FLOWERING SHRUBS. 143 



persons thinking that actual contact is necessary, others that it is emitted 

 from the leaves when wetted by dews and given out in sunshine : and 

 again it is asserted by some to be the pollen of the flowers floating in the 

 air and resting on the skin, which is the cause ; others again say that the 

 poison is given out in a gaseous vapour at dew-fall. All these suggestions 

 may have some foundation. I am inclined to think that the poisonous 

 qualities of the plant are given outin the heat of the day, when the sun's rays 

 are most powerful, and float freely intheatmosphere, as there are instances 

 of persons being affected in daytime when only passing within some 

 little distance of places where the plant abounded, without coming into 

 actual contact with it in any way. 



To some persons the Poison Ivy is perfectly harmless. I, for one, 

 have gathered it for my herbarium in all stages of its growth, without 

 receiving from it the slightest injury, while other members of the family 

 have suffered severly from having been near it, or- walking among the 

 shrubs where it was growing. It is during the hot Summer months that 

 most of the cases occur, especially in June and July. 



The first symptoms are redness about the eye-lids, ears, 

 and throat, which quickly increase to angry inflamed blotches, rising in 

 blisters, the whole face becoming swollen, so as to produce blindness for 

 several hours or days ; the irritation of the skin is very great. Sometimes 

 the poison extends over the arms, and body, and legs ; fever, headache 

 and even delirium will affect the patient, as in cases of severe Erysipelas. 

 Where the constitution is at all unsound, the effects are worse to 

 overcome, and it is one of the evils induced by the virus that it produces 

 in many cases a chronic disposition to break out, year after year, at the 

 time when the plant is in its most flourishing condition. This has generally 

 taken place in June and July. Some Homeopathists are said to treat 

 the case with doses of Rhus Toxicodendron., according to their system ; 

 others again use Belladona. Country doctors give alkalies, — soda, 

 ammonia, and cooling medicines. The old settlers apply the succulent 

 juicy leaves and stalks of the Wild Canadian Balsam, Ivipatiens fulva, 

 and other cooling herbs, with thick cream ; but I should think that 

 lime-water, given with milk inwardly, and applied outwardly to the skin, 

 as in burns, might prove a good remedy. Where the disease caused by 

 this poisonous plant is so often met with in country places, the most 

 ready and certain remedies should be made known to the public. 

 Physicians who have had no experience of the disease produced by the 

 Poison Ivy are sometimes at a loss how to treat it successfully. 



Every one should be acquainted with the appearance of the Poison 

 Ivy, that it may be avoided when out in the country among weeds and 

 thickets, rocks and waters. 



