SECT. XXIX.—A CATALOGUE OF SIMPLE DELETERIOUS SUBSTANCES.
Of deleterious substances, the following animals are destructive: cantharis, buprestis, salamander, pine-caterpillar, the sea-hare, the toad, the mute marsh frog, and leeches when swallowed; and, of seeds, the henbane, coriander, fleawort, hemlock, and gith; of juices, meconium, opocarpasum, thapsia, elaterium, and mandragora; of roots, chamæleon, wolfsbane, thapsia, ixia, hellebore, black agaric, ephemeron, which some call colchicum, because it grows in Colchis; of trees and potherbs, smilax, which some call thymium, but the Romans called taxus, the strychnus furiosa, which is called dorycnium, the Sardoan herb, which is a species of ranunculus, horned poppy, pharicum, toxicum, wild rue, and mushrooms; of animal productions, fresh bull’s blood, coagulated milk, Heraclean honey; of metals, gypsum, ceruse, lime, arsenic, sandarach, litharge, adarce, lead, and that which is called mercury; and of domestic articles, much wine taken at a draught after the bath, or must, or cold water in like manner.
Commentary. Nicander, in his Alexipharmics, treats of the following deleterious substances:—1, Aconitum, or wolfsbane; 2, Argenti spuma, or litharge; 3, Buprestis; 4, Cantharides; 5, Ceruse, or whitelead; 6, Conium, or hemlock; 7, Coriander; 8, Dorycnium (see below); 9, Ephemeron, or meadow saffron; 10, Fungi, or poisonous mushrooms; 11, Hirudines, or leeches; 12, Hyoscyamus, or henbane; 13, Ixias, probably a species of chamæleon; 14, Coagulated milk; 15, The sea-hare; 16, Papaver, or poppy; 17, Pharicum, probably a composition from agaric (see Schneider’s note); 18, the red toad and marsh frog; 19, the salamander; 20, Bulls’ blood; 21, Taxus, or the yew-tree; 22, Toxicum, not ascertained. See Avicenna.
The lists of poisonous substances treated of by Dioscorides, Aëtius, and Actuarius are nearly the same as our author’s. Those of Nonnus and Scribonius Largus are less numerous. The Arabians treat of several substances, the nature of which it is now difficult to determine. The catalogues of Avicenna and Rhases are the fullest; those of Haly Abbas and Alsaharavius scarcely contain so many articles; all of them, however, contain several substances which are not treated of by the Greek writers on toxicology. Among these we may just mention that they treat of the gall of the viper, of the leopard, of an animal called leunza (leæna?), of the shark, and also of the extremity of the stag’s tail, and bad castor. The sweat of different animals is also included in their lists.