SECT. XXVI.—ON POISONS.
Having given a compendious account of venomous animals, we shall next treat of deleterious substances, giving an exposition of the simple ones, and detailing the symptoms of them with their general and particular remedies. As to the compound ones we leave them to be treated of by any person who chooses; for some have described the compositions of certain deadly medicines which are more likely to prove injurious than beneficial to the reader. For neither are the exact symptoms which occurred in those who took them described, by which a suitable remedy might be found out; for the symptoms varying according to the nature of the prevailing ingredient, one might, from conjecture, vary the remedies accordingly. Wherefore here again we must begin with the prophylactics.
Commentary. We now enter upon the consideration of the second and most important division of toxicology; namely, alexipharmics, which treats of poisonous substances taken inwardly. All the writers on theriacs treat also of alexipharmics, and of these the most ancient, and one of the most interesting, is the Colophonian poet Nicander. Of the subsequent authors, Dioscorides and Aëtius among the Greeks, and Avicenna and Alsaharavius among the Arabians, are most particularly deserving of notice.