ABOUT ACONITE AND HEMLOCK

Aconite, or monk's-hood, whose purple flower, shaped like a helmet or monk's hood, is a familiar feature in our country gardens, ranks as one of the most ancient of vegetable poisons. The name aconite was derived from Akon, a city of Heraclea, and the plant, owing to its deadly nature, was supposed by the early Greeks to have originated from the foam of the dog Cerberus. Aconite was largely used as an arrow poison by the ancients, and also employed for that purpose by the Chinese and the wild hill tribes of India. It was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans to destroy life, and they believed they could cause death to take place at a certain time by regulating the dose of poison. Thus Theophrastus writes: "The ordering of this poison was different according as it was designed to kill in two or three months, or a year." The poison cup of the ancients was probably a compound, of which hemlock and aconite were the chief ingredients. This was used for carrying out the criminal death penalty, and also for purposes of suicide when so desired. A curious relic of this ancient custom was practised at Marseilles, where a poison was kept by the public authorities of which hemlock was an ingredient. A dose of this was allowed by the magistrates "to any one who could show a sufficient reason why he should deserve death." Valerius Maximus observes, "This custom came from Greece, particularly from the Island of Ceos, where I saw an example of it in a woman of great quality who, having lived very happy ninety years, obtained leave to die this way, lest, by living longer, she should happen to see a change of her good fortune."

Theophrastus states, "Thrasyas, a great physician, invented a composition which would cause death without any pain, and it was prepared with the juice of hemlock and poppy together, and did the business in a small dose."

When vice and dissipation were at their height in Rome, suicide was most common, and it was often met with among the Greeks, after they had been contaminated by Roman manners and customs. When the Greeks and Romans recognised the impossibility of suppressing suicide, they decided to establish tribunals, whose duty it should be to hear the applications of those persons who wished to die. If the applicant succeeded in showing what the tribunal considered good cause for quitting life his prayer was granted, and he destroyed himself under the authority of the court. In some instances the court not only sanctioned the suicide, but supplied the means of self-destruction in the shape of a decoction of aconite and hemlock. If any one applied for permission to end his life and was refused, and in defiance of the decision committed suicide, his act was illegal. The Romans in such cases confiscated the property of the deceased; the Greeks held his memory as dishonoured, and treated his body with indignity.

The aconite now used in medicine is derived from the Aconitum napellus, chiefly grown in Britain; it is also found in the mountainous districts of the temperate parts of the northern hemisphere. It grows on the Alps, the Pyrenees, the mountains of Germany and Austria, and also in Denmark and Sweden. On the Himalayas it is found at 10,000 to 16,000 feet above the sea level. Both the root and the leaves are used medicinally. The tap root of the aconite has been frequently eaten in mistake for horse-radish with fatal results. Aconite contains several active principles, all of which are powerful poisons. The chief of these is aconitine—probably the most deadly poison known—the fiftieth part of a grain of which has nearly caused death. Indian aconite, known as Bish, is chiefly derived from Aconitum ferox—a native of high altitude in the Himalaya regions—and is mentioned by the Persian physician, Alheroi, in the tenth century, also by many early Arabian writers on medicine. Isa Ben Ali pronounced it to be the most rapid of deadly poisons, and describes the symptoms with tolerable correctness. The chief symptoms of poisoning by aconite are heat, numbness and tingling in the mouth and throat, giddiness, and loss of muscular power. The pupils become dilated, the skin cold, and pulse feeble, with oppressed breathing, and dread of approaching death. Finally, numbness and paralysis come on, rapidly followed by death in a few sudden gasps. The poison being extremely rapid in effect, immediate action is absolutely necessary in order to save life.

Several species of aconite grow plentifully in India, where it has been used for centuries. It is found growing at an elevation of 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, and among other places in the Singalilas, a mountain range which forms the watershed boundary between Nepal and British territory, northwest of Darjiling. Aconitum palmatum is collected in abundance at Tongloo, the southern termination of the Singalilas; but A. napellus, which is more poisonous, requires a higher elevation in which to thrive. The natives, especially the hill tribes, take aconite in the crude state as a remedy for various ailments, and every Bhotiah has a few dried roots put away in some secure corner of his hut. The method of collecting is thus described. "Early in October, when the aconite root has matured, one of the leading men of the village organises a party composed of both sexes. He, for the time, becomes their leader, settles all disputes and quarrels while out in camp, and, while keeping an account of the general expenses, supplies to each, all necessaries in the way of food. Before starting, he has to obtain a 'permit' from the Forest Department, the charge for which is 15 rupees. Carefully wrapping the pass up in a rag, and placing it in his network bag of valuables, he collects his band together, and they set out for the higher ranges. As soon as they arrive at the slopes, where aconite is growing plentifully, they at once set to work to build bamboo huts about five feet high, roofing them with leaves. After the morning meal they all set off for the lower slopes, each with basket and spade over his shoulder. But before the actual work is commenced, a ceremony has to be performed. The Bhotiahs, like the Nepalese, have a belief that the presiding demon of the hills imprisons evil spirits in the aconite plant, which fly out as soon as it is dug up and inflict dire calamity on the digger. In order, therefore, to counteract this, every morning, before the digging commences, the lama or headman, standing on a convenient hill with his followers around him, makes a fire and burns some dhuna, a native resin, then, inserting two fingers in his mouth, blows several shrill whistles. All wait in breathless silence till an answering whistle is heard, which may be an echo or the cry of some bird. Whatever it may be, it is taken as the dying dirge of the evil spirits, and digging begins at once.

"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."