In the 15th century, a surgeon used a thunder hat as an anesthetic

Researchers analyzed scissors and tweezers found in the tomb of a Chinese doctor buried in 1411 in Nanjing. The tools were 95% iron and quite similar to modern ones.

On the surface of the instruments were red residues of a substance which, according to the researchers’ analysis, contained aconitine. It is obtained from thunderheads and is deadly poisonous.

Ukonhatutu are also traditional decorative plants for flower beds in Finland.

Ukohatun contained aconitine was found on the surgeon’s tools in the places where patients were touched. Judging from that, aconitine had been used externally on the patient’s body, from where it had gotten onto the surgical instruments.

Ukohattu was most obviously used as an anesthetic. It is also mentioned as an anesthetic in a Chinese medical book compiled during the Han Dynasty (202 BC–220 AD)

Ukonhatu has been known to slow down the development of tumors, curb inflammation and relieve pain. The ancient Chinese also knew it to be extremely poisonous.

Ming Dynasty during which doctors developed methods to control the toxicity of the thunderhead. The surface layer was removed from the root of the plant before use. The medicine was made from boys’ urine or the plant was soaked in black soybean soup or boiled in vinegar.

Caowu san, a numbing powder obtained from Ukonhat, is mentioned in written sources. Its main purpose was to numb the patient and enable painless surgery. Even for serious injuries, thunderbolts and madder were used.

The researchers found a total of 19 anesthetic recipes, in which the ingredients were, among other things, amethyst skullcap and flying cuckoo skullcap.

The results of the study were published by Antiquity magazine and online Cambridge University Press.