130 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



fluence. The face and hands are most apt to be affected, in some 

 cases the swelling being so great as to obliterate the features, but 

 any part of the body may present similar appearances. Of poison- 

 ing by its internal use there are five cases on record. In one in- 

 stance two children, aged respectively six and eight years, ate the 

 berries ; and in the other, three persons, a boy aged twelve and two 

 girls aged fifteen and seventeen, took an infusion of the root in mis- 

 take for one of sassafras. In a few hours there was drowsiness and 

 stupor, followed by vomiting, convulsions and delirium, and in some 

 of the cases there was an eruption over the body. All these persons 

 recovered after varying intervals. 



The prevention of poisoning by the rhuses should be strongly 

 impressed on the community at large. Everyone should know the 

 distinctions, which I have already given, between the various species 

 and the plants with which they are most liable to be confounded. 

 Being worthless and of little value except medicinally, and even 

 then probably much overrated, they should be extirpated by every 

 thrifty farmer. A strong alkaline solution, used immediately after 

 exposure, will often prevent the poisonous effects of rhus on those 

 known to be susceptible to its influence, while anyone obliged to 

 work near poison ivy should smear his face and hands freely with 

 sweet oil or grease, when no ill effects are likely to follow. 



