IV. that one drachm of Nightshade rind (_Solanum nigrum_) in wine will give sleep; a little more, madness; a large dose, death: V. that Hemlock (_Conium maculatum_) in wine will cause death: VI. that the drachm dose of belladonna, bruised in wine, is good for driving away unwelcome guests. It will be noticed that three of these six prescriptions contemplate death. Messer Giambattista della Porta emphatically states that no single venom will kill all living creatures; “for what is venomous to one may serve for the preservation of another, which comes not by reason of the quality but of the distinct nature.” He gives a lengthy list of substances with the animals to which they are fatal, _e.g._, wolfebane kills wolves; henbane, hens; daffydillies, mice; black hellebore, oxen; white hellebore, pigeons; ivy, bats; comfrey, eagles; pondweed, urchins; mustard-seed, larks; vine-juice, cranes; willow, tom-tits; pomegranate-churnels, falcons, vultures, sea-gulls, blackbirds; and nux vomica, dogs. In regard to the last, it should be understood that the Fifteenth Century called foxglove (_Digitalis purpurea_) nux vomica ; and had not succeeded in extracting the vegetable alkaloid Strychnine, in its modern isolated form, from the Javanese Στρύχνος _nux vomica_, of which it is the active principle. To complete the exposition of this typical Fifteenth Century man of science, his chief Antidote to Venom is appended here. “Take three pounds of old oil and two handfuls of St. John’s Wort, (Balm of the Warrior’s Wound, _hypericum_.) Macerate for two months in the sun. Strain off the old flowers, and add two ounces of fresh. Boil in Balneo Mariae (a bain-marie) for six hours. Put in a close-stopped bottle and keep in the sun for fifteen days. During July, add three ounces of St. John’s Wort seed which gently has been stamped and steeped in two glasses of white wine for three days. Add also two drachms each of gentian, tormentil, dittany, zedoary, and carline, (all of which must have been gathered in August,) sandal-wood and long-aristolochie. Gently boil for six hours in Balneo Mariae. Strain in a press. Add to the expression one ounce each of saffron, myrrh, aloes, spikenard, and rhubarb, all bruised. Boil for a day in Balneo Mariae. Add two ounces each of treacle and mithridate. Boil for six hours in Balneo Mariae. And set it in the sun for forty days. “In plague, or suspicion of venom, anoint the stomach, wrists, and heart; and drink three drops in wine. It will work wonders,” says Messer Giambattista della Porta. * * * * * The pharmacy of the Renascence, to quote the confession of the charlatan Cagliostro, consisted _in herbs and words_, “in verbis et in herbis.”