Respecting the Aconite, Pliny says, this plant alone 
is sufficient to induce endless admiration of the an- 
cients, seeing how they searched out the secrets of 
nature, and detected such baneful effects in some of 
her productions. They found that their was no 
poison in the world so quick in its operation as this. 
Even if any creature of the female sex be but touched 
with it, death was inevitable. They pronounced it 
an antidote to the poison of the scorpion ; and if the 
animal itself be but touched with Aconite, he would 
shortly become pale, benumbed, and powerless; 
nevertheless they further state, if he can but touch 
the White Hellebore, the effect of the deadly Aco- 
nite is instantly dispelled, and the scorpion will re- 
cover. These form but a small portion of its effects. 
We now mark their antidotes. One Greek phy- 
sician states, that the plant Eryngion, boiled in the 
broth of a goose, is an antidote to the poison of 
Aconite. Again, another says, the broth of an old 
cock is a specific against it. These statements form 
part of that wisdom of the primitive world which 
Pliny so much venerates. 
Our present Aconitum napellus certainly is a 
virulent poison, and as such should be treated with 
caution. The effluvia from the flowers is said to 
have proved highly pernicious ; and well authenti- 
cated cases are recorded of persons having perished 
from eating the plant itself. The antidotes are, the 
stomach pump ; and emetics by sulphate of zinc. 
Afterwards, vegetable acids ; bleeding, in cases of 
great stupor ; and aperients. 
The colour of its flowers, and height are variable. 
It may be divided at the root for increase. 
Hort, Kew. 2, v. 3, 323. 
