[(105)] Observ. 20.
[(106)] Vid. Aretæum Cappad. Cur. Diut. lib. 1. cap. 5. Et Aetium l. 6. c. 11.
[(107)] Tr. Man and his Diseases.
[(108)] Medicin. Ægyptior. l. 3. c. 19.
[(109)] De Therm. l. 7. c. 22.
ESSAY III.
OF Poisonous Minerals AND PLANTS.
Altho’ there be a great Variety of Internal Poisons, as well Mineral as Vegetable; yet they do all of ’em seem to agree in their Primary Effects, and Manner of Operation; and as the Teeth or Stings of Venomous Animals do constantly infuse a Juice into the Wound they make, by which the Mass of Blood is infected; so the Force of These is chiefly confined to the Stomach and Primæ Viæ; and tho’ it may in some Cases be Communicated Farther, yet the Principal Mischief is done in These Parts.
Deleterious Medicines, says Dioscorides, are many, but the Alterations made by them in the Body, common, and but few [(110)].
Of all this kind, those of a Mineral Nature are the most violent and deadly, the greater Gravity and Solidity of their Parts giving to these a Force and Action surpassing the mischief of Vegetable Juices; and therefore whereas noxious Plants do vary their Effects in different Creatures, so as to prove harmless, nay, perhaps Beneficial and Nutritive to some, as Hemlock they say is to Goats [(111)] and Starlings [(112)], and Henbane to Hogs [(113)], the Strength of the Stomach in These Animals being sufficient to Conquer and Divide such Corrosive Substances, and their Blood perhaps requiring to be recruited by such warm and active Particles; A Mineral Malignity is not, at least so far as we know, conquerable by any, but becomes universally hurtful and destructive.