204 



THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



which are planted among them from the effects of cold 

 until strong enough to bear exposure ; when the pines 

 are cut down, and what before appeared to be a 

 pine-wood, appears as a plantation of oaks. The pine- 

 trees furnish those straight stems largely used by 

 builders under the name of " scaffold poles." They 

 also make the best wood for rending into laths for 

 building purposes, their straight and open grain 

 allowing of their being easily split. 



It is from the vegetable kingdom that most of the medicines 

 in use are derived, but many of these, in improper doses, 

 act as violent poisons ; indeed, the most rapidly fatal of all 

 poisons, prussic acid, was originally distilled from the Laurel- 

 cherry, and strychnine, which is hardly less rapid, is the 

 produce of the JN r ux vomica (Strychnos nux vomica). 



The following is a list of the principal poisonous plants 

 found growing wild in England : 



* 1. MONK'S-HOOD (Aconitum Napellus). 

 "WOLF'S-BANE (Aconitum lycactonum)? 



Monk's-hood. 



Horse-radish. 



Woif's-bane. 



All parts of Monk's-hood and Wolf's-bane are extremely 

 poisonous ; the root of Monk's-hood has often been 



