The Case of _Aconitum_ is much the same; this is our _Napellus_ or _Monkshood_; and its Effects do so nearly agree with those now related of _Œnanthe_, that I shall not need to recite Them; the Experiments of _Wepfer_ (145) are full and convincing. And indeed _as_ all the _Histories_ which this same _Author_ has so carefully given Us of Trials made with several Vegetable Poisons, _Solanum_, _Nux Vomica_, _Coculus Indicus_, &c. on different Creatures, do put it out of all doubt, that the common Mischief of _These_ is a Twitching and Inflammation of the Stomach; _so_ it appears from hence, that _Virulent Plants_, although they may be distinguished even from one another by _particular Virtues_, do however _Kill_ by a like Operation and Force, which differs chiefly in Degree from _That_ of Noxious Minerals. And therefore in order to know what the _Specifick Qualities_ of any such _Herbs_ are, they must be given only in very small _Doses_; and then perhaps it would appear, that they are not made (as some do imagine) to be Deleterious and Destructive, but for very Good and Beneficial Uses; as we do particularly Experience in the Case of _Opium_. Nor is it at all strange, that the _Symptoms_ from a _Vegetable_, and from a _Mineral_ Virulency, should be so different, although of the same kind, and only of unequal force; for the more solid Parts of _Minerals_, eroding the Coats of the Stomach, induce a perfect Mortification and Gangrene, and thus do their Work at once; whereas the weaker Salts of _Plants_ can make but a slighter _Excoriation_, upon the painful Sense of which those Agonies and Convulsions that follow do rather gradually exhaust the Strength; and thus the Animal is not kill’d so speedily, nor with the same _Appearances_. Upon this Score, tho’ Mineral Poisons do not pass the _Primæ Viæ_, Vegetable ones in some Cases possibly may; just as We find Those Medicines which have a great Degree of Irritation presently to induce a _Vomiting_; whereas the same _Twitching_ a little weakened suffers them to pass into the Intestines, and _Work_ downwards by Stools. By this We may perhaps give some Guess at the Nature of those _Poisons_, with which They tell Us the _Natives_ in some Parts of _Africa_ and _India_ are so expert at Killing, that they can do It in a longer or shorter time as they please. These are most probably either the _Fruits_, or the Inspissated _Juices_ of Corrosive Plants, which inflaming the Bowels, may cause little Ulcers there, whose Fatal Consequences, we know, may very well be slow and lingering.