CMCUTANVENEN OSA, 237 
dug up the root, but upon tafling it, the two elder of the 
boys perceived it was not the root, they wanted. They, 
therefore, threw it down and left it. The youngeft boy 
took it up, faid it was Eel-Root, and he would eat fome of 
it, They went on fearching and digging for fome time: 
at length their young companion was miffing; they turn- 
ed back the way they came, and found him lying on the 
ground, fpeechlefs and fenfelefs. They took him up, to 
carry him home:. a neighbour met them, on the way, to 
whom the boys related the ftory, as above. This gentle- 
man upon whofe veracity I relate this faGt, being aman of 
reputation and character, and in whofe integrity I place 
the greateft confidence, told me the ftory, a few days af~ 
ter it happened. He fays, he ordered the boy to be laid 
down, under atree; poured down fome milk and oil, and 
fent him home to his owner, who lives-withina mile. He 
was utterly deprived of fenfe; there was no convulfion, 
or fpafm; nor any degree of tenfion, or ftiffnefs: his 
limbs were perfe&tly limber and loofe; he appeared to be 
in adeep ileep, deprived of all motion, except that of ref 
piration. ‘The boys fhewed this gentleman the plant, that 
the difeafed one had eaten of. Some of the leaves were 
fhewn to me, which I inmediately difcovered to be the 
{pecies of Hemlock, here mentioned. The boy was car- 
ried home; and, after a day or two, came to his fenfes 
again; but they think he has never perfeGly recovered : 
afmall degree of dullnefs and ftupidity ftill remains on 
his brain. : 
The Cicuta, or Hemlock of the ancients, ufed for put- 
ting malefactors to death, particularly at Athens, is un- 
known to us at this day. The celebrated Dr. Mead, in 
his Effay on Poifons, thinks it was not a fimple, but:a 
compound of anodyne juices, with others of a corrofive 
nature, 
Throphraftus. 
