VEGETABLE POISONS. 49 



flowers in umbels, and this is the chief cir- 

 cumftance in which they agree. 



Lucretius by cicuta certainly means 

 water hemlock, when he informs us, that 

 goats eat it freely ; thofe animals have often 

 been obferved to feed upon the cicuta aqua- 

 tica, and it is very well known that hunger 

 itfelf will not prompt them to touch the ci- 

 cuta major *. 



ToRRENTius obferves, that Perfius has 

 confounded cicuta with hellebore, or fome 

 other certain cure for madnefs -f. 



The ftalk of hemlock being hollow, 

 light, and jointed : hence the poets often ufe 

 its name for the reed, of which pipes were 

 made J. 



*' pinguefcere faepe cicuta 



Earbigeros pecudes, homini quae eft acre venenum.'* 



Lucretius, 



-j- " Calido fub pe£tore mafcula bills intumuit, 

 " Qiiam non extinxerit una cicuta.** Persius. 



J " Et Zephyri cava per calamorum fibila primum. 

 '' Agreftes docuere cavas inftare ckutas,'* Lucret. 



" Eft mihi difparibus fcptem compacla cicuiai fiftula." 



ViRG. EcL. ii. 36. 



E The 



