VOL. LXII.3 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 359 



degree of vertigo, and in a slight manner produced the effects of intoxication 

 from liquor. •>;: , / 



In June he went to Harrowgate, as he had designed in the summer before. 

 On first drinking and bathing there, he thought himself worse; and his erup- 

 tions having gradually increased during the 2 months that he staid in that place, 

 he was convinced that those waters were of no real service to him. On his 

 coming home he returned to the use of the infusion, and he assures me, that he 

 again found, even by that weak, preparation, a very speedy alteration for the 

 better. From that time he continued it ever since, till his stock of the herb was 

 exhausted; his skin is now so very little affected, that he has but here and there, 

 on his arms and legs, a very small appearance of his disorder. 



On questioning him as to the sensible qualities of this medicine, he says again, 

 that he particularly remembers that it never once purged him ; not even the first 

 dose, which had so nearly poisoned him. He does not think that it increased 

 the sensible perspiration, but is convinced that it was diuretic ; and adds, that he 

 thinks it occasioned, besides the increased flow of urine, a copious sediment in 

 it, and which he believes was always wanting before. This is the plain narrative 

 of the fact. He has assured me that no medicine or regimen, among the great 

 variety that he has tried, ever had any sensible effect on his disorder before; and 

 that nothing but the very early and sensible relief he experienced from this juice, 

 could have induced him to persevere in its use, under such uneasy feelings as it 

 never failed to produce. Indeed, he makes nothing of the lighter effects of the 

 infusion, from which however he thinks he has likewise reaped no small benefit. 



This case, the nature and inveteracy of his disorder being well known among 

 his neighbours, was much talked of, and raised the curiosity of many people. 

 When I first heard of it, and was informed of the smallness of the dose, and 

 its virulent operation, I could scarcely doubt that the juice of some other plant 

 had been administered instead of that of the water parsnep, which we know to 

 be a safe and harmless vegetable; medical writers having directed its juice to be 

 drunk, even to the quantity of 4 ounces for a dose: and as I know the oenanthe 

 crocata, hemlock dropwort, to be exceedingly plentiful in this country, so much 

 as to be more easily procured than the water parsnep itself; I thought it probable 

 that that plant had been used in its stead. On getting a specimen, it appeared 

 that this had been indeed the case ; as also, on further inquiry, that it was the 

 juice of the root only, and not of the leaves and stalks, that had been admi- 

 nistered. I might here observe, that the expression from the root is not to be 

 depended on after the plant is advanced towards its flowering state, as the root 

 then becomes light, spongy, and almost destitute of juice. 



P. S. — Mr. H is desirous that it should be known, that he " tried very 



