204 OUR ROCK-GARDEN 



into existence from the foam of the infuriated 

 Cerberus, when that cheerless brute was dragged, 

 willy-nilly, by Hercules from the lower world. We 

 are told by the poet how he 



" Backward hung, and scowling, look'd askew 

 On glorious day, with anger rabid grew : 

 Thrice howls, thrice barks at once with his three heads, 

 And on the grass his foamy poison sheds. 

 This sprung ; attracting from the fruitful soil 

 Dire nourishment " (The (< this " being the aconite.) 



Cases have from time to time occurred of fatal effects 

 resulting from the substitution of the root of the 

 monk's-hood for that of the horseradish, though 

 the two plants when seen growing are as utterly 

 different in appearance as one can well conceive. 

 They agree in having large roots that are found to 

 be white in their interiors, though even these in the 

 two plants are not at all of the same form ; I and 

 in every other point size, form, growth, colour of 

 leaves and of blossoms they are utterly diverse. 

 It is necessary for crass stupidity to utterly ignore 

 a dozen visible points of difference before digging 

 up the plant at all, and laying bare the one hidden 

 point of slight resemblance. And then the jury 

 returns a verdict of " misadventure " ! 



1 The root of the monk's-hood is two or three inches long 

 and of a dark brown ; the root of the horseradish is much 

 longer and of a dirty yellowish-white. It is really scarcely 

 fair to blame the aconite when things go wrong. 



