"The roots, after being shaken from the soil, are placed in the baskets, which on return to the encampment are emptied and formed into heaps, and covered with bamboo leaves to protect them from the frost. During the day they are spread out in the sun to dry. When a sufficient quantity has been collected and dried thus, bamboo frames are fixed up with a fire below, on which the aconite is placed when the flame has died out. The one who looks after this drying process has a cloth tied round his head covering the nose, as the constant inhalation of the fumes causes a feeling of heaviness and dizziness in the head. This process is carried on three or four days until the roots are dried. When sufficient have been collected and dried, they are packed in baskets. These are shouldered, and with their cooking utensils and blankets on the top, the whole band set their faces homeward. On arrival at the commercial centre at the termination of their march the results of the expedition are soon sold, and each man is handed his share of the profits, according to the amount of aconite he has collected." CHAPTER XI THE CASE OF DR. LAMSON THE only case on record in which the active principle of aconite has been used for the purpose of criminal poisoning is that of Dr. Lamson, who suffered the extreme penalty of the law for administering the drug to Percy Malcolm John, and thereby causing his death. The story is remarkable for the cold-blooded way in which the murder was carried out. George Henry Lamson, a surgeon, in impecunious circumstances, had a reversionary interest through his wife in a sum of £1,500, which would come to him on the death of his brother-in-law, Percy Malcolm John. The latter, a sickly youth of eighteen years of age, was paralysed in his lower limbs from old-standing spinal disease. On November 27, 1881, Lamson purchased two grains of aconitine, and shortly afterwards went down to the school where the lad had been placed as a boarder, and had an interview with him in the presence of the headmaster, professing at the same time a kindly interest in the lad and his health. During the interview he produced some gelatine capsules, one of which he filled with a white powder, presumed to be sugar, and directly after seeing his brother-in-law swallow it, he took his departure. Within a quarter of an hour John became unwell, saying he felt the same as when Lamson had given him a quinine pill on a former occasion. Violent vomiting soon set in, and he became unable to swallow. This was rapidly followed by delirium, and in three hours and three-quarters death ensued. Suspicion fell on Lamson, and he was arrested shortly afterwards, and charged with the murder of John.