39.
Aspicis et mitti sub adunco toxica ferro
Et telum causas mortis habere duas.
Ovid, ex Ponto, l. iv. ep. 7, ver. 1l.See in the Recherches sur les Americains, tom. ii. p. 236-271, a very curious dissertation on poisoned darts. The venom was commonly extracted from the vegetable reign; but that employed by the Scythians appears to have been drawn from the viper and a mixture of human blood. The use of poisoned arms, which has been spread over both worlds, never preserved a savage tribe from the arms of a disciplined enemy.