ACONITUM NAPELLUS. ORD. XXVI. Multisilique. . AGS 
whole nervous system;* even by keeping it long in the hand, or 
on the bosom, we are told unpleasant symptoms have been pro- 
duced.© That the ancients considered the Aconitum to be the most 
destructive of vegetable productions, appears from their fanciful 
derivation of its origin: “ ut ab Hecate inventum aut ex Cerberi 
** spuma enatum pronunciarent ;”’ and Ray says, “ Napellus ve- 
* nenorum praesentaneorum facilé princeps.’’* The deleterious 
effects of this plant, like those of most vegetable poisons, are pro- 
duced by its immediate action upon the nervous energy; for of 
the different animals* which have been destroyed by it, we find 
but one instance, wherein upon dissection, marks of organic dis- 
ease‘ were discovered, and this, as well as those mentioned respec- 
ting the Belladonna, we attribute to the action of secondary causes, 
The fatal symptoms brought on by this poison, are thus stated 
by Haller: “Intus adsumtus Napellus vomitum movet, convul- 
* siones, rigorem, vertiginem, maniam, hypercatharses, sursum 
»* The juice was applied to a wound of the finger, which not only produced 
pains in the hand and arm, but cardialgia, great anxiety, a sense of suffocation, 
syncope, &c. and the wounded part sphacelated before it came to suppuration, 
Rodder in Alberti Jurisp. Med. t. 6, p. 724. 
* If this be admitted, it must be referred to a peculiar idiosyncrasy of the body 
rather than to the power of the plant. Murray, Apparat. Med, vol. 3. p. 12. 
4 Ray observes that the Napellus loses much of its virulency by being trans. 
planted from the mountains into our gardens; and this observation has been cons 
firmed by the experiment of D. Martinus Bernhardus a Berniz, in Ephem. Germ. 
ann. 2. Observ. 22. (Ray, Hist. Plant. p. 702.) and for farther confirmation see 
Pet. Joh. Faber in Pauth. |. 1. cap. 43. 
* The root of the Napcllus is an immediate poison to almost all animals, but 
actual experiments with it have been made upon wolves, cats, dogs, mice, &c. See 
Wepfer, Hist. de Cicut. p. 176. de Napello. Phil. Transact. vol. 27. p. 488. 
Sprogel Diss. Exper. circa venena, p.6. Hallefeld, p.23. Ehrhart, vide Reinhold, 
Diss. cit. Cows and Goats, by being forced to eat this plant, perished. Moraeus 
Fil. in K. Vet. Acad. MHandl. 1745. p. 217. 
‘ This was a wolf, whercin marks of infammation of the stomach were dis- 
govered. Wepfer, |. c. p. 180 
