Foxglove and belladonna—the only two natural plant medicines he had on hand whose effects he could truly confirm, and whose mechanisms were relatively clear.
The former was a fresh plant, recently picked and delivered; the latter was a souvenir from the trip to Westminster, dried and preserved. A few blueberries that hadn't been picked out might still be mixed in.
Of course, while they were still fresh, Kraft hadn't had time to tell them apart. Once dried, they were practically identical—like strawberry seeds dropped into a pile of white sesame seeds.
Fortunately, there was no need for much precision now, and he doubted the sample would mind whether the reagent had a fruity aroma.
He took two teaspoons of dried berries and steeped them in the remaining hot water. The shriveled fruits swelled, and the liquid took on a shimmering, pale purple hue. It looked lovely in the clear white-glass container.
In fact, when belladonna appeared at banquets, it wasn't always a proud achievement for an assassin. It could also become a dangerous cosmetic.
By an aesthetic standard Kraft found difficult to understand, some people insisted that larger pupils made the eyes look livelier and more alluring. Then some genius discovered that belladonna poisoning caused the pupils to dilate.
And so belladonna eye drops became a popular beauty product. A few drops before going out gave you large, sparkling, alluring eyes. Though mishaps of varying severity were common, its devotees only grew in number.
This might have been one of the earliest medicinal uses of belladonna, and it neatly illustrated its pharmacological mechanism: it was an anticholinergic. Since cholinergic receptors were widely distributed throughout smooth muscle and glands, belladonna could affect a very broad range of tissues.
The sphincter muscle that constricted the pupils was naturally among them. Using belladonna