The Ancients indeed pretended much the same thing with their Aconitum, of which They seem to have made a kind of Secret and Mystery; as we learn from Theophrastus [(146)], who says, The ordering of this Poison was different, according as It was designed to Kill in Two, Three Months, or a Year: But this he relates only as a common Tale or Opinion, and not as a Story to which Himself gave any manner of Credit.
It is very plain; that the common Cure of all Poisons of this kind, must be by freeing the Stomach, as soon as possible, from the Corrosive Vellicating Particles, and defending the Membranes from their Acrimony, by such Things as are of a a Smooth, Oily and Lubricating Substance.
Footnotes to Essay III.
[(110)] Ποικίλα μὲν γὰρ τὰ δηλητήρια φάρμακα, κοιναὶ δὲ καὶ οὐ πολλαὶ ἐξ ἀυτῶν γινόμεναι διαθέσεις. Alexiph. pag. 399.
[(111)] Lucret. lib. 5.
[(112)] Galen. Simp. Medic. l. 3. cap. 18.
[(113)] Sext. Empiric. Hypoth. Empiric. 1.
[(114)] Cap. 24.
[(115)] Wepfer de Cicut. Aquatic. pag. 300.