254 FLORA DOMESTICA. 



Whose undeserved ruin Phasias * sought 



By mortal aconite, from Scythia brought : 



This from th' Echidnean dog dire essence draws. 



There is a blind steep cave, with foggy jaws, 



Through which the bold Tyrinthian herot strain'd, 



Dragg'd Cerberus, with adamant enchain'd; 



Who 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, and power of deathful spoil. 



The rural swains, because it takes delight 



In barren rocks, surnamed it aconite." 



SANDYS'S OVID. 



The real virulence of the Aconite has been proved by 

 fatal experience. Some persons, only by smelling the full- 

 blown flower, are said to have been seized with swooning 

 fits, and to have lost their sight for two or three days. 

 The root is the most powerful part of the plant ; and a 

 criminal has been put to death by being made to swallow 

 one drachm of it. Dodonaeus mentions an instance, recent 

 in his time, of five persons at Antwerp who ate of the 

 root by mistake, and all died. Instances have also been 

 recorded of persons who have died from eating of this 

 in a salad, instead of celery ; and some experiments upon 

 animals have been made with it, which are too horrible to 

 repeat. 



Yet, when used with skill and caution, this plant has 

 been found in some cases a useful medicine. Those with 

 blue flowers are considered as the most powerful. 



There is a species called the Wholesome Aconite in 

 French, maclou which has been recommended as an an- 

 tidote to the poisonous kinds. This, however, is poisonous, 

 though not so powerfully so as the others. All the kinds 

 have rather deep roots, which render them unfit for grow- 

 * Medea. t Hercules. 



