56 UMBELLlFER^ 



small. The symptoms whicli preceded death were very appalling, and he 

 thought that this, and not the hemlock, might possibly be the plant used 

 to destroy Socrates, while, from the symptoms of derangement which ac- 

 companied its effects, he considered it probable that it was " the insane root 

 which takes the reason prisoner," referred to by Shakspere. Dr. Pickells 

 stated the Dropwort to be as injurious to black cattle and horses as to man. 

 No direct and certain antidote was known; but melted butter, which is 

 popularly deemed efficacious against its effects, had been given in some of the 

 cases which had recovered. Notwithstanding the poisonous properties of the 

 plant, it has been vised with success by medical practitioners. Gerarde says : 

 "Beware and take good heed of this and such like simples, for there is no 

 physition that will give it, because there be many excellent good simples 

 which God has bestowed upon us for the preventing and curing of diseases." 

 Dr. Johnson, in his "Flora of Berwick," commenting on this, says, "Despite 

 the advice of the pious Gerarde, modern physicians have given an infasion 

 of the leaves, or the juice of the roots, in leprosy, with success." Goats 

 can eat this virulently poisonous plant with impunity, but it destroys rats 

 and mice, and the roots are used by country people for that purpose. 

 The bruised root»is also sometimes applied as a poultice to painful joints. 



6, Fine-leaved Water Dropwort ((E. j^helldndrium). — Eoot fibrous, 

 and biennial ; stem erect ; leaves thrice pinnate ; leaflets egg-shaped, pin- 

 natifid, cut, spreading ; those of the submersed ones wedge-shaped, pellucid, 

 cut ; umbels lateral, opposite to the leaves ; fruit egg-shaped. Not only do. 

 the fibrous roots of this plant distinguish it from the preceding, but the 

 leaves, cut into slender pointed segments, are very different from the broad 

 leaves of the Hemlock Dropwort. The upper part of the foliage is of a pale 

 yellowish-green, but the submersed leaves are of a deep, dark, rich green 

 colour. The stem is two or three feet high, very thick at the lower part, 

 and sending out runners; and the flowers are produced from July to 

 September. The plant is not uncommon in ditches and ponds in England, 

 but is rare in Scotland. This species is also poisonous. 



7. River Water Dropwort {CE. fiuviatilis). — Stem floating ; leaves 

 twice pinnate ; leaflets simple, and pinnatifld ; leaflets of the submersed 

 leaves pellucid, wedge-shaped, deeply cut at the end ; umbels opposite to the 

 leaves. Plant perennial. This plant, which is commonly found in streams 

 in the middle and south-east of England, is considered by some botanists a 

 sub-species of the preceding. It flowers from July to September. 



17. Fool's Parsley {jEthusa). 



Common Fool's Parsley {JE. cyndpium). — Leaves twice pinnate; 

 leaflets wedge-shaped, pinnatifld, running down the stalk ; partial involucre 

 of one leaf longer than the umbel ; general involucre none. Annual. This 

 plant, which is also called Lesser Hemlock, is sometimes mistaken for parsley ; 

 and as it grows everywhere on cultivated lands, it is sometimes eaten by 

 children, and has proved fatal to them. Some years ago two ladies in 

 Somersetshire, who ate of it in salad, suffered very seriously, though both 

 ultimately recovered. Its deleterious principles are said to depend on the 

 presence in its juices of a peculiar alkaline principle termed cynapia. The 



