~ 
106 ORD. VI. Umbellate. CONIUM MACULATUM. 
deprived Athens of those great characters, Socrates and’ Phocion, 
we are at a loss to determine;* but that it is a deleterious poison 
there cannot be a doubt,’ though some. circumstances render. it 
probable that it is less powerfully so than is generally imagined! 
© For further informatioa on this subject, consult Steger Diss. de Cicuta 
Atheniensium. Ehrhart Diss. de Cicuta. Joannis Viventii de Cicuta comment. 
* Of the most decisive instances of its fatal effects, which have occurred in this 
country, is that related by the late Dr. Watson in the Phil. Transact. in which 
itis fully ascertained by him, that two Dutch soldiers, at Waltham Abby, were 
Killed in a very short time by eating this plant, Other proofs of this sort are 
given by Heins, (Pharm. rat. p. 370) which happened to some boys at Dresden. 
Saml. fur Geschichte von Ober. Sachs. III. p. 221. Scaliger, Subtil. Exerc. 152, 
Amatus Act. Cur, 98. Cent. V. See also the cases mentioned by Wolf in 
Comment. lit. Nor. anno 1740 and 1749,—Wepfer. Cicut. p. 71. 312. Brassavola 
Examen. omn. simp. We may also notice the following from Theophrastus, 
(L. IX. ¢. 17.) Thrasyas Mantineensis remedium a se inventum fuisse gloriabatur, 
quod absque dolore yitam abrumperet, ex Cicuta & Papaveris succo mistam, > &c. 
vide Hal. Stirp. Helv. p. 338.—to which work we are obliged for many of the 
facts just recited. Although sheep and some other animals eat this plant with 
impunity, yet to many it is strongly poisonous. ‘Three spoonfuls of the juice 
killed a cat in less than a quarter of an hour. Rozier, Tableau, tom i. 1773. 
Upon opening those animals to which it proved fatal, inflammation of the stomach 
-and intestines was discovered. Harder apiar. Obs. 24 & 25. Wepfer Cicit. p. 334. 
And we may here remark that vinegar has been found the most useful in obviating 
the effects of this poison; and that by macerating or boiling this plant in vinegar, 
it becomes totally inert. Lindestolpe de venenis. 
& Respecting the root of Hemlock, we have the following instances, shewing 
unegnivocally that it does not possess any noxious power whatever. . Ray relates, 
_ (Phil. Trans. XTX. vol. p. 634.) that the skilful herbalist, Mr. Petiver, ate half 
an ounce of the root of Hemlock, and that Mr. Henly, in the presence of Mr. 
Petiver, swallowed three or four ounces, without experiencing any remarkable 
effect; and these facts seem confirmed by the later experiments of Mr. Alcorne 
and Mr. Timothy Lane, neither of whom perceived any sensible effect on eating 
this root. Mr. Curtis says, Mr. Alcorne ‘¢ assures me, that he has tried ‘this in 
every season ef the year, and in most parts of our island, without finding any 
material difference: and Mr. T. Lane informs me, that he also, with great caution, 
made some experiments of.the like kind, and in a short time found he could eat a 
considerable part of a root, without bes inconvenience; after this he had some 
