Witches’ Brews & St Anthony’s Fire

Matthias Grünewald’s famous painting depicting St Anthony’s agony

The ultimate cure-all of all time must be Galen’s Theriac — a true witches’ brew concocted by Roman herbalist Galen (130-200ad). Besides its opium base, it contained more than 70 ingredients, including dozens of herbs, minerals, bits of animal flesh, honey and wine.

The blender first had to compound sub-recipes, then mix them together. Even then, the mixture was expected to mature for at least 40 days—or longer!

The curious mixture survived for many centuries and the Elizabethan herbalist John Evelyn reported a ceremonial compounding of Theriac he saw in Venice in 1645.

Not all brews were as dramatic, and some of the most effective herbal medicines are known as “simples”, so-called because they feature a single herb.

Simple cause of epidemic

A fungal “simple” was the infamous cause of 600 years of epidemics of St Anthony’s Fire. In its most common form of the “fire”, the victim suffered sharp, firelike pain in the joints, which would eventually turn gangrenous.

Delirium, hallucinations and death, were common. It was named after St Anthony, the saint who protects against fire, epilepsy and infection. A religious hermit, he lived in Egypt, where he died in 356ad.

During the Crusades his remains were moved from Egypt to Dauphiné, France, the site of the first epidemic in 1039 of what was to become known as St Anthony’s Fire.

It was finally isolated in 1676 when millers discovered it was a fungus called ergot often infecting rye grain. Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a synthetic derivative of ergot.