Viper
Vipera; trochisci de viperis
- Known today as
- The flesh of the viper, Vipera species, dried into troches.
- Kind
- Animal, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- metalloproteinases and serine proteases, phospholipase A2, bradykinin-potentiating peptides
- Earliest authority here
- Andromachus (fl. AD 60)
- In other databases
- GBIF search · Wikidata search
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.
Viper: what was it used for?
The heart of theriac: the serpent’s flesh as the antidote to poison.
Viper: what does modern science say?
The logic was sympathy, as Culpeper says: the troches help those bitten by an adder “by a certain Sympatheticall vertue.”
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- metalloproteinases and serine proteases
- phospholipase A2
- bradykinin-potentiating peptidesin the related Bothrops, the origin of captopril
- Mechanism
- The viper’s flesh in theriac was trusted by sympathy: Culpeper held that the flesh eaten, and the head of the viper that bit you bruised and laid on the bite, were the best remedy under the sun. The bite of Vipera berus gives swelling, vomiting, and a fall in blood pressure and has killed fourteen people in Britain since 1876, the last in 1975; antivenom is the remedy. A peptide in the venom of a Brazilian pit viper, the jararaca, gave medicine captopril, the first ACE inhibitor.
- Toxic dose
- A bite needs a hospital, with the blood pressure watched for at least 24 hours and antivenom given for systemic envenoming.
- Standing
- Antivenom (Zagreb, ViperaTAb) is the treatment; theriac’s viper was a sympathetic ingredient.
- Warrell, D. A. (2005). “Treatment of bites by adders and exotic venomous snakes.” BMJ 331. Read in full · the text read
- Ferreira, S. H. (1965). “A bradykinin-potentiating factor (BPF) present in the venom of Bothrops jararaca.” British Journal of Pharmacology 24. 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.
Used in These Compounds
Viper is an ingredient of 1 compound medicine in the database. For Club members. Create a free account or sign in.
Viper: what did the older authorities say?
- Andromachus
- Added the viper to the old antidote of Mithridates, making the theriac of later medicine.
Sources
- Wikipedia, “Theriac.” Read in full · the text read
- Wikipedia, “Captopril.” Read in full · the text read
- Culpeper, N. (1653). Pharmacopœia Londinensis, or, The London Dispensatory. London: Peter Cole. Text Creation Partnership edition A35381. Read in part · the text read
- Gondarenko, E., et al. (2026). Antivenomic and proteomic assessment of inter- and intrapopulation venom variations in Nikolsky’s adder Vipera nikolskii: comparison to common adder Vipera berus. Journal of Proteome Research 25: 4546–4562. Abstract read · the text read
In Symbols of the Psyche
The Serpent: what it stood for in alchemy and in analytical psychology.
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
- 6 cited: 3 read in full, 2 read in part, 1 abstract read. 1 with the abstract on file.
- Corrections
- "kills perhaps one in a hundred untreated" replaced with the record: fourteen deaths in Britain since 1876, the last in 1975.
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
“Viper.” 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/viper.
- MLA
“Viper.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 3 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/viper. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Viper. (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/viper
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See Also
Also in Andromachus the Elder
Mithridate in Andromachus the Elder · Theriac in Andromachus the Elder · everything Andromachus the Elder names →
Drawing on the same sources: Wikipedia, Culpeper
Wax · Unicorn’s horn · Wild garlic · Woad · Tormentil · Wood sorrel · the bibliography →
Nearby in the alphabet
Vitriol (blue vitriol (copper sulfate), and white vitriol (zinc sulfate)) · Violet, lettuce, sow-thistle (garden lettuce (Lactuca sativa), sow-thistle (Sonchus oleraceus)) · Walnut, middle bark of (The inner bark of Juglans regia) · Vinegar of the four thieves (Vinegar steeped with herbs and garlic) · Water germander · Vinegar (Soured wine) · Vine ash (Ash of burnt vine wood)
Historical description, not medical advice.