The most common source of narcotic drugs has always been the vegetable kingdom; and the peculiar effects of the juices or other ingredients of the poppy, henbane, deadly-nightshade, Indian hemp, mandragora, etc., have been sung in poetry, rehearsed in prose, and known from almost prehistoric time. Ulysses and his companions were stupefied by _nepenthe_; a draught of vinegar and myrrh, or gall, was offered to Christ upon the cross, as it often was to malefactors; and Herodotus speaks of a peculiar habit of the Scythians, who produced some stupefying vapor,--probably from the seed of the hemp. From Biblical times, at least, the most common narcotic seems to have been alcohol in some of its numerous combinations. Furthermore, the effect of hemlock has been celebrated since the days of Socrates, who was permitted to drink it in order to soothe himself during his last hour. Mandragora seems to have had a great reputation in times past,--so much so that it is probable that more than one substance was included under this term. Apuleius, who lived about a century later than Pliny, wrote: "If any one is to have a member mutilated, burned, or sawed, let him drink half an ounce of mandragora with wine, and let him sleep till the member is cut away, without any pain or sensation." Among the Chinese and the Indians similar drugs seem to have been in frequent use, especially the _bhang_, ordinarily known as _hasheesh_. In many parts of the East something of this kind was administered to condemned criminals, as well as those compelled to undergo rude operations. It is said, also, that mild intoxication was produced among the fanatics of the East for the purpose of firing them to the point of heroic deeds, as it is also said that among the Druids the practice prevailed of partially stupefying the novitiates before initiating them into the most sacred and secret rites of their cult. Guy{302} de Chauliac was almost the only surgical writer of previous centuries who has referred to agents for the relief of pain, although during and before his time it was customary to give something to those about to undergo torture, by which to deaden their sensibility; and, though in the fables of all lands and all times something has always figured to which was ascribed the power of making people oblivious to pain or to the peculiarities of their situation, it is very difficult to learn just what, if any, particular composition was referred to or deserved such mention. There is allusion to something of the kind in _Romeo and Juliet_; again, in _Cymbeline_; and in one of Middleton's tragedies, published in 1567, entitled _Women Beware Women_, occurs this passage:-- "I'll imitate the pities of old surgeons To this lost limb, who, ere they show their art, Cast one asleep, then cut the diseased part."