Indian electuary, greater and lesser

Statema, B. C. P.

Compound

Indian electuary, greater and lesser

Elettuario indo

Known today as: Two purgative electuaries of Mesue, the greater and the lesser.
Kind: Compound, in 1 older authority
Constituents: scammonin, turpeth resin, cinnamon, cloves, mace, nutmeg, and 1 more
Poisoning: The drastic resins
Earliest authority here: Mesue (11th–13th century)
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: Tradition, lore, modern assessment, and sources extended. Checked against its sources, each read in full, in part, or in its abstract. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.

Indian electuary, greater and lesser: what did Canale use it for?

Among the commended purges (ch. 4).

Indian electuary, greater and lesser: what does modern science say?

Canale does not give their recipes. Their purgatives are resins: scammony a drastic purgative that may cause nausea and vomiting, turpeth like jalap but slower and less powerful.

Pharmacognosy & Toxicology

Constituents

scammonin ChEMBL
turpeth resin
cinnamon, cloves, mace, nutmegthe spices of both
ginger and pepper

Mechanism

Resin purgatives, turpeth and scammony, in a spiced electuary.

Checked against ChEMBL

colchicine: ChEMBL’s curated mechanism: inhibitor Tubulin.

Toxic dose

A purge; Mesue’s dose of each is three aurei.

Syndrome

The drastic resins

Standing

Obsolete.

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.

Indian electuary, greater and lesser: what lore surrounds it?

The Florentine Ricettario of 1567 still prints both, as Mesue’s.

Indian electuary, greater and lesser: what did the older authorities say?

Mesue: His Grabadin gives the electuarium Indi maius and Indum minus: purges of turpeth and scammony with cinnamon, cloves, mace, nutmeg, and other spices. The greater, he says, purges phlegmatic and putrid humours from the stomach, and helps pains of the stomach and bowels, colic, and pains of the kidneys.

Sources

Ricettario fiorentino (1567). Florence: Arte de’ Medici e Speziali. 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
The mechanism read against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37): curated mechanisms and measured activity
Every source read, in full, in part, or in its abstract, and every sentence checked against what was read (October 3, 2026)

Sources

2 cited: 1 read in full, 1 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 electuary, greater and lesser.” 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-electuary-greater-and-lesser.
MLA: “Indian electuary, greater and lesser.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 3 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/indian-electuary-greater-and-lesser. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
APA: Indian electuary, greater and lesser. (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-electuary-greater-and-lesser

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