134 BOTANY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. 



qualities. Haller remarks, that the Aconite, 

 a deadly poison with us, and with the juice 

 of which the Gauls bathed the points of their 

 arrows to render the most trifling wound inevi- 

 tably fatal, loses its envenomed properties as it 

 grows further north and is even eaten in Swe- 

 den as a salad to create appetite. 



By examining carefully we can always find 

 either a means of cure or prevention on the spot 

 where disorder exists. Acting on this principle 

 a gentleman who had observed great numbers 

 of Willow trees growing by a marshy brook, 

 from which the miasm that produced fever and 

 ague was noted for its injurious effects, thought 

 that in the willow must exist a curative princi- 

 ple. After a serious of experiments he found he 

 was right in his conjecture. Since then a salt 

 has been extracted from the tree called Salaciw, 

 which will eventually supercede the Quinine or 

 active principle of the Peruvian bark. 



E. Somewhat similarly, it is related that 

 an Indian of Pern who labored under an inter- 

 mittent fever, was compelled one day, by exces- 

 sive thirst, to drink of a pool of water he 

 happened to meet with in the fields. Though 

 the liquor was extremely bitter, the draught was 



