/ 
involucmm is compofed of three or four leaves, which are placed 
the outer fide of 
dial ftalk 
len 
)uter iiae oi tne raaiai itaiK ; ine p( 
inwards at their points ; the ftami 
petals are five, oval, white, and 
are live 
fi 
wh 
about the 
the 
d crowned with whitifli 
are two, filiform 
u 
oval, ft 
mata ; the fruit 
pherical ftriated brownifli feeds. This plant 11 
commonly found 
antheras ; the ftyl 
outwards, and terminated by round ft 
,ted, confifting of two irre 
■3 
dunghills and wafte grounds 
ularly hemif- 
1 July, and is 
It has a pecu- 
liar faint fetid fmell, and a flight aromatic herbaceous, and fomewliat 
naufeous tafte? ' 
The common refemblance of moft of the umbelliferous plants leads 
us to fufped:, that they wei 
ancients; for though the botanical defcription of the Kc^vbo,v 
y imperfed;ly diftinguiflied by 
by Diofcorides 
J 
ppl 
m ffreat 
afure to this 
iven 
,. c 
yet it muft 
be confidered, that his defcription is without difcrimination, and 
IS 
with a few exceptions, equally appl 
a 
compofing th 
g 
of C 
natural 
a by ai 
d 
caution. Whether this 
of Umhellifem : 
writers, fliould be admitted 
:ies of hemlock ■ 
11 the genera of plants 
fo that the accounts 
ith 
reat 
was the poifon ufually 
adminiftered at the Athenian executions, and which deprived Athens 
of thofe great charaders, Socrates and Phoc 
determine \ but that it is a deleterious 
we 
a lofs to 
doubt 
p^'^' 
, -I 
there cannot b 
a 
J\ 
gh fome circumftances render it probable that it is 
The Hemlock 
lefs 
Its large ^n^fpotted /talk, by the dark and Jklning green colour of its bottom leaver, and 
particularly by their difagrccable fmell when bruifed, and which, accordins; to Stoerck, 
refemWes that of mice."- Curt. Flor. Lond. The Chsrophyllum bulbofum has a 
Spotted ftem, but its fwelled joints, and rough feeds, diiT:ingui.ai it from the hemlock 
^ Bergius M. M. 194. Stoerck fays, that the milky juice of the root is fo extremely 
acrid and deleterious that a fmall drop or two of it being applied to his tongue product 
great pain and fwelling of that organ, and for fome time deprived him of the power of 
IDeecn. In anfwpr tr\ f-hic C^e^ r,r^i-a /'B^ * r "* 
/ 
fpeech. 
In anfwer to this fee note (s). 
Haller re ers it to the Cicuta virofa. d The word Cicuta, with the ancients 
^::^'v^^tLi:i^ ^' poiibnous vegetables in 
general. 
14. c. 5. L. 25. c. 13. 
Ehrhart D 
f 
J 
iT. de Cicuta Athenienfi 
S'rteTb 'rnf ri'"nr^l?li'^!:^'!i!«;\^f' wMcH hav=.occu„ed in th. cou,Ury 
No. 5 
by the late Dr. Watfon in the Phil. Tranfad. in which it is fblly 
tained 
'*. 
^ 
