by ejaculation, and it was to this very phenomenon that ancient herbaria traced the origin of the mandrake, which arose from the semen emitted by the condemned at the moment of death.

The ability to exhibit an erection literally terminal and culminating in ejaculation, among other things, was a decisive component in the name that qualified this mode of execution as an “infamous death.” Indeed, hanging appears as the most shameful of departures throughout Western history (but not only, according to Old Testament Deuteronomy, where it is associated in this ignominious aura with crucifixion, another example of death by suspension). Whether it was considered degrading because it was imposed on criminals of the humblest background and/or despicable crime, or conversely imposed on them precisely because it was felt to be dishonorable, hanging was in any case the most common type of execution; according to tradition, it was also the death of the last and worst, as the apocryphal last events of Judas, the victim of a grotesque and studiously humiliating agony, remind us. Such an aura of infamy is probably why, as Owens notes in Stages of Dismemberment, hanging is almost absent in hagiography, and may have arisen precisely from the “embarrassing” physiological phenomena that accompany this particularly spectacular form of death.

Among these bodily events, the celestial orgasm we have already discussed-which in the female corpse has its counterpoint in the possibility of a loss of blood from the vagina, accompanied by a sprinkling of the labia and clitoris, in a spontaneous menstruation caused by the action of gravity on the uterus resulting in prolapse of the sexual organs-is simply the most “scandalous” because it involves the genitals. As Hurren vividly recounts in Dissecting the Criminal Corpse, many condemned men urinated and/or defecated, at the fatal moment; others, victims of suggestion, stained their robes with ejaculated semen; there were gaseous exchanges caused by the deceased’s digestion, and decaying blood leaked from the mouth and nostrils, in a purgation made all the more disconcerting by the rigor mortisduring which the gases, unable to escape entirely through the anus or nose, passed through the trachea, giving the impression that the corpse groaned and croaked as if it had still been alive and aching.

Although life, as commonly understood, no longer resided in the limbs of the hanged man, something remained that seemed to defy the justice that had been done. From the invicible erection, that is, from the last “tears”-as this ejaculation was poetically called in articulo mortis – shed by the criminal on the ground, would then form, under his corpse left hanging, the mandrake.

This therapeutic and dangerous plant-a veritable pharmakon, remedy and poison, in the dual Greek sense – constitutes in short, on a par with the rope used to execute the criminal or the healing touch of the hanged man’s hand, another example of the posthumous ways by which the condemned man, once dead, goes from nefarious to salvific for the community that expelled him. In fact, once he repents, it is as if the criminal is reintegrated into the community through his own execution, moving from the status of a tainted and defiling individual to that of a “salutary” element.

The corpse of the executed criminal, through the medicinal virtues of his mortal remains or through the generation of the mandrake, thus acquires a “posthumous” social life through the distribution of his energies, and becomes the site where, in a tangible way, the salvation that resides in repentance occurs.

Costanza De Cillia has a PhD in Philosophy and Science of Religions. Her main fields of research are the aesthetics of violence and the anthropology of capital execution

Jack & Jackie, extraordinary baboons (S02E01)

Here is finally the first episode of the new season of Bizzarro Bazar, produced in collaboration with the Musei Civici di Reggio Emilia, directed and animated by Francesco Erba.

In this episode: the incredible exploits of two South African baboons; an ancient and spectacular herbarium; a bizarre legend about post-mortem photography.

Turn on English Subtitles and if you enjoy this video, spread the word!

Mummie officinali

mummia

Se vi dicessimo che soltanto tre secoli fa i nostri antenati praticavano diffusamente il cannibalismo, non ci credereste. E certamente non staremmo parlando di cadaveri smembrati e fatti arrosto sulla griglia. Esistono forme più sottili e meno eclatanti per mangiare un morto.

Fino al 1800 in Europa coloro che erano affetti da qualche tipo di malattia sapevano di poter contare su uno dei farmaci più potenti e ricercati di sempre: le mummie.
A patto di poterselo permettere, si aveva facoltà di acquistare tutta una varietà di unguenti, oli, tinture e polveri estratti da cadaveri mummificati, per uso esterno ed interno. Alcuni di questi rimedi andavano spalmati sulla parte dolorante, altri servivano per impacchi da porre direttamente sulle ferite aperte, altri ancora venivano assunti per via orale oppure inalati. Curavano quasi ogni genere di disturbo, dall’emicrania all’epilessia, dal mal di stomaco al mal di denti, dalle punture velenose alle ulcere, e via dicendo.

Mummy_at_British_Museum

Da quando furono scoperte nelle tombe egizie, le mummie esercitarono immediatamente un fortissimo fascino sull’immaginario occidentale: corpi miracolosamente incorrotti, sottoposti a un misterioso procedimento che rendeva le loro carni impermeabili al passare del tempo. L’idea che le mummie potessero avere degli effetti benefici contro le malattie e per allungare la vita derivava da due concetti molto in voga nei secoli passati.
Da una parte c’era la dottrina della transplantatio, mutuata da Paracelso, secondo cui un corpo morto poteva ancora “trasferire” le sue qualità spirituali: dal punto di vista antropologico, quest’idea è molto simile al cannibalismo rituale vero e proprio, in cui il corpo del nemico viene mangiato per ottenere il suo coraggio e la forza dimostrata in battaglia – e alcuni hanno voluto leggere perfino nel rituale dell’Eucarestia la stessa volontà, tramite la libagione simbolica delle carni (il “corpo di Cristo”), di appropriarsi dei caratteri spirituali superiori del defunto/santo.
Dall’altra parte si credeva nel principio terapeutico denominato similia similibus, vale a dire che il male andava sconfitto con qualcosa che gli fosse simile. In questo senso, per il corpo umano nessun ritrovato terapeutico poteva essere più efficace che il corpo umano stesso. Tutte le secrezioni prodotte in vita erano utilizzate come farmaci, e com’è naturale anche il corpo morto aveva le sue virtù.

Ma non pensiate che queste pratiche fossero appannaggio dell’antichità. Il corpo umano era considerato insostituibile per la guarigione da disturbi e malattie ancora a metà del ‘700, tanto che la Farmacopea di James del 1758 riporta alla voce Homo:

l’Uomo non è solo il soggetto della medicina, ma anche contribuisce dal suo corpo molte cose alla Materia Medica. I [composti] semplici delle Officine, tratti dal corpo umano ancora vivo, sono i peli, le ugne, la saliva, la cera delle orecchie, il sudore, il latte, il sangue mestruo, le secondine, l’orina, il sangue e la membrana che copre la testa del feto […].

Altre fonti citano fra i prodotti naturali del corpo umano da utilizzare come farmaci anche il seme, lo sterco, i vermi intestinali, i calcoli, i pidocchi. Il testo medico precedente continua così:

Li semplici poi, che si traggono dal cadavero umano, sono la Mummia, che ha una superfizie resinosa, indurita, nera, e risplendente, di sapore alquanto acre, e amaretto, e di odore fragrante.

EGYPT-MUMMY-RAMSES

Con queste premesse, è ovvio che le straordinarie mummie egiziane, che tanto stupore avevano suscitato fin dai tempi di Erodoto, fossero ritenute fra le più raffinate panacee esistenti. Le resine e gli unguenti utilizzati per conservare il cadavere in Egitto non facevano che esaltare le proprietà curative del cadavere stesso. Per questo motivo, tutte le farmacopee del XVII e XVIII secolo avvertono che vi sono sul mercato tipi differenti di mummia, e che bisogna saperli ben distinguere per non farsi “fregare” al momento dell’acquisto. La categorizzazione più precisa è forse quella di Johann Schroder (1600-1664), contenuta nella sua Pharmacopoeia:

1. Mummia degli Arabi, che è il liquame, o liquore, denso che essuda dai cadaveri nel sepolcro conditi con aloe, Mirra e Balsamo.
2. Degli Egiziani, che è il liquame sprigionato dai cadaveri conditi con il Pissasfalto [pece + asfalto]. Sicuramente così venivano conditi i cadaveri dei poveri, e pertanto non si trovano facilmente esposti cadaveri in tal modo conditi.
3. Pissasfalto composto, cioè bitume misto a pece, che rivendicano essere vera Mummia.
4. Cadavere disseccato sotto l’arena arsa dal Sole. Si trova nella regione degli Ammoni, che è tra la regione di Cirene ed Alessandria, dove le Sirti deserte, sollevato il turbine dei venti, seppelliscono i corpi degli incauti viandanti, e qui asciugano e seccano i loro cadaveri per il calore del Sole ardente.
5. A queste si può aggiungere la Mummia recente.

Le mummie più pregiate rimasero sempre le mummie “nere”, egiziane, rubate dai nobili mausolei e dalle tombe più antiche; le meno efficaci invece erano quelle “recenti”, ovvero dei cadaveri morti da poco, trattati in modo che le proprietà benefiche ne fossero esaltate. Dato il fiorente mercato di mummie o parti di mummia (il porto di Venezia era rinomato per questo particolare smercio), bisognava davvero fare attenzione a tutti quei venditori disonesti che si procuravano dei cadaveri, li essiccavano frettolosamente e cercavano di farli passare per mummie autentiche.
Se invece si voleva fare le cose per bene, anche in assenza di una Mumia d’elite egiziana, si poteva ricorrere alla Basilica Chymica (1608), in cui Osvald Croll esponeva la ricetta per la preparazione della mummia di Paracelso, detta Filosofica o Spirituale:

Si prenda il cadavere di un uomo rosso, sano, appena morto di morte vergognosa, di circa ventiquattro anni, impiccato, tritato dalla Ruota o impalato, raccolto con un tempo sereno, di notte o di giorno. Questa Mummia, una volta colorata ed irradiata da due finestre, si trita a pezzi o a briciole e si cosparge di polvere di Mirra, di almeno un po’ di Aloe (poiché troppa la renderebbe amara), poi si imbeve, lasciandola macerare per qualche giorno in spirito di vino; viene a sospendersene un poco e si imbeve per la seconda volta, dal momento che quanto è venuto a sospendersi si seccherebbe inutilmente all’aria sino a prender l’aspetto della carne arrostita senza odore. Poi con lo Spirito di vino, come secondo l’arte, o con quello Sambucino, si estrae una tintura rubicondissima.

Avete letto bene, grappa o sambuca di mummia. Ovviamente qui la transplantatio di cui parlavamo prima, ossia il passaggio delle qualità spirituali dal morto al vivo, viene dimenticata (chi vorrebbe assumere le qualità di un criminale condannato a morte?) in favore di un’attenzione particolare per la buona “salute” del cadavere – giovane, di pelle chiara, senza macchie e fisicamente sano. La formula di Croll, con qualche variante, resterà la base per tutti i preparati di mummia officinale in età moderna, talvolta chiamata mummia liquida, Mummia dei Medici Chimici, ecc.

Verso la fine del XVIII secolo la mummia comincerà pian piano a sparire dalle farmacopee ufficiali, sostituita da nuovi composti, in concomitanza con il progresso della chimica applicata e della farmacologia. Questa commistione, ai nostri occhi inconcepibile, di medicina galenica e di alchimia andrà affievolendosi fino ad essere totalmente rifiutata dalla scienza nella prima metà dell’800. Le due discipline si separeranno definitivamente, e le mummie superstiti troveranno posto nei musei, invece che sugli scaffali dei farmacisti.

Apothecary mummy

Le informazioni contenute in questo articolo provengono dallo studio di Silvia Marinozzi, La mummia come rimedio terapeutico, in Le mummie e l’arte medica nell’Evo Moderno, Medicina nei Secoli, Supplemento 1, 2005.