IV 



TSUGA, OR HEMLOCK SPRUCE FIRS 



(Of the natural order of CONIFER.^, of the 



FAMILY PINACEiF, of THE TRIBE ABIETINEiF, 



of the genus picea, and sub-division tsuga) 

 Introductory 



O Hemlock tree ! O Hemlock tree ! How faithful are thy branches, 



Green not alone in summer-time, 



But in the winter's frost and rime, 

 O Hemlock tree I O Hemlock tree I How faithful are thy branches. 



Longfellow. 



We who perforce in early days of life sallied or were 

 sent forth from home in quest of knowledge, to drink 

 at the Pierian springs of Greek history within the 

 classical courts of our public schools, may be prone 

 to jump wrongly to a conclusion that the Hemlock 

 tree had some connection with a certain deadly drug, 

 that we were instructed by school-books was meted 

 out to those who were regarded in the light of a social 

 or political inconvenience by the pro-tem. Government 

 of the day which ruled in mighty Athens. 



That the historical cup of Hemlock {k(ov€cov, or 

 in Latin language, Conium Maculatum), which 

 quenched for centuries the bold spirit of philosophy 

 had any connection with the tree under discussion 

 would be quite an erroneous basis for our investiga- 

 tions. The Hemlock plant^ — not tree — is a wild 

 umbelliferous poisonous plant of the genus Conium, 



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