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Theriac or theriaca was a medical concoction originally formulated by the Greeks in the 1st century AD and widely adopted in the ancient world as far away as China and India via the trading links of the Silk Route.〔 It was an alexipharmic, or antidote, considered a panacea,〔 〕 for which it could serve as a synonym: in the 16th century Adam Lonicer wrote that garlic was the rustic's theriac or Heal-All.〔A. Vogel, ''Plant Encyclopedia''. ''s.v.'' "Allium sativum," ((on-line text )).〕 The word ''theriac'' comes from the Greek term ''θηριακή'' (''thēriakē''), a feminine adjective signifying "pertaining to animals",〔(θηριακός ), Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus〕 from ''θηρίον'' (''thērion''), "wild animal, beast".〔(θηρίον ), Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, ''A Greek-English Lexicon'', on Perseus〕 The ancient bestiaries included information—often fanciful—about dangerous beasts and their bites. When cane sugar was an exotic Eastern commodity, the English recommended the sugar-based treacle as an antidote against poison,〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary: ''treacle'' )〕 originally applied as a salve.〔''Oxford English Dictionary'', ''s.v.'' "Treacle".〕 By extension, ''treacle'' could be applied to any healing property: in the Middle Ages the treacle (''i.e.'' healing) well at Binsey was a place of pilgrimage. Norman Cantor observes〔Cantor 2001:174.〕 that the remedy was homeopathic in its supposed effect, following the principle of "the hair of the dog," in which a concoction containing some of the poisonous (it was thought) flesh of the serpent would be a sovereign remedy against the creature's venom: in his book on medicine,〔''Livre de seyntz medicines'', 1354.〕 Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster wrote that "the treacle is made of poison so that it can destroy other poisons". Thinking by analogy, Henry Grosmont also thought of theriac as a moral curative, the medicine "to make a man reject the poisonous sin which has entered into his soul." Since the plague, and notably the Black Death, was believed to have been sent by God as a punishment for sin and had its origins in pestilential serpents that poisoned the rivers, theriac was a particularly appropriate remedy or therapeutic.〔Noted by Cantor 2001:174.〕 By contrast, Christiane Fabbri argues〔Christiane Fabbri, 2007. Treating Medieval Plague: The Wonderful Virtues of Theriac.〕 that Theriac, which very frequently contained opium, actually did have palliative effect against pain and reduced coughing and diarrhea. ==History== According to legends, the history of theriac begins with the king Mithridates VI of Pontus who experimented with poisons and antidotes on his prisoners. His numerous toxicity experiments eventually led him to declare that he had discovered an antidote for every venomous reptile and poisonous substance. He mixed all the effective antidotes into a single one, ''mithridatium'' or mithridate. Mithridate contained opium, myrrh, saffron, ginger, cinnamon and castor, along with some forty other ingredients. When the Romans defeated him, his medical notes fell into their hands and Roman ''medici'' began to use them. Emperor Nero's physician Andromachus improved upon mithridatum by bringing the total number of ingredients to sixty four, including viper's flesh,〔 a mashed decoction of which, first roasted then well aged, proved the most constant ingredient.〔Norman F. Cantor, ''In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It made''(New York: Harper) 2001: 174ff.〕 Lise Manniche, however, links the origins of theriac to the ancient Egyptian kyphi recipe, which was also used medicinally. Greek physician Galen devoted a whole book ''Theriaké'' to theriac. One of his patients, Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, took it on regular basis. In 667, ambassadors from Rûm presented the Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty in China with a theriac. The Chinese observed that it contained the gall of swine, was dark red in colour and the foreigners seemed to respect it greatly. The Tang pharmacologist Su Kung noted that it had proved its usefulness against "the hundred ailments." Whether this panacea contained the traditional ingredients such as opium, myrrh and hemp, is not known. In medieval London, the preparation arrived on galleys from the Mediterranean, under the watchful eye of the Worshipful Company of Grocers. Theriac, the most expensive of medicaments, was called ''Venice treacle'' by the English apothecaries. At the time of the Black Death in the mid 14th century, Gentile da Foligno, who died of the plague in June 1348, recommended in his plague treatise that the theriac should have been aged at least a year. Children should not ingest it, he thought, but have it rubbed on them in a salve.〔Noted by Cantor 2001:175, who observes that Gentile also used gold and ground gemstones in medications and recommended amulets.〕 In 1669, the famous French apothecary, Moyse Charas, published the formula for theriac, seeking to break the monopoly held by the Venetians at that time on the medication, thereby opening up the transfer of medical information. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Theriac」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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