Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 415 



muriate into the femoral vein of a dog killed it in three seconds at 

 farthest. The author added various reasons for doubting the pro- 

 bability of any chemical antidote being discovered ; and suggested 

 artificial respiration as the most probable remedy, founding on an* 

 experiment in which the heart was maintained in a state of vigo- 

 rous action for a long time by artificially inflating the lungs. 



An abstract was then given of a set of comparative experiments 

 made with extract of hemlock ; from which he inferred that the aci 

 tion of hemlock is identical with that of Conia. Very powerful ex^ 

 tracts were used, which had been prepared with absolute alcohol 

 from the leaves or seeds. The effects ascribed by some toxicolo- 

 gical authors to hemlock were not observed ; but simply paralysis, 

 with intermittent slight convulsions. From this identity of action 

 it may be concluded, that Conia is really the active principle of 

 hemlock, or at least contains it in large quantity, and is not the 

 product of chemical action and new arrangements of elements. •« 



Some remarks were appended as to the probable nature of the 

 State-poison used in ancient times, particularly in Athens, for de- 

 spatching criminals ; which has commonly been held to be a prepa- 

 ration of the same plant with the modem Conium maculatum. The 

 author shewed, from the descriptions of the Greek kuvuov and Ro- 

 man cicuta, that this plant could not be the modern conium ; that 

 the account given by Plato of the effects of the state-poison in the 

 case of Socrates is wholly at variance with the description by Ni- 

 cander and others of the action of the Kmnoy ; that the effects 

 ascribed to the poison in Plato's narrative are such as no poison 

 whatever which is known at present can produce ; and that conse- 

 quently either Plato's description is an embellished narrative, or 

 the ancients were familiar with a poison of most remarkable and 

 peculiar properties, with which modern toxicologists are no longer 

 acquainted. 



2. The reading of a paper on the Geology of Auvergne, by 

 Professor Forbes, was commenced. 



December 21.— Dr Hope, V. P. in the Chm. Tfce follow* 

 ing communications were read : — 



1. Notes on the Geology of Auvergne, particularly in con- 

 nection with the Origin of Trap-Rocks and the Eleva- 

 tion Theory. By Professor Forbes. Concluded. 



The^r5^ part of this paper (which accompanied a series of geo- 

 logical specimens from Auvergne, presented to the Society) relates 

 to several specific points which tend to assimilate the evidence for 

 the igneous origin of trap-rocks generally, with that afforded by 

 the volcanic district of Central France. The altered character of 

 the stratified deposits with which igneous rocks have been inter- 

 mixed, is one of their most striking features ; yet we occasionally 

 find cases where this evidence is far from being so obvious as 



