WATER HEMLOCK 501 



In order to powder galbanum the same means are employed as 

 described under asafetida. 



Constituents. A volatile oil, 9.5 per cent; a resin soluble in 

 alcohol, 63.5 per cent, which consists of 20 per cent of combined um- 

 belliferon, 50 per cent of galbaresinotannol, and 0.25 per cent of free 

 umbelliferon; gum and impurities, 27 per cent; and ash, 16 to 20 

 per cent. 



^ETHUSA CYNAPIUM. Fool's Parsley. This umbelliferous plant 

 is indigenous to Europe and a common garden weed in the north- 

 ern United States and Canada. Many cases of poisoning have been 

 attributed to the misuse of the leaves of this plant for parsley. 

 It contains a volatile alkaloid, resembling coniine in its physical and 

 chemical properties. It also contains a small amount of d-mannitol. 

 Power, Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc., 1905, p. 1461. 



(ENANTHE CROCATA. European Water Hemlock. A common 

 European plant (Fam. Umbelliferse), growing in wet and marshy 

 places, and even growing in water. The roots, from their resemblance 

 to parsnips, have been the cause of frequent and sometimes fatal 

 poisoning. It has been used with beneficial results for the poisoning 

 of rats and moles. The poisonous property appears to reside in the 

 neutral portions of the petroleum and ether extracts of the resin. 

 It does not contain an alkaloid. The constituents of the plant, 

 besides considerable amounts of cane sugar, dextrose and Isevulose 

 were found to comprise, a volatile oil ; a colorless crystalline substance, 

 which, on keeping, assumed a purple color; salicylic acid; triacon- 

 tane; pentriacontane ; a phytosterol; a phytosterol glucoside; and 

 a mixture of fatty acids. Power, Pharm. Jour., 1911 (87), p. 296. 



CICUTA MACULATA. American Water Hemlock. A biennial, 

 umbelliferous plant growing in wet and marshy places of the northern 

 United States and Canada. It produces a cluster of thick tuberous 

 roots, a hollow, somewhat purplish stem, attaining a height of 1 to 

 2m., bearing pinnately compound leaves and large umbels of white 

 flowers. This plant is probably responsible for more cases of poison- 

 ing in the United States than any other plants apart from the poison- 

 ous Amanitas. The herbage is often destructive to cattle and many 

 children have eaten the leaves mistaking them for sweet cicely 

 (Osmorhiza) or Angelica, and the fleshy roots have been mistaken for 

 parsnips and Jerusalem artichokes. For illustrations of the habit 

 and inner structure of this plant, consult Kraemer's Applied and 

 Economic Botany, p. 642. It is said that the root, when dried, loses 

 its active principle. The toxic constituent appears to be a yellowish 

 amorphous substance, cicutoxine. It also contains a volatile oil 



