A monograph upon aconite : its therapeutic and physiological effects together with its uses and accurate statements derived from the various sources of medical literature / translated from the German of Dr. Reil by Henry B. Millard.

  • Reil, Dr. (Wilhelm), 1820-1880.
Date:
1860
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A monograph upon aconite : its therapeutic and physiological effects together with its uses and accurate statements derived from the various sources of medical literature / translated from the German of Dr. Reil by Henry B. Millard. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    PAKT I. HISTOKICAL. As regards tlie liistorical part of our knowledge of the thera- peutic and poisonous properties of Aconite, the subject divides itself into four periods : The first commences with the time wben we first hecame ac- quainted with it, and with the mythological accounts of the his- tory of the worid, and extends to the time of Matthiolus, 1560. The second comprises the period of the first physiological proving of it, by Matthiolus, to Störck’s first therapeutic in- vestigations, 1760. The third period commences with Stökck, and terminates with the Communications of Hahnemann, in his “ Fragmqntis de viribus medicamentorum positivis,” 1805. Finally, the fourth period conducts us from Hahnealann to the latest times. PERIOD I. We said that the first period of our knowledge begins with the mythological time of the world’s history and our first ac- quaintance with it. In this period, a poisonous plant, known by the name of Aconite, made its appearance, and so deadly a poison that mytholo^y attached to its origin the frightful story that it sprang from the spittle of the Hell-hound Cerberus : “ laropelrai yäp tov Kepßepov b^aveydivTa pr) övvaodat. vTopelvai raq avyag toi) r/Mov Kal kptoai, Kal £k tov ßiETOv Tavrpv yeveadai t?)v ftordv7]v. ’Ayepwv de noTapbg kv 'llpankda ry UovriKrj, t:vda Tbv tov Aöov Kvva 6 'HpaK?Sjr i^r/yays, Kal o Xocpog cuioviTog Äey etül. “ For it is related that Cerberus, being born, could not endure the