MAY. 99 



with their properties frequently bind tliem np 

 with the nosegay, and their scent is very dele- 

 terious. Linnseus says that the leaves are fatal 

 to many animals, and mentions the case of their 

 poison, recorded in the Stockholm Acts, in 

 which a surgeon, little acquainted with the 

 nature of plants, prescribed the use of this as a 

 medicine to a patient. The invalid refused to 

 take it, and the medical adviser, in order to 

 convince his patient of the safety of the remedy, 

 took them himself, and fell a victim to his 

 experiment. Orfila states that the juice of the 

 leaves occasions death in a very short time ; and 

 the root of the plant is still more powerful; 

 while instances are on record, in which long 

 fainting fits have been the result of merely 

 smelling the flower. It would be well if this 

 poisonous plant were quite banished from the 

 garden, but gardeners shordd certainly be careful 

 not to throw it with other refuse, from the ground 

 into the public road, as the lives of children are 

 often thus endangered. This flower was for- 

 merly called ptirple helmet flower. The Enghsh 

 name of wolfsbane is given to some of the 

 genus. They grow on the lofty pastures of the 

 Swiss mountains, as well as on many other 

 mountainous regions of Europe and North 

 America. The roots, when pounded, are mixed 

 with food, to form a bait for wolves and other 

 animals. The yellow monkshood (^Aconitwn 

 anthora) is a more ornamental flower than the 

 purple kind, and a very pretty species ; the 

 hairy wolfsbane (Aconitum barbattim,)vnih. T^ale 

 D 2 



