This, however, is an imperfect account of the action of poisons, whether such as act by being introduced into the stomach, or those that prove deleterious when applied to a wound. Perhaps the classification given by Avicenna may be mentioned as the most complete of any proposed by the ancient authorities. He states that poisons act either by some certain quality, or by their whole substance. Of the former class some are corrosive and putrefactive, like the lepus marinus; some inflammatory and calefacient, like euphorbium; some frigorific and stupefying, like opium; some prove obstruent of the respiratory passages, like litharge; some act with their whole substance, as the wolf’s bane, and these are the most deleterious of all. Of these some act upon one member in particular, as cantharides upon the bladder, or the lepus marinus upon the lungs, and some upon the whole body as opium. (iv, 6, 1.) Schulze, in his ‘Toxicologia Veterum,’ has stated the ancient arrangement somewhat differently, and we are at a loss to think what authors he has followed. He says, the ancients arranged poisons according to their properties into the frigorific (ψυκτικὰ), corrosive (διαβιβρώσκυντα), and septic (σηπεδονώδη). The frigorific, he properly remarks, are those substances now called narcotics; to which class, as Galen mentions, the conium, poppy, henbane, and mandrake belong. On the action of narcotics, see section xliii. Galen remarks that the human frame becomes habituated to bear the action of these medicines without injury. He mentions the case of an old Attic woman, who by little and little had accustomed herself to take hemlock in any quantity. (De Simpl. iii.) Avicenna states that the great indications of cure in all cases of poisoning are to comfort and rouse the vital heat, and to resolve (neutralize?) or expel the poison. When the poison is distributed over the system, his remedies are venesection, purging, and the like. He states decidedly that the proper time for venesection is either when the poison is distributed over the body, more especially when it is in a plethoric state, or when the poison is a substance not likely to be absorbed. His other remedies are such as expel the poison from the body, namely, emetics and sudorifics, or such as prevent it from entering the system, namely, ligatures to the extremities, prohibiting sleep, applying cupping instruments, or leeches, sucking the wound, amputation of the limb, using actual and potential cauteries, and keeping the wound long open. Upon the whole the general remedies recommended by him and the other Arabians are little different from those of the Greeks, especially of Dioscorides, who is the great authority upon theriacs. Haly Abbas allows bleeding when the poison is distributed over the body, and like the others also, makes mention of cupping with heat and of amputation. He also joins in the general praise of the theriac.