Od lekarstwa do trucizny. O ambiwalencji roślin w powieści Hrabia Monte Christo Aleksandra Dumasa: kulczyba wronie oko i bób św. Ignacego
On the ambivalence of plants in the novel The Count of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas: the crow’s eye tree and the St. Ignatius bean

Summary/Abstract: This article is devoted to the ambivalence of medicinal plants in the novel The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, using the examples of the crow’s eye tree and the St. Ignatius bean. The author analyzes descriptions of the properties of alkaloids obtained from them – strychnine and brucine – which, when properly used, can be a disease-curing medicine and an effective lethal poison. She also discusses the sources from which the writer obtained medical and pharmaceutical knowledge about plant toxins, their action and the symptoms they cause.

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