Cbap. 3.] THE EOMANS' FIKST KNOWLEDGE OF WILD PLANTS. 79 



more zealous promoter of discoveries for the benefit of mankind, 

 than any of his predecessors a fact evinced not only by many 

 positive proofs, but by universal report as well. It was he 

 who first thought, the proper precautions being duly taken, of 

 drinking poison every day ; it being his object, by becoming 

 habituated to it, to neutralize its daugerous effects. This 

 prince was the first discoverer too of the various kinds of anti- 

 dotes, one 6 of which, indeed, still retains his name ; and it is 

 generally supposed that he was the first to employ the blood 

 of the ducks of Pontus as an ingredient in antidotes, from the 

 circumstance that they derive their nutriment from poisons. 7 



It was to Mithridates that Asclepiades, 8 that celebrated 

 physician, dedicated his works, still extant, and sent them, as a 

 substitute for his own personal attendance, when requested by 

 that monarch to leave Rome and reside at his court. It is a 

 well-known fact, that this prince was the only person that was 

 ever able to converse in so many as two-and-twenty languages, 

 and that, during the whole fifty-six years of his reign, he never 

 required the services of an interpreter when conversing with 

 any individuals of the numerous nations that were subject to 

 his sway. 



Among the other gifts of extraordinary genius with which 

 he was endowed, Mithridates displayed a peculiar fondness for 

 enquiries into the medical art j and gathering items of informa- 

 tion from all his subjects, extended, as they were, over a large 

 proportion of the world, it was his hubit to make copies 

 of their communications, and to take notes of the results which 

 upon experiment had been produced. These memoranda, which 

 he kept in his private cabinet, 9 fell into the hands of Pompeius, 

 when he took possession of the royal treasures ; who at once 

 commissioned his freedman, Lenaeus the grammarian, to trans- 

 late them into the Latin language : the result of which was, 

 that his victory was equally conducive to the benefit of the 

 republic and of mankind at large. 



6 See c. 79 of this Book : also B. xxiii. c. 77, and B. xxix. c. 8. 



7 A mere prejudice, arising from the fact that numerous poisonous plants 

 grew in the countries on the shores of the Euxine. The blood of no 

 animal whatever is an antidote to any poison, 



8 See B. vii. c. 37. An interesting account of his system will be found 

 in B. xxvi. c. 7. See also B. xxix. c. o. 



9 See B. xxiii. c. 77. 



