Numbing agents and sedatives derived from herbs and other plants have been used by mankind for thousands of years to conduct surgery of various types, but a recent study reveals that 600 years ago, a physician coated his surgical instruments with the “probable traces” of aconitine, a highly poisonous substance found in the leaves and roots of plants from the Aconitum genus (such as monkshood and wolfsbane); this would’ve been used as a local anesthetic based on its apparent dilution, reported Smithsonian Magazine on May 29.
The study conducted in China by scientists from the China‐Central Asia “Belt and Road” Joint Laboratory on Human and Environment Research, as well as other laboratories, was published in the online journal, Antiquity, on May 26, 2026.
They were studying the remains of a Chinese doctor who lived during the period of the Ming dynasty, and whose iron surgical instruments—scissors and tweezers—were buried with him. The instruments were discovered in 1974, but it was only recently with the advancement in diagnostic technologies, that the crucial plant residue was discovered on the tools. The region where the doctor lived— Jiangsu Province—was an area of a thriving medical practice during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
“’…[T]oday we have read the traces of anesthetic medicine left on those instruments using a beam of laser light,’ says study co-author Congcang Zhao, an archaeologist at China’s Northwest University, in a statement. ‘This is the first time humanity has found direct chemical evidence of anesthetics on ancient surgical tools, proving that our ancestors already knew how to safely alleviate patients’ pain with highly toxic herbs.’”
Use of this toxic herb in 14th century China implies a great deal of scientific knowledge and expertise to extract, process, and dilute the substance for use on patients, without killing themselves or the patient, noted Smithsonian magazine.
