# Indian electuary, greater and lesser

**Elettuario indo**

**Known today as.** Two purgative electuaries of Mesue, the greater and the lesser.

Kind: Compound  
Poisoning: The drastic resins (https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/poisons/drastic-resin)

## What did Canale use it for?

Among the commended purges (ch. 4).

## 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 and toxicology

- **scammonin**: 
- **turpeth resin**: 
- **cinnamon, cloves, mace, nutmeg**: the spices of both
- **ginger and pepper**: 

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

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

**Standing.** Obsolete.

## What lore surrounds it?

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

## 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.
- *The British Pharmaceutical Codex* (1911). London: Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Monographs as transcribed at Henriette’s Herbal Homepage, henriettes-herb.com.

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*Indian electuary, greater and lesser.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-03. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/indian-electuary-greater-and-lesser

Historical description, not medical advice.