66 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
portion of either root or leaves when first put into the mouth occasions burning and 
tingling, and a sensation of numbness immediately follows its continuance. So deadly 
are its effects, that 2,th of a grain of aconitine will kill a sparrow in a few minutes ; 
and the tenth part of a grain introduced into the cellular tissue of a rabbit killed the 
animal in five minutes. It is even more powerful than pure prussic acid, and acts with 
tremendous rapidity. Dr. Roupell states that -4>th of a grain will act locally, so as 
to produce a well-marked sensation in a part for a whole day. Fearful results have 
very frequently followed the accidental administration of this deadly substance, for which 
no certain antidote has yet been discovered. As a medicine it is supposed to be valuable, 
if cautiouslv given, to diminish the activity of the nervous system, and to subdue the 
action of the heart; as also in external applications, to allay the pain of neuralgia. The 
root has occasionally been mistaken for horseradish, and has been eaten accordingly 
with fatal results ; it is, however, shorter, darker, and more fibrous than horseradish. 
Dr. Taylor, in his work on Poisons, mentions cases where the leaves have produced 
similar terrible effects. The best method of proceeding, in cases of poisoning by 
Aconite, is to empty the stomach immediately by an emetic of mustard, or the stomach- 
pump, and then to administer animal charcoal as speedily as possible. Warm water 
should be plentifully given, and afterwards spirits of sal volatile, brandy, and coffee. 
Some species of Aconite were known to the ancients, and the Aconitum lycoctonum 
of Linnzeus appears to be the ’Axdviroy AvKdKrovoy (Aconiton lucoctonon) of Dioscorides, 
It was a species of Aconite that entered as an ingredient into the poison which 
the old men of Ceos were condemned to drink when they became infirm, and is also 
supposed to be the poison alluded to in the fable of the cup which Medea prepared for 
Theseus. There is considerable uncertainty as to the action and strength of prepara- 
tions of Aconite in the form of tinctures. In a case related in Cormack’s Ydinburgh 
Journal, April, 1844, a man recovered in three days, having taken upwards of ten 
drachms of the tincture ; while a late physician at Birmingham is reported to have 
died from the effects of not more than eighty drops taken in a period of four days. 
Dr. Pereira informs us that he has known general numbness produced in hysterical 
females by a dose of only five minims of a carefully prepared tincture. Recently there 
have been in private circles distressing cases of almost sudden death succeeding the 
accidental swallowing of a few drachms of tincture of Aconite for another and harmless 
medicine, owing to careless placing of the bottles, and the absence of any distinctive mark 
on the bottle containing this deadly poison, No precaution can be too great to take 
when we have such powerful and terrible agents to deal with. It has been observed that 
various species of Aconite possess the same narcotic properties as A. Napellus ; but none 
of them equal in energy the A. ferox of the Kast Indies, the root of which is prevalently 
used there as an energetic poison, under the name of Bikh or Nabee. Any method 
of testing for the presence of Aconite in a suspected substance is very difficult ; but 
Dr. Christison observes that its remarkable taste, which is at first bitter, but afterwards 
gives rise to numbness and tingling of the lips, will enable the analyst to distinguish it 
from other vegetable poisons. Another mode of testing is suggested by Dr. Pereira: 
the poisonous extract when applied to the eye produces contraction of the pupil. 
SUB-TRIBE IV.—_CIMICIFUGES. 
Leaves ternately or pinnately decompound. Flowers regular, 
racemose. 
