POISONOUS PLANTS IN GENERAL 219 
slippers (Figs. 212, 213). The symptoms are like those just 
described, and the treatment recommended is the same. 
Fortunately there are many persons who are not affected 
by handling poison-ivy, poison-sumac, or either of the orchids 
mentioned; and there are other persons upon whom the 
effect is but slight. On the other hand, certain persons, 
particularly women and children, have skins so sensitive as 
to be poisoned by handling plants which are commonly re- 
garded as harmless. Thus one occasionally hears of a person 
who cannot handle the herbage of the carrot or parsnip, or 
who cannot wash parsnip roots without being poisoned. In 
all such cases, as also in cases of poisoning by the other plants 
' referred to in this section, the treatment recommended is 
much the same as that given for ivy poisoning. 
64. Poisonous plants in general. The preceding sections 
have shown that serious or even fatal consequences may 
result from eating, chewing, or sucking various parts of poi- 
sonous plants, or from overdoses of medicines prepared 
from them; that the juice of certain plants causes painful 
effects wherever it touches the skin; and that merely handling 
other kinds produces similar effects with certain persons. 
We have seen also that the number of common plants, both 
wild and cultivated, which are poisonous in one way or an- 
other is much larger than is generally realized. The practical 
conclusions to be drawn from these facts are surely very 
plain, but as they cannot be too strongly emphasized it may 
be useful to embody them in the following summary :— 
1. Never put into the mouth any part of any plant with 
which you are not perfectly well acquainted and know to 
be harmless beyond the possibility of a doubt. 
2. Be especially cautious with regard to plants which are 
young or show only young spring shoots, or which have 
not come into blossom or fruit; for the younger a plant is, 
or the fewer parts it displays, the more easily it may be mis- 
taken for some other kind. 
3. Be suspicious of all plants which resemble those known 
to be poisonous; for such resemblance is likely to indicate 
relationship, and plants closely related are apt to possess 
similar properties. But never suppose a plant to be harm- 
