ACONITE. 



Arabian physician Avicena. The A. Lycoctonum or true 

 Wolf's-bane is also poisonovis, but Linnaeus*, in his Lapland tour, 

 mentions an interesting circumstance respecting it in his usual 

 felicitous language, which must necessarily suffer by translation. 

 " In my journey through Medelpadiaf , I saw a woman gathering 

 the leaves of this Aconite, and on asking her for what purpose 

 they were designed, she replied they were intended to be used 

 as food. To convince her of her danger, ( for I thought she had 

 mistaken the leaves for those of a species of Geranium,) I im- 

 plored, by all she held dear, not to prepare her last meal. But 

 she with a smile said there was no danger, — she knew the plant 

 well, and had so often gathered it for years as well as her neigh- 

 bours, that she thought I could not be properly acquainted with 

 it myself. I then entered her cottage and saw her cut the leaves 

 in pieces and boil them with a little fat, so as to make broth, of 

 which she partook, together with her husband, two children, and 

 an old woman, thus, 



' Lurida terribiles miscent aconita novercas;* 



and what was most wonderfvd, with impunity." He then pro- 

 ceeds to enquire the reason of this apparent discrepancy, and 

 concludes by remarking that the long continued boiling de- 

 prived the herb of its deleterious properties. There can be no 

 doubt that this was the case, as the active principle in most of 

 the Ranunculacese is extremely volatile, so that by simply dry- 

 ing them it is in great measure dispersed. The accurate ob- 

 server just quoted, remarks that the Monk's-hood is fatal to kine 

 and goats who come fresh to it ; but that it does no injury to 

 horses who eat it only when dry. After a thorough boiling, the 

 most poisonous species might probably be eaten with safety. 



Destructive, however, as are the European Aconites, they 

 must yield to an Indian species called by Dr. WallichJ, Aconi- 

 tum ferox. The root of this plant is the Bish or Visha of the 

 natives of Northern India. It is in universal use for poisoning 

 arrows, and a tank of water destined for the use of the British 

 army in their halt during the pursuit of the Burmese, was found 

 to be impregnated with this poison, which had been thrown in by 



* Vide Flora Lappouica, edita studio Jacobi Edvardi Smith, p. 187. 



■\ A province of Norland. 



X Vide Plantas Asiaticoe Rariores, Vol. I., p. 33. 



