21 COCHLEABIA ARMORACIA 



is a foot or more in length ; it is provided with a few 

 irregularly arranged more or less thickened branches, and 

 is either undivided above, or it divides into two or more 

 divisions, from which the leaves, &c., arise. In diameter it 

 varies from ^ an inch to 2 inches or more ; but as commonly 

 used it is about the thickness of the thumb or middle finger. 

 In form it is enlarged at the crown, or point where the 

 leaves are given off; it then slightly tapers, but soon becomes 

 more or less cylindrical, and frequently maintains nearly the 

 same thickness for some distance, and then commonly divides 

 into two or more branches, or in some cases, very gradually 

 tapers downwards. In colour externally it is pale yellowish- 

 or brownish-whitish ; and whitish and fleshy within. Its odour, 

 when scraped or bruised, is highly pungent, frequently causing 

 sneezing and a flow of tears ; but when unbroken, it is almost 

 inodorous. It has a very pungent taste, more especially in 

 spring and autumn, accompanied by a bitterish or sweetish 

 flavour according to the season ip which it "is collected, the 

 manner in which it is cultivated, and the soil in which it is 

 grown. If carefully dried its pungent taste is to a great extent 

 retained; but it is gradually lost if the root be long kept. 



We have given the above characters somewhat in detail in 

 consequence of the deaths that have occurred from the poisonous 

 Monkshood or Aconite root having keen scraped and served up 

 at table in the winter and early spring months in mistake for 

 horseradish root. In a paper published by one of us in the 

 Pharmaceutical Journal some years since, the distinctive characters 

 of the two roots were tabulated as follows : 



Horseradish root. Aconite root. 



Form. Slightly conical at Form. Conical, and taper- 



the crown ; then cylindrical ing perceptibly and rapidly to 



or nearly so, and almost of a fine point, 

 the same thickness for many 

 inches. 





