322 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



ripe fruit (berry), of the common potato 

 has killed a girl of 14 \ears, on the third 

 day, with the ordinary symptoms of nar- 

 cosis pertaining to this group. 



Of the Solanum dulcamara or Bitter- 

 sweet, Lindleysays, "Its gay, tempting 

 berries have occa.-ionally caused serious 

 accidents among children and others who 

 have eaten them." Care is to be taken 

 to distinguish this, the true Bitter-sweet, 

 from that so-called in New England and 

 elsewhere, the Celastrus scandens or 

 False Climbing Bitter-sweet. The latter 

 has fruits which burst open in the fall, 

 and are used for decoration. The fruits 

 of the former are oblong, soft, translucent 

 and fleshy. The plant does not truly 

 twine, but reclines on bushes along 

 streams and in damp places, and is very 

 common hereabouts. 



A very similar appearing fruit is that of 

 the Taxus minor (Mx,), Britton.or Creep- 

 ing Yew. It is not common close by the 

 city, but I have found it in northern Jer- 

 sey and it is common in the Catskills. 

 The fruit is of similar form and color to 

 that of the Bitter-sweet, but is solitary, 

 erect, shorter and broader, has a circular 

 opening at the apex and a solitary large 

 seed. Johnson casts doubt upon their 

 poisonous properties, though he says 

 that those of the European plant have 

 produced fatal effects, hence ours are to 

 be regarded with suspicion. Lindley 

 says the benies are not harmful, except 

 the seeds, which, like the leaves, produce 

 symptoms like Digitalis. 



It appears that the alkaloid of the 

 seeds is not identical with that found in 

 the leaves. A child poisoned by the 

 seeds was semi-comatose, with occasional 

 convulsions, had a cold and clammy skin, 

 dilated pupil, difficult respiration and 

 made fruitless attempts to vomit. It thus 

 appears that the symptoms are not well 

 understood. Neither is the treatment. 



A somewhat similar fruit is that of the 



Actaea rubra, Red Baneberry or Red 

 Cohosh. The white berries probably 

 have the same properties. I have found 

 no record of the properties of the Ameri- 

 can form, but Lindley says that the Eu- 

 ropean produce death with violent deli- 

 rium and emetico-catharsis. There is not 

 the slightest reason to doubt that the 

 American would act similarly. 



Of Conium it has already been stated 

 that it is scarce within our range. Never- 

 theless its extremely poisonous proper- 

 ties render attention to it important. 

 Danger resides especially in the fact that 

 the plant resembles in a general way 

 those of Anise, Fennel, Caraway, Cori- 

 ander and other edible Umbelliferse. The 

 seed- like fruits also very closely resemble 

 those of Anise, and in a less degree those 

 of the others named, for which they 

 might easily be mistaken by the ignor- 

 ant, inexperienced or careless. Symp- 

 toms and treatment have been given un- 

 der Cicuta. The fruits of Cicuta may be 

 referred to in the same terms. 



Our consideration of poisonous fruits 

 will close with the recital of two cases 

 almost as inexplicable as they are unus- 

 ual, namely poisoning by the fruits of 

 Wild Cherry and May- Apple. 



Dr. Geo. K. Pardee, of Wadsworth, 

 Ohio, reported in the Western Lancet, 

 VI, 1847, 289, the case of a boy who was 

 accustomed to visit a tree loaded with wild 

 cherries each morning, and to eat freely 

 of the fruit. Not the slightest inconven- 

 ience was experienced until after many 

 days, when he was suddenly seized with 

 cramps, convulsions, and opisthotonos, 

 with speedy death resulting. After 

 death the stomach and intestines were 

 found stuffed with cherries and cherry 

 stones, many of the latter having appar- 

 ently been there for a long time. The 

 case is obscure, the symptoms not having 

 been carefully observed nor well report- 

 ed. The indications are those of me- 



