MO.NKS-HOOD. 123 



chemical poisons, regarded the Aconite as the most 



violent of all poisons, and accordingly they fable it 



to be the invention of Ilecate, who caused the 



plant to spring from the foam of Cerberus, when 



Hercules dragged him from the gloomy regions of 



Pluto. 



This from th' Ediidnean dog dire essence draws. 



Tliere is a blind steej) cave, with fos-gy jaws, 



Through which the hokl Tyrinthiau hero strain'd, 



Dragg'd Cerberus, witli adamant enchain'd ; 



"Who backward hung, and scowhng, look."d askew 



On gk)rious day, witli anger rabid grew ; 



Thrice howls, thrice barks at once with his three heads. 



And on the grass his foamy poison sheds. 



This sprung; attracting from the fruitful soil 



Dire nourishment, and power of deathful soil. 



The rural swains, because it takes delight 



In barren rocks, surnamed it Aconite. 



Sandys' Odd. 



In the iron age of Ovid, the poet pictures the 

 stepdame as preparing a deadly potion of Aconite. 



Licrida terribiles miscent AconHcB Novercce. 

 It was with this venomous plant that the ancients 

 poisoned their arrows when in pursuit of ferocious 

 animals, as also when following their more brutal 

 trade of slaughtering their fellow-creatures. Thco- 

 phrastus observes that the Aconitum yields a poison 

 which at some times causes instant death, whilst at 

 others its effects are lingering, but certain. Fatal 

 experience has so sufficiently established its virulent 

 nature in modern times, that it should be admitted 



G 2 



