A C O 
ACONITI,/ in antiquity, an appellation given to fome 
of the Athlete, but differently interpreted. Mercu- 
rialis underftands it of thofe who only anointed their bo¬ 
dies with oil, but did not fmear themfe'lves over with duff, 
as was theufual practice. 
ACONITUM,/ pulveris expers-, becaufe this 
plant grows on rocks deftitute of foil.] In botany, a genus 
of the polyandria tryginia clafs, ranking in the natural or¬ 
der of multifiliquse. The generic charafters are—Co¬ 
rolla: petals five, unequal, oppofite in pairs. j. The 
higheft helmet-tubed, inverted, the back upwards, obtufe; 
the top reflected to the bafe, acuminate, to which top the 
connecting bafe is oppofite. 2, 3, The two lateral ones 
broad, roundilh, oppofite, converging. 4, 5, The two 
lowed oblong, pointing downwards. Nectaries two, con¬ 
cealed under the firft petal, fiffulous, nodding ; mouth ob¬ 
lique, tail recurved ; fitting on long fubulate peduncles. 
Six little, very (hort, coloured, fcales, in the fame circle as 
the nedtaries. Stamina: filaments fubulate, very fmall, 
broader at the bafe, inclining towards the firff petal; an- 
therae eredt, fmall. Piftillum: germs three (five) oblong, 
ending in ffyles the length of the ftamina; ftigmas fimple, 
reflex. Pericarpium: capfules as many as the ffyles, 
ovate-fubulate, ftraight, one-valved, gaping inward. 
Seeds : very many, angular, wrinkled.— EJfential CharaEler. 
Petals five, the higheft arched, fliaped like a hood or hel¬ 
met ; nedtaries two, peduncled, recurved; capfules three 
or five. 
Defcription. The aconites are hardy, herbaceous peren¬ 
nials, with tuberous or ftrong fibrous roots; Items from 
two to fix feet in height, upright, ftrong, furnilhed with 
many digitate or palmate leaves, and terminated by pani¬ 
cles or loofe fpikesof blue or yellow flowers. 
Species. I. With three capfules. 1. Aconitum lycodto- 
num, or great yellow monk’s-hood or wolf’s-bane: leaves 
palmate multifid villous. This fpecies flowers about the 
middle of June, and, if the feafon is not too hot, will conti¬ 
nue in blow till Auguft. In Sweden it is reckoned 
among the earlieft fpring-flowers. A decodtion or the 
powder of the root is ufed for deftroying flies and other 
infedts. Linnaeus gives an account of its being eaten in 
Medelpadia, a province of Sweden, without injury. It 
feems indeed to be milder than fome of the other fpecies; 
and goats and horfes are faid to eat it. The mountains 
of Lapland, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Auftria, 
Carniola, Italy, and Siberia, produce it, in a wild ftate: 
and it was cultivated here in 1596 by Gerard. 
2. Aconitum Japonicum, or Japanefe monk’s-hood: 
leaves trifid-palmate; divifions galhed, blunt. It differs 
but little from the firft, and is a native of Japan, where it 
is called foo hufo. 
3. Aconitum napellus, or common monk’s-hood or 
wolf’s-bane : divifions of the leaves linear, broader above, 
and fcored with a line. Linnaeus fays, that this fpecies is 
fatal to kine and goats, efpecially when they come frelh to 
it, and are not acquainted with the plant; but that it does 
no injury to horfes, who eat it only when dry. He alfo 
relates (from the Stockholm a£fs) that an ignorant fur- 
geon prefcribed the leaves, and, on the patient refilling to 
take them, he took them himfelf, and died. The ancients, 
who were unacquainted with chemical poifons, regarded 
the aconite as the maft violent of all poifons; and accord¬ 
ingly fabled it to be the invention of Hecate, and to have 
fprung from the foam of Cerberus. Its real virulence is 
however fufficiently eftablilhed by fatal experiment. Some 
perfons, only by taking in the effluvia of the herb in full flow¬ 
er by the noftrils, have been feized with fwooning fits, and 
have loft their fight for two or three days. But the root is 
unqueftionably the mod powerful part of the plant. Ma- 
thiolus relates, that a criminal was put to death by taking 
one drachm of it. Wepfer informs us, that a wolf would 
probably have died from a dofe of two drachms, had not 
the animal been diffefted living, in order to obferve the 
eff'efts of the poifon. Dodonaeus gives us an inftance, re¬ 
cent in his time, of five perfons at Antwerp, who ate the 
A C O 
root by miftake, and all died. Dr. Turner alfo mentions, 
that fome Frenchmen at the fame place, eating the (hoots 
of this plant for thofe of mafterwort, all died in the courfe 
of two days, except two, who quickly evacuated all they 
had taken, by vomit. We have an account, in the Philo- 
fophical Tranfaftions, of a man who was poifoned, in the 
year 1732, by eating fome of this plant in a fallad, inftead 
of Celery. Dr. Willis alfo, in his work De Anima Bruto~ 
rum, gives an inftance of a man who died in a few hours, 
by eating the tender leaves of this plant alfo in a fallad. 
He was leized with all the fymptoms of mania.-—The aco¬ 
nite, thus invefted with terrors, has however been fo far 
fubdued as to become a powerful remedy in fome of the 
moft troublefome diforders incident to the human frame. 
Baron Stoerck led the way by adminiftering it in violent 
pains of the fide and joints, in glandulous fchirrhi, tumours, 
ulcerous tubercles of the breaft, &c. to the quantity of 
from ten to thirty grains in a dofe, of an extra£l, the me¬ 
thod of making which he defcribes. In Sweden, fuccels- 
ful experiments have been made of an extract of the juice 
of the leaves, in cafes of rheumatifmsand intermittent fe¬ 
vers, given in dofes of from a grain to a fcruple twice or 
oftener in a day. A much larger dofe has alfo been late ¬ 
ly adminiftered. It is recommended, however, to begin 
with a fmall quantity: a caution the more neceffary when 
w'e confider the fatal effects, which the recent plant igno¬ 
rantly eaten has fometimes produced. According to Dr. 
Murray in his App. Med. the chief virtue of the plant is 
in rheumatic and other chronic diforders. In all thefe 
cafes the extract above-mentioned is the belt preparation. 
It has alfo been faid to be of confiderable fervice in vene¬ 
real cales, even thofe of a confirmed nature ; to have even 
difcuffed nodes, and cured obftinate ulcers, &c. In the 
Gutta Serena its efficacay has been commended ; but per¬ 
haps not fo certainly as in the before-mentioned diforders. 
This fpecies comes into blow in Auguft, and, were it not 
for its noxious quality, would deferve a place in every 
garden. It was cultivated in 1596, by Gerard ; and it is 
found wild in Sweden, Switzerland, France, Germany, 
Auftria, Carniola, Italy, Siberia, and Virginia. 
4. Aconitum Pyrenaicum, or Pyrenean or fennel-leaved 
monk’s-hood or wolf’s-bane : leaves many-parted, divi¬ 
fions linear incumbent and fquarrofe. This fpecies grows 
wild on the Pyrenees, in Tartary and Siberia. The fpike 
nods before the time of flowering, which in our gardens is 
July : the height there is about four feet, and it has a long 
fpike of yellow flowers of a middling fize. It may be al¬ 
lowed a place among fhrubs, or in fuch parts of the gar¬ 
den as are not frequented by children. 
II. With five capfules. 5. Aconitum anthora, or falu- 
tary monk’s-hood: flowers with five piftils; divifions of 
the leaves linear. It flowers in the middle of Auguft, and 
often continues in beauty till the middle of September; 
the flowers are not fo large as thofe of fome other forts, 
but, being of a fulphur colour, make a pretty appearance 
in the borders of the flower-garden. It was formerly 
made ufe of in medicine, and recommended as an antidote 
to the poifonous fpecies. The tafte of the root is fweet 
with a mixture of bitternefs and acrimony. The fmell is 
pleafant. It purges vehemently when frelh, but Lofes its 
qualities when dried; it is difufed in the prefent practice ; 
and is certainly poifonous, though in a fmaller degree than 
the others. The native- places are the Pyrenees, the Alos 
of Switzerland, Savoy, and Piedmont; Dauphine, Auftria, 
Carniola; Siberia, &c. Cultivated in 1596 by Gerard. 
6. Aconitum variegatum, or variegated or fmall blue 
monk’s-hood: flowers with five piftils: divifions of the 
leaves parted half-way, broader above. This is a native 
of Italy and Bohemia. It flowers at the end of lune ; 
feldom grows more than two feet high, and the fpikes of 
flowers are much fhorter than in the firft fort.. 
7. Aconitum album, or white wolf’s-bane or monk’s- 
hood : flowers with five piftils ; leaves Imooth three-part¬ 
ed, fegments acutely galhed ; the claw of the upper petal 
longer than the fide ones. This fpecies was found by 
Touinefort 
