and its Alkaloid Conia. 403 
ness,. staggering, stifling, coldness of the limbs, and death by 
asphyxia ;—a view of its effects which differs little from the mo- 
dern notions of the poisonous action of the spotted hemlock. 
But, the poetical effusion of Nicanpzr will apply equally well 
to: many narcotics, and among others to various umbelliferous 
plants :. It is a generic, though probably intended for a specific, 
description. 
_ Nicanper, who appears to have lived about 160 years before 
Christ, or, according to some, a century later, has evidently been 
followed by DioscoripEs, Priny, and other subsequent authors, 
in his description ; and where any deviation is observable, it has 
been in favour of Pzxa7o’s account of the effects of the Athenian 
state-poison in the case of SocraTEs,—this being either tacitly or 
expressly assumed to have been a preparation of Kaveo. It seems 
needless, therefore, to prosecute the present branch of the in- 
quiry by reference to other ancient narratives. 
The result at which we must arrive is, that the Greek Kaveov, 
so far as regards its effects, may be the modern Conium macula- 
tum, but may be equally referred to various other plants ; and 
that, if its botanical description by classical authors is to be al- 
lowed. any weight at all, or, which amounts to the same thing, if 
we admit that the ancient naturalists did describe, and could de- 
scribe, fromnature, it must have been a totally different vege- 
table. 
Turning, in the last place, to the Athenian state-poison, we 
find both historians and political authors who lived during the time 
it was in frequent use, assuming very much, as a matter of course, 
that this was the Greek Kayciov ; and subsequent writers identify 
it either with this plant, or with the Roman cicuta, which we 
have already seen to be the same with the Kayo». 
Thus Xewornon, who died forty years after Socrates, and 
during whose lifetime the state-poison was the constant instru- 
ment of judicial murder, speaking of the death of Turramenes, 
condemned for his political acts by the thirty tyrants, says, “ and 
VOL. XIII. PART II. 3F 
