52 OBSERVAT IONS on 



rabbits for food ; whereas cattle conftantly 

 refufe to eat hemlock *. 



The reputation of hemlock, as a medicine, 

 feems to be in a lofing ftate. In confequence 

 of too much having been faid of its virtues, 

 when it was firft introduced into pradice, 

 two Httle may perhaps now be believed : and 

 becaufe it will not cure cancers, it is fuppofed 

 by fome practitioners to be ineffedlual in every 

 difeafe whatever. As far as can be deduced 

 from the different cafes in which it has been 

 tried in England, hemlock poflefTes very con- 

 fiderable medical virtues ; and it has been 

 proved to be deobitruent, and anodyne. It 

 has been ferviceable in fcrpphulous cafes. In 

 painful ulcers, difcharging an ichourous 

 lymph, the internal ufe of this plant has 

 been known to procure eafe, to mend the 

 difcharge, and improve the complexion of 

 the fore. Whether thefe effeifls are obtained 

 by any fpecific alteration of the fluids, or are 

 merely produced by the fedative properties of 

 cicuta, we are not certain. It is probable, 

 however, it ads in this refped by eafing 



* Phil. Tranf. N''47i. p. 21. 



pain. 



