802 miBELLIFER^. 



employed in reducing the juice to the required consistence. On the 

 other hand, Harley has proved that the juice of fresh hemlock preserved 

 by the addition of spirit of wine, as in the Swccus Conii of the Pharma- 

 copoeia, possesses in an eminent degree the poisonous properties of 

 the plant. 



The entire amount of nitrogen in dried hemlock leaves was estimated 

 by Wrightson (1845) at 6'8 per cent. ; tlie ash at 12'8 per cent. The 

 latter consists mainly of salts of potassium, sodium, and calcium, 

 especially of sodium chloride and calcium phosphate. 



A ferment-oil may be obtained from Conium ; it is stated to have 

 an odour unlike that of the plant and a burning taste, and not to be 

 poisonous.^ 



Uses — Hemlock administered in the form of Siiccus CVmii, has a 

 peculiar sedative action on the motor nerves, on account of which it is 

 occasionally prescribed. It was formerly much more employed than at 

 present, although the preparations used were so defective that they could 

 rarely have produced the specific action of the medicine. 



with Hemlock— Several common 



^/ 



but can be discriminated by characters easy of observation. One of tliese 

 is Mlmsa Cynapium L. or Fool's Parsley, a common annnal garden weed, 

 of much smaller stature than hemlock. It may be known by its primary 

 umbel having no involucre, and by its partial umbel having an m- 

 volucel of 2 or 3 linear pendulous bracts. The ridges of its fruit more- 

 over are not wavy or crenate as in hemlock, nor is its stem spotted. 



ChcBrophylliim Anthriscus L. (Anthriscus t'lJ^raris Pers.) and tw 

 or three other species of Chcerophyllum have the lower leaves not un- 

 like those of hemlock, but they are vuhescent or ciliated. The nm 



too are linear-oUong, and thus very dissimilar from those of ^'owM^'Ji- 

 The latter plant is in fact clearly distinguished by its smooth spotw 



mortar. 



FRUCTUS AJOWAN. 



Semen 



Botanical Origin 



'ouain ; Ajotvan, True Bishops iveecl 



, annual 

 ivhere it 



rsotanicai Urigm—Uarum Ajoiuan i^entham at xiuuiv^- 

 copticum L. Ptychotis coptica et Ft. Ajowan DC.)— an erect 

 herb, cultivated in Egypt and Persia, and especially in India ^'- 

 is well known as Ajvan or Omam. , .g 



History—The minute spicy fruits of the above-named plant ^^aA_^ 

 been used in India from a remote period, as we may mfer i^°^^^^^. 

 being mentioned in Sanskrit writings, as, for instance, by tne, 

 manan Panini, in the third century B.C. (or later?), and in ^""J" j;,^!! 



Owmg to their having been confounded with some other vei> j^^ 

 umbelliferous fruits, it is difficult to trace them precisely in many 



^ Gmt^lin. Chpminf.irn yiv, 405. 



Gmelin, Chemistry^ xiv. 405. 



