Polite Dissent

I’ve fallen a little behind in my medical reviews of manga, so here’s my annotations for the second volume of Apothecarius Argentum, a manga that takes place in a fantasy medieval kingdom. That may sound fairly cliché, but in this case, the main character is a skilled pharmacist and physician.

As Apothecarius Argentum, Volume 2 starts, Argent is getting set up in his new shop as the official “Royal Apothecary” and has reluctantly taken on a young apprentice. The Princess seems to stop by daily, and her father the King is still wary of his true intentions. The first chapter concerns an old woman with a strange ailment. The second and third chapters are flashbacks to shortly after Argent first came to the kingdom to serve as Princess Primula’s food taster. These chapters are rife with palace intrigue and political plotting. The final chapter of the volume manages to bring some of the intrigues forward to the modern day as the Princess heads out on her own to determine if she is fit to be a ruler.

While the story is captivating, I still find the art a little sketchy, particularly the backgrounds. It can be hard at times to distinguish characters, especially during the flashback scenes – which take up half the book. The characters are becoming more fully formed this volume and don’t seem as two dimensional, especially the King who has some dark secrets which are revealed in the final chapter. The Kingdom of Beazol is becoming a little better defined with this volume as well, though it still borders on the generic.

There is not quite as much medicine, per se, in this volume as the first because most of the stories revolve around the use of various poisons — though at least they’re “all natural” and “organic” poisons.

Arsenic was first recognized as poison during the Roman ages. It was the favorite poison of the infamous Borgias. It was a popular poison because when mixed with food or drink, it was impossible to detect.

Acute (high dose) arsenic poisoning causes abdominal pain, bloody vomiting, and diarrhea. Seizures, coma, and death will often follow. Chronic (low doses over a long period of time) arsenic poisoning can show a variety of symptoms including headaches, fatigue, peripheral neuropathy (pain and numbness of the hands and feet), a skin rash, lines on the nails, kidney and liver failure, and heart damage. A garlic-like smell can sometimes be detected on the breath of victims of arsenic poisoning.

Over the years, arsenic has been used as a treatment for a number of medical conditions including diabetes, syphilis, psoriasis, and cancer, but is rarely — if ever — used today for such purposes. In the Victorian era, it was also a common ingredient of cosmetics.

Datura stramonium is a widespread plant with a variety of common names including Jimson Weed, Thorn Apple, Stinkweed, Loco Weed, Devil’s Apple, and Devil’s Trumpet. As the latter names suggest, it is a plant with a bad reputation. Datura can be used as a medication or a hallucinogen, but the line between a safe dose and toxicity is paper thin and fatal overdoses are common — even the pro-hallucinogen sites recommend against it.

In the past, Datura was used to treat a variety of ills including asthma and hemorrhoids. The plant contains the compounds atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine — medications which are still used today (just in small, purer, better controlled doses).

The symptoms of Datura poisoning are anticholinergic in nature: dilated pupils; dry mouth; warm, red skin; racing heart; and memory and coordination problems. There’s a little mnemonic medical students memorize for anticholinergic toxicity; here’s the version I learned: “Mad as a hatter, blind as a bat, dry as a bone, red as a beet, hot as a hare.”

Datura flowers have a sweet fragrance, but the rest of the plant has a foul odor (hence the name stinkweed). Thus when Argent is able to detect the fragrance, the villains must have been using the flowers (or else it’s a mistranslation and “strong odor” was meant instead of “strong fragrance”).

The name “Wolfsbane” can refer to several plants within the Aconitum genus (part of the buttercup family). Other common names include Monkshood, Blue Rocket, and Devil’s Helmet. All the plants share similar properties and all contain the alkaloid Aconite.

Symptoms of wolfsbane poisoning begin with numbness of the mouth and skin. Abdominal pain and severe vomiting follow. Next, paralysis of the lower than upper extremities occur. Finally, the pulse weakens, the breathing muscles tire, and convulsions begin. Death usually occurs within 2 hours of poisoning.

Wolfsbane and other Aconitum species have been used in both Western and Eastern medicine. It was used as a pain killer, a diuretic, and an anti-inflammatory. The root contains the most Aconite, though the young flowers also contain a substantial amount.

Wolfsbane was thought to be one of the ways to detect a werewolf in humanform. If you held the flower up to someone’s chin and it cast a yellow shadow, then they were a werewolf.

The bark of the willow tree has been used medicinally since Sumerian times. It contains salicylic acid, a chemical very similar to acetasalicylic acid, better know as aspirin. As such, it is good for treating pain, fevers, and inflammation. It is more irritating to the stomach than aspirin and nausea and stomach pain are common side effects. The bark can also be used to make a topical astringent as it contains high levels of tannins.