234 BRAMBLES AND BAY LEAVES. 



absorbing events in human history, as an historical fact connected with 

 flowers. "We allude to the use of certain plants as a means of poi- 

 soning, and more particularly to the death of Socrates, by hemlock. 

 The hemlock is a common plant throughout Europe, and a frequent 

 inhabitant of road-sides and waste places. The spotted hemlock, 

 conium maculattim, is an active poison. The symptoms which it pro- 

 duces in the human subject are giddiness, headache, drowsiness, 

 lividity of the countenance, coldness of the extremities, increasing 

 insensibility, and eventually, death. 



The plant has attracted the notice of mankind from all antiquity. 

 Several of the sacred writers refer to it. Moses speaks of it under 

 the word rosh^ translated gall in the authorized version, but more cor- 

 rectly rendered hemlocJc. It is generally believed to be the kiovelov 

 {kontion) of the Greek authors, and the cicuta of the Romans. This 

 opinion was held both by Linnaeus and Lamarck, and if correct, the 

 common spotted hemlock of the fields is the same plant as that from 

 which the state poison of Athens was prepared, and which proved 

 fatal therefore to Socrates, the good Phocian, and Theamenes. 



Socrates, the most celebrated philosopher of antiquity, was the son 

 of a sculptor ; and it is said that the beautiful proportions and elegant 

 forms, which the marble received from the chisel, suggested to him 

 the first idea of perfection ; and this idea becoming more exalted, he 

 became convinced that as, throughout the universe harmony prevails, 

 so should there be a just relation between man's actions and his 

 duties. He said, the gods require that we should honour and obey 

 them, and offer to them sacrifices, in which the purity of the heart is 

 of more importance than the magnificence of the offering — that we 

 should render the Divine Being the most noble worship, for Divine 

 favour was the result of fervent piety, upborne by hope and confi- 

 dence. He acknowledged one God, the father and preserver of the 

 universe, and under his command were inferior deities . formed by 

 his hand, and invested by him with power and authority. Imbued 

 with the most profound and awful respect for the Supreme Being, 

 he prostrated himself before the sun at his rising, regarding him as 

 the representative of the Great Unknown — the god of light and life. 

 His system of philosophy was founded on the good and evil which 

 influence the destinies of men. Virtue is permanent and unchange- 

 able ; the truly good inspires the soul with tranquility for the present 

 and security for the future. As ignorance is the utmost extremity of 



