1826.] On the Poison of the Toad. 277 



Article IX. 



On the Poison of the Toad. 

 (To the Editors of the Aiiniils of Philosophi/.) 



GENTLEMEN, 

 Having called to make inquiries about a sick friend, I found 

 the second volume of Paris's and Fonblanque's Medical Juris- 

 prudence lying upon his table ; and wishing to kill a little time, 

 I took it up, and accidentally opened it at p. 139, where, to my 

 astonishment, I found an account of the supposed poison of the 

 toad, very similar to that which I hadjust read in i\iQ Annals, as the 

 results of a paper lately given by Dr. Davy to the Royal Society. 

 If it is not an impertinent question, may I be allowed to ask, 

 whether it is usual to present any memoir to that Society which 

 contains matter already in print ? I have sent you the extract to 

 which I allude ; and I think by giving it a place in your journal, 

 your readers will be gratified ; for it affords a very good account 

 of the question at issue. In making this request, I hope I do 

 not intrude. I remain, your constant reader, P. P. 



" With respect to the poisons of Locnsta, all cotemporary 

 writers speak of the venom of the toad as the fatal ingredient of 

 her potions, and in the Alexipharmaca of Dioscorides we find 

 the symptoms described, which are said to be produced by it ; * 

 but what is very extraordinary, the belief of the ancients on this 

 matter was all but universal. Pliny is express on the subject ; 

 iEtius describes two kinds of this reptile,t the latter of which, 

 as Dr. Badhara has suggested, was probably the frog, as well 

 from the epithet, as that he ascribes deleterious powers only to 

 the former. It is scarcely necessary to observe that this ancient 

 belief has descended into later times ; we find Sir Thomas 

 Browne treating such an opinion as one of the vulgar errors ; and 

 we have before alluded to the legend of king John having beea 

 poisoned by a wassail bowl in which matter extracted from a 

 living toad was said to have been infused. In still later times, 

 we have heard of a barrel of beer poisoned by the same reptile 

 having found its way into it. Borelli and Valisnieri maintain 

 that it is perfectly harmless, and state that they had seen it eaten 

 with impunity. Spielmah;]: expresses the same opinion, "Minus 

 recte itaque ej/'ecius venenali a bufonihus metauntur." Franck,^ 



• " ini^tftv 0(S7),y»7a aw/jiolo;, fiiJx w^oiilrp.n; imlilx/jtiiy){. Sufmody xai 8u5-»ijSia o?iyS{ke« 

 7o (lofict, x«( }.\r/fjLiit auliiii ijrilxi, ivitili Se xcu ffTrepfioaos arrMxifth; tuxfini." 

 "I" I . xwfo; ri a^ir/yoi ; SJ. fuivtilixti, 



X Instiu Mater. Medic, p. 176. 



^ Maiuiale tli Tossicologia, p. 79, 245. 



