Note 134 — OF POISONS, CHEMICALLY, PHYSIOLOGICALLY, AND PATHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED.

Boerhaave gives us the following definition. “Venenum dico omne illud quod ingestum vel applicatum corpori, talem in corpore humano mutationem excitat, quæ per ipsam eam mutationem non superatur. Medicamentum præterea in eo differt, quod ipsa, quam facit mutatio, in sanitatem tendat, venenum vero corpus mutat, ut ex sano ægrum fiat, aut cadaver.” (Prælect. Acad. T. vi, p. 283.) Hoffmann has furnished us with a definition less exceptionable than the foregoing, but still inferior to that of Gmelin. “Alit natura res, quæ exigua mole et summa partium tenuitate, brevi tempore, concentum atque ordinem motuum vitalium pervertunt, vel plane destruunt; et hæ vocari solent Venena.” (M.R.S.T. II. p. 88.)