14 FLORA HOM@OPATHICA. 
and irritation of the nervous system ; but whenever curative, 
it may be ascribed to its specific, 7. e. homeopathic action. 
It must also be remembered, that the homeopathic use of 
this and all other substances can never (owing to the mode of 
preparation) be attended with any possible degree of danger from 
their poisonous qualities, but that, under the old system, these 
medicines, often injurious from the manner of exhibiting them, 
may also become, either from inadvertence or ignorance, most 
fatal in their effects. 
Antiporrs.— Acids and wine; to its poisonous effects, 
vinegar. 
Gerarde, in his Herbal, gives a curious antidote. He says, 
speaking of the Aconite, “It groweth on the mountains of 
Rheetia, and in sundry places of the Alps, where you shall find 
that the grass that groweth round it eaten up with cattle, but 
no part of the herb itself touched, except by certain flies, who 
in such abundant measure swarm about the same, that they 
cover the whole plant, and which is very strange, although 
these flies do with great delight feed hereupon, yet of them 
there is confected an antidote or most available medicine 
against the deadly bite of the spider called Tarantula, or any 
other venomous beast whatsoever 3 yea, an excellent remedie, 
not only against the Aconites, but all other poysons whatever.” 
Also, Antoninus Geranaceus, of Pavia, a famous physician of his 
age, mentions a fly which eats very plentifully of Aconite leaves, 
as an antidote to its poisonous effects. 
