154 ON ANIMAL AND 



than the committal of those other numerous 

 crimes to which man has at all times shewn him- 

 self so prone; and hence savage nations acquired 

 the means of imparting to their weapons, a des- 

 tructive character, which rendered them unfail- 

 ingly mortal to those with whom they came in 

 contact. 



History informs us that secret poisoning, whe- 

 ther for self-destruction or the administering of 

 poison to others for felonious purposes, is of great 

 antiquity; and we have accordingly records of 

 this diabolical practice being carried to very 

 extraordinary lengths in Greece, Rome, Carthage, 

 Persia, and in all the eastern nations then dis- 

 covered. The means, which they adopted to 

 effect their purpose, (if we can credit the accounts 

 transmitted,) were cruel and vindictive in the 

 extreme a tedious and most painful death await- 

 ing those who were thus to be sacrificed, and 

 often when no suspicion was entertained of the 

 cause by which their sufferings were produced 

 or of the lingering event which was to follow. 



In less ancient times, when the human mind 

 had been enlightened by the beams of a most 

 benevolent religion, it might have been expected 

 that this detestable custom would have been 

 completely exploded, or confined to a few isolated 

 cases, in which the national character would not 

 have been committed; but we find, that not two 

 centuries ago, it was practised to a considerable 



