38 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1744, 



wooden radii ; dd the holes, through which the pin, in the centre of the quadrant, 

 goes. 



Fig. 16, the ombrometer; aathe board; bb the tube; c the graduation; d the 

 funnel fixed in the tube; e the funnel one inch square. 



Fig. 17, the wild-oat hygrometer; a the box and plate; b the wild oat, with 

 the index upon it; c the pin, with a small piece of ivorj' on its head. 



Concerning some Persons being poisoned by eating boiled Hemlock. By Mr. 

 miliam fVatson* F.R.S. N° 473, p. 18. 



Notwithstanding the number of instances, which occur among writers, con- 

 cerning the poisonous quality of our common hemlock, or cicuta major of Caspar 

 Bauhin ;-|- such as, that of Cardanus mentioning a man killed by a cake, in which 

 this plant was an ingredient ; that of Brassavola, who assures us, that it is mortal 

 not to men only but to geese and swine; as well as those of Matthiolus, Scaliger, 

 Kircher, Boccone, and others ; yet the fatality of its poison, when growing in 

 this kingdom, has been doubted by many ; insomuch as that faithful collector the 

 late Mr. Ray mentions, in his Synopsis, edit. 2, p. 326, that not only his friend 

 Mr. Petiver ate 4^ oz. of the root of this plant, but that Mr. Henly, a friend of 

 Mr. Petiver's, in his presence, ate, without any inconvenience, 3 or 4 oz. of the 

 same root. From hence it has been thought, either that the root has effects dif- 

 ferent from the stalks and leaves, or that difference of climate varies the degree 

 of the violence of the poison. 



An observation indeed of the same kind occurs in the German Ephemerides. 

 Linnaeus,, in the Hortus ClifTortianus, makes also some doubt concerning the 

 malignity of this plant; and, in naming it, has kept to the old appellation of 

 Theophrastus and Dioscorides, conium ; and has transferred that of cicuta, to the 



* Mr. Wm. Watson, apothecary, afterwards Dr. Watson, and after Sir Wni. Watson, was for 

 many years one of the most useful and respectable members of the Royal Society. His close atten- 

 tion to science, and his numerous communications to the Society, and printed in the Philos. Trans, 

 in most of the volumes, from the ^Ist to the 63d, on the various subjects of medicine, natural his- 

 tory, botany, zoology, electricity, meteorology, &c; as well as his extensive practice in his profes- 

 sion, will render his name justly celebrated among the physicians of Great Britain. We find no ac- 

 count of our author's birth. It seems he was bred an apothecary in Aldersgate-street, Loudon, 

 where he paid great attention to chemistry ; and, from practising in this line, soon raised himself to 

 the rank of M. D. after which, he practised as a physician with continually increasing reputation, till 

 near the time of his death, which happened at his house in Lincoln's-inn-fields, from a paralytic affec- 

 tion, the 10th of May, 1787, at near 80 years of age. He had the honour to be one of the members 

 of the committee of the Royal Society in 1772 and 1778, for reporting ou the securing of the powder 

 magazine at Purfleet, from lightning. He was also, at the time of his death, vice president of the 

 Royal Society, member of the British Museum, and trustee of the College of Physicians. He wag 

 knighted on carrying up the address of the College on the king's escape from assassination, 



+ Coniuin maculatum. Linn. 



