3 o8 



THE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



For present purposes the best mode of 

 treatment is to classify the poisonous ar- 

 ticles into roots, barks, herbage, flowers, 

 roots and seeds, each of these groups be- 

 ing subdivided into (a) those which are 

 deadly poisonous and at the same time 

 liable to cause accidents, (b) those dead- 

 ly poisonous, but not liable to cause ac- 

 cidents, (c) those poisonous in minor de- 

 gree, and (d) those not known to be 

 poisonous, but of which we have some 

 reason to be suspicious. 



In the present instance I shall use the 

 term "' root " in its common, though in- 

 correct sense, including all underground 

 portions, rather than in its strict struc- 

 tural limitations. 



SO-CALLED ROOTS. 



Poisonous roots are liable to be eaten 

 with other vegetables through accidental 

 admixture, although this contingency is 

 extremely improbable, and moreover the 

 poisonous properties are in such cases 

 often destroyed by cooking. More com- 

 monly they are mistaken for other edible 

 roots, as Poke- root for horse radish. 

 or in Europe, it is said, Aconite for horse 

 radish. Even more frequently it is the 

 result of the ignorant and promiscuous 

 eating of roots in field or forest, common- 

 ly by children, either impelled by ab- 

 solute hunger or by the peculiar erratic 

 appetite of childhood. Occasionally the 

 romantic notions derived from the read- 

 ing of cheap literature will lead them to 

 go into the woods and fields and feed 

 upon unknown roots and berries, in im- 

 itation of explorers. 



Poisonous articles of this class growing 

 in our vicinity may be enumerated as 

 follows : Aconite, Cimicifuga, Actaea, Po- 

 dophyllum, Sanguinaria, Phytolacca, 

 Robinia, Cicuta, Sambucus, Triosteum, 

 Ipomoea, Solatium tuberosum, Apocy- 

 nura, Euphorbia, Arissema, Veratrum, 

 Trillium, L,eptandra, Iris, Convallaria, 



and Roripa Armoracia. Of these 

 quite a number may be dismissed with 

 the remark that while their properties 

 indicate the possibility of their occasion- 

 ing poisonous symptoms, such possibility, 

 except by over-dosing or otherwise con- 

 suming in some medicinal form, are very 

 remote and are not supported by any 

 recorded cases which I have been able 

 to find. In other cases the great acridity 

 or otherwise unpleasant taste of many 

 of them is a sufficient bar to their 

 being eaten in ordinary cases. In spite 

 of the latter fact, however, we do find 

 that juvenile heroism is occasionally 

 sufficient to overcome this objection, 

 and to lead the subjects to eat 

 what would be sufficiently repugnant to 

 an older person. An important fact to be 

 also noted in this connection is that most 

 poisonous roots are far more active in a 

 fresh condition, so that even those which 

 have never been known to develop dan- 

 gerously poisonous powers in medicinal 

 forms, may do so if eaten in a perfectly 

 fresh state. This class of articles then, 

 which we may regard as poisonous in 

 minor degree or "suspicious," comprises 

 the following : Cimicifuga, Actaea, Tri- 

 osteum, Leptandra, Ipomoea paudurata, 

 Apocynum, Euphorbia, Arisaema, Tril- 

 lium and Roripa Armoracia. 



Cimicifuga, racemosa (L.) Nutt., com- 

 monly known as Black Cohosh, is a well- 

 known medicinal and official plant. It is 

 a beautiful perennial herb, growing to a 

 height of six feet or more, with elegant 

 long, branched, creamy -white plumes at 

 the summit of the stem and branches. It 

 grows very abundantly throughout the 

 Allegheny region and is represented 

 southward by other similar species. In 

 this vicinity it is abundant on the moun- 

 tains along the Hudson, and about Pater- 

 son and Orange. Its large rhizome is 

 very characteristic and well-known to 

 pharmacists. Its supposed active por- 



