A Mechanical Ac­count of Poi­sons in Sev­er­al Es­says, by Rich­ard Mead (Second Edition, 1708).

Togive an exact and particularAccount of the Natureand Manner of acting ofPoisons, is no easie Matter; but toDiscourse more intelligibly of Themthan Authors have hitherto done, notvery difficult. One may without muchPains shew their Effects to be owingto something more than the bare Qualitiesof Heat or Cold; and Discoverthe Footsteps of Mechanism in thosesurprizing Phænomena which arecommonly ascribed to some Occultor Unknown Principle. But to Unravelthe Springs of the several Motionsupon which such Appearancesdo depend, and Trace up all the Symptomsto their First Causes, requiressome Art as well as Labour; and thatboth upon the account of the ExquisiteFineness, and marvellous Composition,of the Animal Machine in which theyare Transacted, and of the Minutenessof those Bodies which have theforce to induce in it such Sudden andViolent Alterations.

I have attempted somewhat this wayin the following Essays; in which Ido not promise Methodical, and Finish’dTreatises, but only some shortHints of Natural History, and RudeStrokes of Reasoning; which, if puttogether, and rightly Improved, mayperhaps serve to furnish out a more tolerableSPECIMEN of the DOCTRINEof POISONS, than hasyet been Published.

The First Draught of this smallPiece, I made some Years since, Entertainingmy self at Leisure Hours,with Experiments on ...