1824.] History of Poisons. 437 



all cotemporary writers speak of the venom of the toad as the 

 fatal ingredient of her potions, and in the Alexipharrnaca 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 rep- 

 tile^ the latter of which, as Dr. Badham 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 been 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. SpieimanJ 

 expresses the same opinion, " Minus recte itaque efftctus vene- 

 nati a bufonibus metuuntur." Franck,§ on the contrary, accuses 

 Gmelin of too much precipitancy in rejecting the belief respect- 

 ing toad-poison. || Modern naturalists recognise no poisonous 

 species of toad ; even the most formidable of the species, to 

 appearance, that of Surinam, is said to be perfectly harmless. 



If we may venture to offer a conjecture upon this subject, we 

 are inclined to consider the origin of this opinion to have been 

 derived from the frequency with which the toad entered into the 

 composition of spells or charms, into philtres or love potions, 

 and which, like the bat and the owj, most probably derived its 

 magical character from the gloom and solitude of its habitation. 

 Shakspeare has accordingly introduced this reptile into the 

 witches' enchanted cauldron, in Macbeth. 



M Round about the cauldron go; 

 In the poison'd entrails throw. 

 Toad that under coldest stone 

 Days and nights hast thirty-one 

 Swelter'd venom sleeping got, 

 Boil thou first i' the charmed pot ! " 



This opinion receives further strength when it is considered 

 how frequently poisons were administered under the insidious 

 form of charms or incantations.** 



* " iTipuiy 'ji'yr,fia}a ffw/jala;, /ilia ur^olyfto; tTnlilx/inri;. WfmOM Mai 8u<r<fS(« ofyjjwri 

 7o (lo/ta, xcu Kuy/Uf auloi; tirtlai, «wo7i 8« xoti ayitpfidlot air(oa)ptlo; txxfiaig." 



+ I. xw^Of >) apfayyt;; 2. <p<MV>]7lX0f. 



t Instit. Mater. Medic, p. 176. 

 $ Manuale di Toswirologia, p. 79, 245. 



|| See also Instituzioni di .Med. For. di (i. Tortosa, vol. ii. p. 87, and authorities there 

 cited. 



• * This fact may be illustrated by ancient bh well as modern records ; from the poi- 

 *oned tunic of the Centaur Ncssus, to the tre&chtroui powders of ilie diabolical Mary 

 iJatcman. 



