HEMLOCK. 389 



■with convulsions in the upper part of the body, while the inferior extremi- 

 ties were paralysed. In others he remarked furious delirium. On exami- 

 nation after death, the vessels of the head have been found much congested, 

 and the blood remarkably fluid. Very different accounts are given of the pro- 

 perties of the roots of this plant. Ray * states, that three or four ounces of 

 the root have been swallowed without any remarkable effect. Mr. Curtis 

 speaks of a gentleman who had some of the large roots boiled, and found 

 them as agreeable eating at dinner with meat, as carrots. On the other 

 hand, Storck relates, that a drop or two of the milky juice applied to his 

 tongue prodiiced great pain and swelling of that organ, and for some time 

 deprived him of the power of speech. Orfila gave two ounces of the juice, 

 obtained from three pounds of the fresh root, to a dog, without any remark- 

 able effects, while Wepfer relates the case of two monks, who became 

 raving mad after eating the roots ; and Vicat f mentions an instance of a 

 vine-dresser and his wife, who mistook the roots for parsnips, and after 

 partaking of them at supper, awoke in the night delirious, knocking them- 

 selves rudely against the walls of the room. The only way in which these 

 discordant statements can be reconciled is by remembering the influence 

 of climate. Fee informs us, that in Russia and the Crimea, Hemlock is 

 inert and eatable, and that in the South of Europe, it is extremely poisonous. 

 Soil and situation, and time of year, have also an influence on this plant, 

 as on the Colchicum and others. 



The treatment to be pursued in cases where this poison has 

 been swallowed is nearly the same as directed under Fool's- 

 parsley and Foxglove. The efficacy of vegetable acids, espe- 

 cially vinegar and lemon-juice ;{:, in counteracting its deadly 

 effects has been much insisted on ; the poisonous substance 

 having been first evacuated by the means already mentioned. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — The root, leaves, herb, 

 and especially the juice of Hemlock, were in former times con- 

 sidered softening, resolvent, anodyne, &c., and were employed 

 externally in procidentia ani, affections of the eyes, tumours, and 

 against rheumatism, gout, erysipelas, and other exanthemata. 

 Aretseus § attributes to it the peculiar power " frangere stimu- 

 lum venereum," while Storck, Bergius \\, and other modern 



* Phil. Trans, vol. xix. p. 634. 



•j- Histoire des plantes veneneuses de la Suisse, p. 274. 



:{: There would thus appear to be a considerable analogy between Hem- 

 lock and the Ranunculus tribe of plants, as also in the volatility of their 

 active principle ; in both cases, repeated boiling in vinegar is said com- 

 pletely to dissipate the noxious quality. The Russian peasants, who are said 

 to eat hemlock with impunity, take the precaution of boiling it in several 

 waters. 



§ De Morb. Acut. lib. ii. c. 11. 



II Mat. Med. vol. i. p. 195. 



