This I am the rather induced to believe, because an Ingenious _Surgeon_, who liv’d in _Guinea_, told Me, that the _Antidote_ by which the _Negroes_ would sometimes Cure Those who were _poisoned_, was the _Leaf_ of an _Herb_ which purged both upwards and downwards. For by this means the Stomach might be cleared from the adhering Corrosive Parts of the Venom. Yet I can hardly think it possible at the same time that they should be able, by varying the Composition or Quantity of the _Dose_, to ascertain the Time in which It shall Kill, to a Week, Month, _&c._ nor indeed have I ever met with any Person who could Attest This, to be Matter of Fact. Tho’ repeated Trials and Observations may help one well practised in such Tricks to give notable Conjectures in this Point. 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. [Illustration] 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. (116) _De Venen._ pag. 21. (117) _Can. Medic._ l. 4. Fen. 6. _Argentum Vivum plurimum qui bibunt non læduntur eo; egreditur enim cum dissositione suâ per inferiorem regionem._ (118) _De Morb. Gallic. cap._ 76. (119) _De Morb. Gall. inter Autores de Morb. Gall._ pag. 599. (120) Pag. 91. _& seq._ (121) _Trattato de Fiumi._ Cap. 1. (122) Pag. 93. (123) _Vid. Jaan. Baptist. Montan. Tract. de Morb. Gallic. inter Autor. de Morb. Gall._ p. m. 482. _Et Fallop. de Morb. Gall. Cap. 76._ (124) _Nicol. Mass. de Morb. Gall. Tract. 4. Cap. 2._ (125) _Argentum vivum accepi ex Osse Cujusdam corrupto, quem perunctum ab Empyricis plus decies ferebant, non semel emanavisse._ Anton. Gall. in Lib. de Ligno Sancto non permiscendo. _Non semel in Sepulchris Argentum Vivum in Mortuorum Capitibus reperi._ Anton. Musa Brasavolus in Tract. de Morb. Gallic. (126) _Museum_, p. 28. (127) _Agricola de Natura Fossil._ p. m. 592. (128) _Idem, Ibid._ (129) _Block Scrutinum Arsenici_, §. XIV.