Indian and Arabian pills

Statema, B. C. P.

Compound

Indian and Arabian pills

Pillole inde et arabiche

Known today as: Two named compound pills of the Arabic-Latin tradition: the Indian pills (from Mesue, after Haly), with black hellebore, myrobalans, and colocynth; the Arabian pills (from Nicolaus), with aloes, bryony, and scammony.
Kind: Compound
Constituents: myrobalan tannins, aloin, agaric acid (agaricin), and 2 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.

Indian and Arabian pills: what did Canale use it for?

Among the commended purges (ch. 4).

Indian and Arabian pills: what does modern science say?

Strong purgatives, as their ingredients imply.

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Constituents

Mechanism

Purges of Mesue and Nicolaus carried into the London Dispensatory: Indian myrobalans, black hellebore, polypody, agaric, troches of colocynth, and lapis lazuli in the Indian pills; aloes, bryony, myrobalans, and scammony in the Arabian. Pills with scammony or colocynth, Culpeper says, “work strongly.”

Toxic dose

Culpeper gives half a drachm or a scruple of the Indian pills; of the Arabian, “a scruple is enough to take at a time.”

Syndrome

The drastic resins

Standing

Obsolete.

Culpeper, N. (1653). Pharmacopoeia Londinensis, “Pilulae Indae.” 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 says the Indian pills prevail wonderfully against melancholy and its effects on the mind, unulcerated cancers, leprosy, quartan agues, jaundice and diseases of the spleen.

“It wonderfully prevails against afflictions coming of melancholy, cancers which are not ulcerated, leprosy, evils of the mind coming of melancholy, as sadness, fear, &c. quartan agues, jaundice, pains and infirmities of the spleen.”

Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, The College's pills, 'Pilulæ Indæ. Mesue out of Haly', Culpeper's remark. London: Thomas Kelly, 17, Paternoster Row, MDCCCL (Project Gutenberg eBook #49513). The text, read in part

The College's Arabian pills, ascribed to Nicholaus, are made of the best aloes with bryony root, the myrobalans, mastic, diagrydium, asarabacca and roses, among other things.

“Take of the best Aloes four ounces, Briony roots, Myrobalans, Citrons, Chebs, Indian Bellerick, and Emblick, Mastich, Diagrydium, Asarabacca, Roses, of each an ounce”

Nicholas Culpeper, The Complete Herbal, The College's pills, 'Pilulæ Arabica. Nicholaus'. 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: 6 ingredients, each linked to its entry. For Club members. Create a free account or sign in.

Sources

[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

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

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

3 cited: 1 read in full, 2 read in part.

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: “Indian and Arabian 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/indian-and-arabian-pills.
MLA: “Indian and Arabian pills.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 3 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/indian-and-arabian-pills. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Indian and Arabian 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/indian-and-arabian-pills

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