MONKSHOOD. 7 



you to your cost, they are not so good as they seem 

 to be/' 



It is amusing to note how these grand old masters, who 

 produced such books as we, degenerate triflers, dare not 

 even think of because of the years of work and the 

 thousands of pounds we should have to expend upon them 

 it is amusing to note how they struggled against super- 

 stition with the right hand, and occasionally opened the 

 door for it to enter with the left. There is a charming 

 winter-flowering aconite that should be grown in every 

 garden ; its flowers are pale yellow, and it is known as 

 Eranthis hy emails, Parkinson's name being Aconltum 

 hyemale. This is the " counter-poison monkeshood/' the 

 roots of which " are effectual not only against the poison 

 of the poisonf ul helmet flower, and all others of that kind, 

 but also against the poison of all venomous beasts, tlie 

 plague or pestilence, and other infectious diseases, which 

 raise spots, pockes, or markes in the outward skin, by ex- 

 pelling the poison from within, and defending the heart as 

 a most sovereign cordial." 



Apart from the consideration of its possible and actual 

 mischievousnes's, the monkshood is a noble border flower. 

 It grows to a height of three to four feet, the upper half 

 of the strong stems being closely beset with hooded flowers 

 of a fine dark blue coldur, elegantly accompanied with 

 leaves that are deeply and distinctly cut into narrow- 

 pointed segments. Its name, Aconitum napellm, is derived 

 from Aconte* the supposed place of its origin, and napus, 

 a turnip, from the likeness of its roots to the long white 



* Thcophrastus so derives it, from 'A/coWi, but Ovid derives it from 

 aKovrj, as growing on sharp steep rocks. But as all the species require 

 some depth of good soil, the reference of Ovid must be to some other plant. 



