Cochia pills

Statema, B. C. P.

Compound

Cochia pills

Pilulae Cochiae

Known today as: A standard purgative pill of aloes, scammony, and colocynth, given in the old pharmacopoeias under the names of Mesue, Rhazes, and Nicolaus Myrepsus. The 1674 printing reads “le occhie”; the 1660 printing reads “le cochie,” which confirms the identification (note XXXIV).
Kind: Compound
Constituents: aloin, scammonin, cucurbitacins, and 1 more
Poisoning: The drastic resins
In the Canale glossary: On the Manner of Discerning and Healing the Bewitched, Appendix A: Part Three, Chapter 4: Stronger Purgatives and Compound Medicines

Revised October 3, 2026: Checked against its sources, each read in full, in part, or in its abstract. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.

Caution. Hazardous in some form or dose; see the modern assessment below.

Cochia pills: what did Canale use it for?

Among the commended purges, “simple and prepared” (ch. 4).

Cochia pills: what does modern science say?

Drastic; colocynth and scammony are both toxic irritant purgatives.

Cochia pills: is it poisonous?

Yes, in some form or dose. Its poisoning is the drastic resins: One to four hours. Historical description, not medical advice; in a poisoning, call a poison centre.

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Constituents

aloin ChEMBLfrom the aloes
scammonin ChEMBLthe resin of scammony
cucurbitacinsfrom the colocynth
hiera picraaloes and canella

Mechanism

Three purgatives in one pill, the pilulae cocciae that survived as the compound pill of colocynth: the aloes acts slowly and mainly on the large intestine, the scammony resin is a drastic purgative that in large doses sets up acute irritation of the gut, and the colocynth, which carries cytotoxic cucurbitacins, is a powerful hydragogue cathartic and extremely irritant. Culpeper called it “a dogged purge at best.”

Toxic dose

Culpeper allowed half a dram, to strong bodies only and with great care; the compound pill of colocynth was given in 1911 at 4 to 8 grains, and no rabbit given colocynth pulp at 200 mg/kg a day survived.

Syndrome

The drastic resins

Standing

The name outlived the old pharmacy: the British Pharmaceutical Codex of 1911 gives Pilulae Cocciae, Pill Cochia, as a synonym of the British Pharmacopoeia’s compound pill of colocynth.

Culpeper, N. (1653). Pharmacopoeia Londinensis, “Pilulae Cochiae.” Read in part · the text read

Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.

In Their Own Words

Culpeper's London Dispensatory gives the lesser Cochia pills as aloes, scammony and colocynth, an ounce of each, made into a mass with syrup of wormwood and of purging thorn.

“Take of Aloes, Scammony, Colocynthis, of each one ounce, with equal parts of Syrup of Wormwood, and of purging thorn, make it into a mass according to art.”

Nicholas Culpeper, M.D., The Complete Herbal ... to which are now first annexed, the English Physician Enlarged, and Key to Physic, Pills: Pilulae Cochiae, the greater and the less. A new edition. London: Thomas Kelly, 17, Paternoster Row, MDCCCL (Project Gutenberg eBook #49513). The text, read in part

Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.

The Recipe

The recipe: 3 ingredients, each linked to its entry. For Club members. Create a free account or sign in.

Sources

[16] The British Pharmaceutical Codex (1911). London: Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Monographs as transcribed at Henriette’s Herbal Homepage, henriettes-herb.com. Read in full · the text read
[28] Culpeper, N. (1653). Pharmacopœia Londinensis, or, The London Dispensatory [the Royal College of Physicians’ pharmacopoeia in English, with Culpeper’s commentary]. London: Peter Cole. Text Creation Partnership edition A35381. Read in part · the text read
[111] Shafaei, H., Esmaeili, A., Soleimani Rad, J., Delazar, A., & Behjati, M. (2012). Citrullus colocynthis as a medicinal or poisonous plant: a revised fact. Journal of Medicinal Plants Research 6(35): 4922–4927. doi:10.5897/JMPR11.264 Abstract read · the text read

Wikipedia, “Citrullus colocynthis,” en.wikipedia.org (read 2 October 2026). Read in full · the text read

Verification

Checked

October 1, 2026, and October 3, 2026

Passes

Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
Every source read, in full, in part, or in its abstract, and every sentence checked against what was read (October 3, 2026)

Sources

5 cited: 2 read in full, 2 read in part, 1 abstract read. 1 with the abstract on file.

Corrections

None were needed.

What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.

Cite This Entry

Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026 · last revised October 3, 2026

Chicago: “Cochia pills.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 3, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cochia-pills.
MLA: “Cochia pills.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 3 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cochia-pills. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Cochia pills. (2026, October 3). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cochia-pills

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