# 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  
Poisoning: The drastic resins (https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/poisons/drastic-resin)  
Toxic: yes

> **Caution.** 

## What did Canale use it for?

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

## What does modern science say?

Drastic; colocynth and scammony are both toxic irritant purgatives.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **aloin**: from the aloes
- **scammonin**: the resin of scammony
- **cucurbitacins**: from the colocynth
- **hiera picra**: aloes 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.”

**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.

**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.

## Sources

- Wikipedia, “Citrullus colocynthis,” en.wikipedia.org (read 2 October 2026).
- Culpeper, N. (1653). *Pharmacopoeia Londinensis*, “Pilulae Cochiae.”

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*Cochia pills.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-03. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cochia-pills

Historical description, not medical advice.