280 THE STORY-BOOK OF SCIENCE 



against these dangerous plants. Every one at home 

 ought to know what you have just taught us, so 

 as not to gather a salad of hemlock instead of 

 chervil. ' ' 



"There are two kinds of hemlock. One, called 

 the great hemlock, is found 

 in damp and uncultivated 

 places. It is very like cher- 

 vil. Its stems are marked 

 with black or reddish spots. 

 The other, called the little 

 hemlock, resembles parsley. 

 It grows in cultivated fields, 

 hedges, and gardens. Both 

 have a nauseating odor. 



"Now here is a poisonous plant very easy to rec- 

 ognize. It is the arum, or, as it is commonly called, 

 cuckoopint or calves '-foot. The arum is common in 

 hedges. The leaves are very broad and shaped 

 like a large lance-head. The blossom is shaped 

 like a donkey's ear. It is a large yellowish trum- 

 pet, from the bottom of which rises a fleshy rod 

 that might be taken for a little finger of butter. 

 This strange- flower is succeeded by a bunch of 

 berries as large as peas and of a splendid red 

 color. The whole plant has an unbearable burning 

 taste." 



"Let me tell you, Maitre Paul," put in Mathieu, 

 "what happened one day to my little Lucien. Com- 

 ing home from school, he saw in the hedge those 

 large flowers you are speaking of, like donkey's 

 ears; the fleshy rod in the middle looked to him 



