_Poison._--I should feel much indebted to any of your correspondents who
will inform me what is the true etymon of this word--the strict meaning
of the term originally--and when first used in our language?
However trifling this Query may at first sight appear, yet I am very
anxious to ascertain whether, originally, the term was applied
exclusively or principally to deadly agents operating on the body
_through the skin_, or an external wound, and not through the stomach?
The Greek word Toxicon is rendered "_venenum_," quod barbarorum
_sagittæ_ eo illinebantur (Vide Diosc. Lib. VI. cap. XX.) Again, Iòs,
jaculum, sagitta. Item, _venenum_, quod serpentes et cætera animalia
venenata ejaculatur. Horace uses the words "_pus_ atque venenum," not to
express two different things, but merely to add force and point to his
satire; just as in like manner we read "crafts and subtleties" in the
Liturgy, or "a thief and a robber" in the Scripture.
Now, is it not probable that our word "poison" takes its origin from
this "pus?"