On Poisonous Plants

once it has contracted original: "contraxerit," referring to the physical reaction or illness such symptoms, a cow or a bull will never again repeat that experience.

Every healthy tongue easily distinguishes any aroma from what is nauseating, the acid from the bitter, the hot from the cold, the dry from the styptic A substance that causes body tissues to contract, often used to stop bleeding, the sweet from the pungent, the oily from the corrosive, and the tasteless from everything salty; and while animals do so by natural instinct, a wise man original: "homo sapiens" using his free will can very easily avoid each and every harmful thing.

§ 16.

These two senses referring to taste and smell discussed previously are indeed the primary aids which animals use to examine poisonous plants, and they will also serve as the primary guardians for an unlearned man, lest anything harmful be easily swallowed; but for man, endowed with an intellect excelling that of the beasts, yet another way lies open. By this path, he can arrive at a more certain, if not the most certain, knowledge concerning the qualities and powers of plants—a method which, in doubtful cases, ought not to be neglected or left untried. Specifically, while someone remains anxious and doubtful as to whether a plant or its fruit might be harmful, he can explore its effects through domestic animals provided with sharper senses, in exactly the same manner by which Physicians original: "Medici" are accustomed to place the safety of artificial poisonous preparations beyond the risk of doubt by using dogs. And this experiment can indeed be established not only easily and quickly, but also without great expense and without loss of time; it is especially profitable, and even sometimes necessary, for the prudent traveler during journeys in unknown regions, where everything encountered is new and previously unrecognized.

tongue, aroma, animals, wise man, poisonous plants, Physicians, dogs, traveler