123 



CONIUM. 



CONOELIX. 



]28 



I of greater potency are used in its stead, from which fatal 

 results have followed. It is a " well-known circumstance that the 

 greatest discrepancy prevails among medical men as to the activity 

 of hemlock, not merely as a remedy but also as a poison." This dis- 

 crepancy admits of satisfactory explanation on several grounds. The 

 activity of the plant even supposing the proper one to be collected 

 depends greatly upon its place of growth, the kind of season, the 

 time when collected, and the means employed- to dry it or form it 

 into an extract ; on the temperature and dryness ef the place where 

 it is preserved, and on the length of time it has been kept. In the 



Fruit of Conium maculatum. 



1, a partial umbel, loaded with fruit, natural size ; 2, the back view of a 

 fruit, much magnified ; 3, a transverse section of the lame, showing the 

 ridges, the absence of vittce, and the involute albumen. 



south of Europe it is much more energetic than in the north, owing 

 to the greater intensity of light ; even in the southern provinces of 

 France it ia more powerful than in the northern. The wild plant, 

 growing in well-exposed situations, is always to be preferred to a 

 cultivated one; the kind of season markedly influences its power, 

 which is greatest in a dry sunny season, and least in a wet gloomy 

 one. The leaves during the first year of growth possess little potency ; 

 nor do they possess much during the early period of the second, till 

 the flower-stem is developed, and the flowers are about to expand. 

 If this period, which is the fittest time for collecting the leaves, is 

 allowed to pass, it is better to wait two months longer, and collect 

 the fruits instead, an they become the recipient of the active principle. 

 The leaves should be dried quickly, but not by the application of a 

 high temperature ; they should never be powdered till the time when 

 it is intended to use them, but preserved meanwhile in a cool dry 

 place. If an extract be formed which requires much care in the 

 preparation, it can rarely be kept beyond twelve months. A fresh 

 supply of leaves, fruits, or extract, should consequently be procured 

 every year, and the former thrown away, as the action of time or heat 

 volatilises the active principle (Conia), and renders the residue nearly 

 inert. When these precautions are attended to, Hemlock is a medi- 

 cine of great power and unquestionable value. 



The fresh leaves are dark green, shining : odour strong, stupifying, 

 unpleasant, resembling that of mice, or the urinous odour of fresh 

 Spiuiixh Flies ; when (Tried the colour is lighter, a grayish green ; the 

 taste is disagreeably saline, nauseously bitter, and at last somewhat 

 acrid. The expressed juice is green. 



According to Linmcus, sheep eat the leaves, but horses, cows, and 

 goats refuse it. Kay informs us that the thrush will feed upon the 

 seeds even when corn is to be had. The first physician who endea- 

 voured to bring hemlock into repute as a medicine was Baron Stoerck 

 of Vienna, who announced that it exerted extraordinary effects on the 

 most inveterate chronic disorders in 1700. The whole plant is a viru- 

 lent poison, but varying much in strength according to circumstances. 

 When taken in an over dose it produces vertigo, dimness of sight, 

 nausea, and paralysis of the limbs. In small doses however it is found 

 very useful in scirrhus, scrofulous tumours, dropsy, epilepsy, and 

 as an anodyne. Dr. Pereira and Dr. Christison recommend an 

 alcoholic tincture of the bruised ripe fruit instead of the leaves. 



In what way hemlock proves useful as a remedial agent in many 



diseases is by no means clear, unless it be by allaying irritability in 



the diseased parts, and giving an opportunity to the vital powers to 



recover their heathful action. That it lessens irritability in many 



diseased or^;m. is certain, from the effects of the administration of 



even a few <lo.se?', especially in many cases of scrofulous affections, 



and above all from allaying the irritation of the lungs during the 



formation of tnlxTcles, and indeed during all the subsequent stages of 



consumption. Even when inhaled along with the vapour of warm 



water the same good effect is said to follow, but this is rather doubtful. 



Its beneficial influence over external ulcers is however open to observa- 



iml John Hunter remarked, that under the combined action of 



.11 ami rini'hijtia-hark, many obstinate buboes, which resisted 



in took on .L lulling process. Many 



irritable <>r painful ulcers are soothed and improved by a hemlock 

 poultice. Rheumatic pains, and those attending nodes, are said to be 



effectually allayed by conium and ipecacuanha. From the very decided 

 sedative action of conia on the spinal cord, Dr. Gordon has suggested 

 that it will prove a useful remedy in tetanus and other spasmodic 

 diseases. 



Dr. Christison is of opinion that the Conium maculatum of the 

 present day is not the plant which furnished the poison employed to 

 dispatch Phocion and Socrates. Waller considers it to have been 

 Oicuta virosa. [CoxiA, in ARTS AND Sc. Div.] 



For further particulars with regard to the subject of this article 

 we refer to Dr. Christison's ' Memoir on the Poisonous Properties of 

 Hemlock and its Alcaloid, Conia.' (' Transactions of the Royal Society 

 of Edinburgh,' vol. xiii.) 



CONNARACE^E, a natural order of tropical Trees or Shrubs allied 

 to Anacardiacete and Leguminosce. It contains 5 genera and about 40 

 species. The leaves are compound, not dotted, alternate, without 

 stipules. The flowers terminal and axillary, in racemes or panicles, 

 with bracts. Calyx 5-parted, regular, persistent ; activation either 

 imbricated or valvular. Petals 5, inserted on the calyx, imbricated, 

 rarely valvate in estivation. Stamens twice the number of petals, 

 hypogynous, those opposite the petals shorter than the others; 

 filaments usually monadelphous. Carpels solitary or several, each 

 with a separate style and stigma. Ovules 2, collateral, orthotropal, 



1 



L 



fun/Kirns Asiaticttft. 



1, an expanded flower, much magnified; 2, its stamens and styles; 3, a 

 section across the ovary. 



ascending ; styles terminal ; stigmas usually dilated. Fruit dehiscent, 

 follicular, splitting lengthwise internally. Seeds erect, in pairs or 

 solitary, with or without albumen, often with an aril ; radicle superior, 

 at the extremity opposite the hilum ; cotyledons thick in the species 

 without albumen, foliaceous in those with albumen. Brown says the 

 genus can be distinguished from Leguminous plants by the relation 

 which parts of its embryo bear to the umbilicus of the seed ; that is 

 to say, by the radicle being at the extremity most remote from the 

 hilum. From A nacttrdiaccte and others they are at once known by 

 their total want of resinous juice and their orthotropal ovules. 



The species are all tropical ; most common in America. The beautiful 

 zebra-wood now so much used by cabinet-makers is ascertained to bo 

 produced by Ompludolium Lamberti, a large Guyana tree of this 

 order. 



CONNOCHETES. [ANTILOI-EJ:.] 



CONNOR, a Fish belonging to the family Labndie. [CKESILADKUS.] 



CONO'CERAS, a genus of Cephalopoda, fossil on Lake Huron. 

 Bronn founds the characters of it on the form of the septa, which are 

 convex t.ownnU Hie base of the cone. 



CONOELIX, CONfELIX, or CONOHELIX, a genus of Turbiiiiit.nl 

 Mvlltuca, established by Mr. Swainson for a group which, in his 



