ts from the
tenth century downwards, and frequently mentioned in the early English
medical recipes.

Its names are all interesting. In the Anglo-Saxon Vocabularies it is
called _thung_, which, however, seems to have been a general name for
any very poisonous plant;[10:1] it was then called Aconite, as the
English form of its Greek and Latin name, but this name is now seldom
used, being, by a curious perversion, solely given to the pretty little
early-flowering Winter Aconite (_Eranthis hyemalis_), which is not a
true Aconite, though closely allied; it then got the name of
Wolf's-bane, as the direct translation of the Greek _lycoctonum_, a name
which it had from the idea that arrows tipped with the juice, or baits
anointed with it, would kill wolves and other vermin; and, lastly, it
got the expressive names of Monk's-hood[10:2] and the Helmet-flower,
from the curious shape of the upper sepal overtopping the rest of the
flower.

As to its poisonous qualities, all authors agree that every species of
the family is very poisonous, the A. ferox of the Himalaya being
probably the most so. Every part of the plant, from the root to the
pollen dust, seems to be equally powerful, and it has the special bad
quality of being, to inexperienced eyes, so like some harmless plant,
that the poison has been often taken by mistake with deadly results.
This charge against the plant is of long standing, dating certainly from
the time of Virgil--_miseros fallunt aconita legentes_--and, no doubt,
from much before his time. As it was a common belief that poisons were
antidotes against other poisons, the Aconite was supposed to be an
antidote against the most deadly one--

"I have heard that Aconite
Being timely taken hath a healing might
Against the scorpion's stroke."

BEN JONSON, _Sejanus_, act iii, sc. 3.

Yet, in spite of its poisonous qualities, the plant has always held, and
deservedly, a place among the ornamental plants of our gardens; its
stately habit and its handsome leaves and flowers make it a favourite.
Nearly all the species are worth growing, the best, perhaps, being A.
Napellus, both white and blue, A. paniculatum, A. japonicum, and A.
autumnale. All the species grow well in shade and under trees. In
Shakespeare's time Gerard grew in his London garden four species--A.
lycoctonum, A. variegatum, A. Napellus, and A. Pyrenaicum.

FOOTNOTES:

[10:1] "_Aconita_, thung.