UMBELLIFERiE. 



175 



practice of making whistles of the hollow stems of this and other umbelliferous plants 

 is dangerous and should be discouraged. When dry and mixed with hay the plant 

 seems to lose many of its active properties, for cattle and sheep will eat it in this state 

 with no bad results. John Ray tells us that the thrush will feed on the seeds of the 

 Hemlock without harm ; but this observation requires confirmation, though the action 

 of the plant varies greatly on different animals. The Hemlock being an abundant wild 

 plant in Britain, is seldom cultivated. When collected for medical purposes, the leaves 

 should be collected in the month of June, just before the flowers expand, dried quickly 

 in the sun or on tin plates before the fire, and kept in strong bags or vessels excluded 

 from the light. The Hemlock was well known to the ancients, being probably the 

 KU)VELoi' (kmieion) of the Greeks. Much discussion has taken place as to whether this 

 was the plant used to poison Socrates, or whether it was the Water-Hemlock, Cicuta 

 virosa ; but competent judges have considered that the description of the poison and its 

 effects given by Plato in the Phsedon agrees better with what is known of the common 

 Hemlock than with any other plant. The Kwvtiov (koneion) was the usual poison 

 given to those sentenced to death by the Areopagites, and is supposed to have formed 

 an ingredient in the poison-cup taken by the old men of Ceos. The Conium is probably 

 also the "root of hemlock digged i' the dark," which entered into the witches' caldron, 

 so vividly described by Shakespeare. Dr. Prior gives us the spelling of the Hemlock 

 as used by Gerarde, Homlock, coming, he supposes, from haem or healm, sti'aw, or haulm 

 and leac, plant, so called from the dry hollow stalks that remain after flowering. 

 Gerarde says, — " Homlock is a very evill, dangerous, hurtful, and poysonous herbe, 

 insomuch that whosoever taketh of it into his body, dieth remedilesse, except the party 

 drinke some wine, that is naturally hot, before the venom hath taken the heart, as 

 Pliny saith ; but being drunke with wine, the poison is with greater speed carried to 

 the heart, by reason wherof it killeth presently ; therefore not to be applied outwardly, 

 much lesse taken inwardly into the body." We are told that the first physician who 

 endeavoured to bring Hemlock into repute as a medicine and who worked out its 

 pro2)erties, was Baron Stoerck, of Vienna, who announced his discovery in 1760. 

 Since that time it has been generally admitted into the list of medicinal poisons or 

 remedies. 



GJENUS XXXVII— V HYSOSPERMUM. Cuss. 



Calyx-limb of 5 teeth. Petals obovate, notched, with an in- 

 flexed lobe. Cremocarp short, didymous ; columella bipartite ; 

 mericarps sub-globose, inflated, with 5 indistinct filiform equal 

 ridges ; interstices each with a broad vitta. Albumen of the seed 

 with a broad furrow on the face next the columella. Involucre of 

 1 to 5 leaves. 



Herbs with the leaves principally radical, ternately or ternate- 

 pinnately decompound. Plowers white, in compound umbels with 

 long rays. 



The name of this genus of plants is said to be derived from (pvcra (jjhusa), a 

 bladder, and cnrspfia (sperma), a seed, in reference to the tegument not adhering to the 

 seed in its young state. 



