But the scanty wisdom of man, on entering into an affair which looks well at first, cannot discern the poison that is hidden in it, as I have said above of hectic fevers.

Used for centuries in medicine as a health treatment, diaphoretic (causing sweat), anti-inflammatory and emetic it was used through the 19th century and its use extended to epilepsy treatment in addition to hectic fever.

He had heard Miss Ophelia speak often of a cough, that all her medicaments could not cure; and even now that fervent cheek and little hand were burning with hectic fever; and yet the thought that Eva's words suggested had never come to him till now.

A New Inquiry into the Causes, Symptoms, and Cure of Putrid and Inflammatory Fevers, with an Appendix on the Hectic Fever and on the Ulcerated Sore Throat,' 1773, fourth edition 1777; German translation, Leipzig, 1774.