Study on snake venom In 1669, Charas published
New Experiments Upon Vipers (
Nouvelles expériences sur la vipère), a 245-paged book describing the anatomy, physiology, and habits of viper. In it he described that snakes are important for the treatment of itch, erysipelas, measles, smallpox, leprosy and for skin care. He further asserted that the venom is contained in a poison bag (gland), but the snake is only venomous when it is irritated. He invoked that the poison is released only as a result of "heated animal spirit". His work was in part to argue against an Italian zoologist
Francisco Redi, who published
Osservazioni intorno alle vipere (
Observations about the vipers) in 1664. [Redi had discredited many false claims and myths regarding snakes and their venoms. He went on to explain that venom is quite independent of the snake bite. After Charas' contradiction on the nature of snake venom, Redi experimentally demonstrated that that venom was poisonous only when it enters the
bloodstream via a bite, and that the
fang contains venom in the form of yellow fluid. He even showed that by applying a tight
ligature before the wound, the passage of venom into the
heart could be prevented.]
Medical compendium '''', first published in 1676, was the best-known of Charas's works and was the first medical book from
Europe translated into
Chinese. A medication included in his formulary was
theriac which was first made popular by the
Greeks as an antidote to animal bites and disseminated over the
Silk Route. The formula for theriac included as many as 600 separate ingredients and was kept secret for over seventeen centuries. Another medication included was
orvietan. Charas is considered an important figure for the dissemination of medical knowledge.
Chemistry Charas'
Pharmacopée royale contains one of the earliest comprehensive classification of chemical elements and compounds, which can be regarded as the forerunner of
chemical symbols and
periodic table. His chemical table contains nine elements, namely lead, tin, iron, gold, copper, quicksilver, sulfur, and arsenic (but he listed sulfur and arsenic under minerals or chemical compounds). He assigned chemical symbols to the seven metals corresponding to the known celestial bodies at the time, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, and Moon respectively. He used these chemical symbols to predict the chemical properties of chemical compounds. ==Books==