Chapter XX: Love-Philtres and Poisons

The employment of certain substances in the form of charms or potions to incite the amatory passion has been practised from a time of great antiquity. The idea involved in the use of love-philtres, as they were termed at a later period, was no doubt based to a certain extent on physiological principles and was probably first suggested by observation of the habits of the lower animals. The early Hebrews are said to have employed the fruit of the mandrake, which were known by the suggestive name of “love-apples,” for this purpose.

The popularity of the _philtra_ or _pocula amatoria_ among the ancient Greeks and Romans at a later period can readily be understood in an age given to sensuality in its grossest forms. Medea was regarded as the greatest adept in the art of preparing philtres, and hence the term “Medei de herbae,” used by Horace and Ovid to designate the substances generally used. Next in reputation came the Thessalian women, who were supposed to have acquired the art from Medea, and who were said to be versed in all the secrets relating to poison and sorcery.

Lucretius, the great philosophical poet of the Ciceronian era, is said to have written his poem entitled “On the Nature of Things” in the intervals of delirium occasioned by a philtre which had been secretly administered to him by his wife or his mistress, Lucilia, and it is stated that Lucullus, the Roman general, died in a state of delirium from a similar cause. Thus the effects of these potions were evidently often more serious than was contemplated by those who used them.

Ovid, the exponent of the amatory art, judging from some of his lines, was evidently no believer in this method of procuring affection so much practised by his contemporaries. He writes—

“Who so doth run to Hæmon arts
I dub him for a dolt,
And giveth that which he doth pluck
From forehead of a colt.
Medea’s herbs will not procure
That love shall lasting give,
No slibbersawces given to maids
To make them pale and wan
Will help; such slibbersawces mar the minds of maid and man,
And have in them a furious force of phrensie now and then.”

Cornelius Nepos, Plutarch and other early writers also state that the love-philtre was often indeed but a poison cup, and the death of the Emperor Lucius is quoted as having been due to a draught of this description given to him at the instance of Calisthenes.

That the effects of these philtres were often dangerous and sometimes fatal is hardly to be wondered at, when we consider the extraordinary nature of some of the substances used in their composition in ancient times. They were generally compounded with much mystery by the old or wise women, who had a reputation for sorcery, and they observed the greatest secrecy as to their composition.

According to the most authentic writers these ingredients were both grotesque and filthy, such as “the hair that grew in the nether part of a wolf’s tail, the penis of a wolf, the brain of a cat, the brain of a newt, the brain of a lizard, a certain fish called ‘remora,’ and the bones of a green frog which had been left bare by ants.” Young swallows were buried in the earth and after a time disinterred. The bodies of those that were found with open bills were believed to provoke love, while those with closed beaks were given to produce the opposite effect.

The testicles of certain animals were employed, selected doubtless for a physiological reason, and the menstrual blood, especially that of a red-haired woman, was highly esteemed and was believed to produce powerful effects.

Poisonous properties were attributed to the blood of both men and animals by the ancients.

Herodotus states, that Psammenitus, King of Egypt, was put to death by Cambyses by means of a draught of bullock’s blood. Themistocles, who wished to die rather than fight against his countrymen, is also said to have drunk a goblet of the blood of a sacrificial ox and to have expired shortly afterwards. Zacutus Lusitanus relates several instances of the evil effects resulting from drinking blood and records the case of a student to whom was given in joke two ounces of the blood of a red-haired woman, mixed with sugar, with the result that he became insane.

In the Anglo-Saxon Leechdoms, an ointment composed of goat’s gall, incense, goat’s dung and nettle seeds is recommended as an application to promote passion.

Another substance highly esteemed as an ingredient in love-philtres was the mysterious hippomanes, which is described as “a growth found on the forehead of a newly born foal,” to which Ovid alludes in the lines previously quoted.

Love-philtres and charms were also used by Eastern nations, and the Hindus still employ mango, champac, jasmine, lotus and asoka for this purpose. According to Albertus Magnus, the most powerful herb for promoting love is the “Provinsa,” the secret of which, he says, has been handed down from the Chaldeans. The Greeks called this plant Vorax. This is probably the same plant now known to the Sicilians as “Pizzu’ngurdu,” to which they attribute remarkable properties. They believe that if given surreptitiously it will provoke an ardent passion in the heart of the coldest and most chaste woman. The Sicilians have also great faith in the power of hemp to secure the affection of those on whom they set their hearts, and they gather this plant with certain ceremonies.

“As touching this kind of witchcraft,” says a writer of the sixteenth century, “the principall part thereof consisteth in certain confections prepared by lewd people to procure love which indeed are mere poisons, bereaving some of the benefit of the braine and some of the sense and understanding of the minde.” Yet even such men as Van Helmont believed in the efficacy of the love-philtre. Writing in the middle of the seventeenth century, he says, “I know a plant of common occurrence which if you rub and cherish it in the hand till it becomes warm, and take the hand of another and hold it until it becomes warm, that person will forthwith be stimulated with love for you and continue so for several days.” Reginald Scot states wolf’s penis was an ingredient in the love-philtre of his time, and Frommaun mentions human skull, coral, verbena, urine and leopard’s dung.

The mandrake root, which was a common ingredient in love-philtres in ancient times, is still worn in some parts of France as a charm for that purpose, and in Germany a belief in the power of endive seed to influence the affections still exists. In Italy basil was used to inflame the heart of the indifferent, and a young man who accepted a sprig of this plant from the hand of a maiden was sure to be inspired with love for her. Satyrion is another herb which is claimed to possess amatory properties, while other species of orchis, when eaten fresh, was believed to inspire pure love, and when dried was employed to check illicit passion.

Of other plants employed in the composition of love-philtres, mention should be made of the cyclamen, carrot, purslane, cummin, maidenhair, valerian, navelwort, wild poppy, anemone, crocus, periwinkle, pansy and the root of the male fern, which has an ancient reputation for inspiring the tender passion, although, curiously enough, its present use in medicine is as a vermifuge.

But superstition dies hard, and even at the present day the belief in the efficacy of love charms is not yet dead in some parts of England. Among the uneducated in some parts of the country “All Hallow Een” is dedicated to the performance of certain love charms, in which the gum resin called dragon’s-blood and quicksilver play an important part. Quite recently a Russian Jewess in the East End of London was indicted with having obtained money by false pretences from two women. From one, whose husband had deserted her, she obtained money to purchase candles into which she stuck pins which she said would attract the husband to his home again. This charm, however, did not work satisfactorily, and she insisted on having a nightdress, some sheets and pillow cases which she said she could prepare with a secret process so that one night the wife would wake up and find her husband beside her. He would be wearing the nightdress, and the pillow cases she had treated with something which would have the wonderful power of preventing her husband ever again running away.

But all those charms failed, and even the final effort, in which a magic liquid was sprinkled about the room and the wearing of the clippings from the back of a black cat, proved useless in restoring the missing husband.

To the other woman, who wished her intended husband to come from Russia, this modern magician gave two curious powders, with instructions that they were to be placed on the end of a hairpin and consumed in a flame which would show the man’s love for her.

This modern witch’s practice, which was said to be a large and lucrative one, was suspended for nine months in gaol, to be followed by deportation to her native land.

Ginseng root, which has been used for centuries in China to promote longevity, is also recommended as a love-charm. It is believed by the Chinese also to have the power of rejuvenating the old and stimulating the senses of the young.

Among primitive peoples the love-philtre is still in vogue, and Mr. P. A. Talbot found it generally used among the tribes in Southern Nigeria, through which he travelled, especially among the mysterious race called the Ibibios, who live in the Eket district of the country. “It is a custom,” he states, “for a love-potion to be given by men and women to gain the hearts of those whom they desire, or to wrest affection from rivals.”

A few years ago some extraordinary stories were revealed in the trial of the wife of a wealthy man living at Lakewood, Ohio, who was believed to have been murdered. It was stated during the trial that a spiritualistic practitioner had been called in by the lady who had administered to her husband a magic potion or philtre which contained arsenic; when this failed, he is said to have been assassinated.