74 ANIMAL ARTISANS 



meadows. But they sometimes seem to have no 

 such suspicion about the water hemlock, which is so 

 peculiarly deadly to both cows and horses. Mr. Rider 

 Haggard in his " Farmer's Year " describes the sudden 

 death of a colt, just turned out with its mother in 

 the early spring into the wet meadows by the river 

 Waveney, from some such plant eaten in the grass. 



One of our most poisonous native plants is the 

 ordinary foxglove, from which " digitalis " is made. 

 Every part of it is toxic in a high degree flowers, 

 stem, leaves, and roots. It has no unpleasant odour 

 of any kind, but for some reason cattle never touch 

 it. The lower leaves are among the earliest to appear 

 on the banks or on commons, though the tall spike 

 appears much later. But however scanty the herbage, 

 these leaves are left uneaten, although in appearance 

 they very closely resemble prickly comfrey, which is 

 grown as a forage plant in some parts of the country. 



In the hemlocks, several of which are poisonous 

 to man or beast, the dangerous ingredient varies. 

 In the spotted hemlock it is " conine," which is 

 present in great quantities in the seeds, though 

 there is very little in the leaves and stem. The 

 Greek poison was probably prepared from these seeds, 

 as is the medical extract made at the present time. 

 On the other hand, in the water hemlock, which 

 is not very common in England, though found abun- 

 dantly by Scotch rivers and on wet grounds in the 

 North, the poisonous principle is contained in an 

 essential oil. Spotted hemlock kills or injures human 

 beings by causing paralysis, which progresses through 



