2 BULLETIlSr 69, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 



plant. To Konrad Gesner is generally given the credit of first clearly 

 distinguishing C'icuta from Conium. In 1541, in his Historia Plan- 

 tarum, he speaks of it as Sium, but later he calls it Cicuta aquatica. 

 In his edition of Dioscorides, 1543, he says ''Recentiores faciunt duo 

 genera, aquaticae frigentis naturae, terrestris calide: verum quonam 

 nullum idoneum praeferunt autorem, vereor ne, ut feresolent, 

 haUucinentur." By the first he probably means Cicuta, and by the 

 second, Conium. In 1561, in ''Horti Germaniae," f. 253, he says 

 " Cicuta aquatica, herba venenosa, Bartzenkraut Saxonibus, G. Circa 

 paludes & in paludum marginibus sponte oritur, ut ad lacum Felium 

 agri Tigurmi plantare si quis velit, in aqua aut loco palustri pangatur 

 oportet." 



In 1679 was published "Cicutae Aquaticae Historia et Noxae," by 

 J. J. Wepfer. This book of 336 pages is a rather elaborate work, 

 based on a case of poisoning in which two boys and six girls were 

 involved. In the first nine chapters, comprising about one-half the 

 book, the plant is described and a detailed account of the cases of 

 poisoning given; there is a discussion of the symptoms, of the 

 physiology and pharmacology of the cases, and details of the autop- 

 sies are given. In the tenth chapter is an account of some experi- 

 mental work. In the chapters from the eleventh to the twenty-first, 

 inclusive, other poisons are taken up and discussed. The twenty- 

 second chapter is concerned with the uses of Cicuta, and the twenty- 

 thu'd and last with remedial measures in cases of poisoning. Wliile 

 written in a diffuse style, with much extraneous matter and con- 

 taining many errors, it is on the whole a very remarkable work. 

 Wlien treating of facts Wepfer's statements are clear-cut and accu- 

 rate. His description of the symptoms of the poisoned children is 

 not only one of the best accounts of the symptoms of Cicuta poisoning 

 ever written, but is handled in a graphic style that could hardly be 

 excelled. (See pp. 17-18.) 



In 1687 Wepfer published a short paper giving details in regard 

 to four cases of poisoning, one of them being fatal. Wliile Gesner 

 was the first to distinguish what is now known as Cicuta in his Cicuta 

 aquatica, Wepfer was the first to set forth clearly the peculiar poison- 

 ous properties of Cicuta. 



Wepfer attempts to give the synonomy of preceding authors; for 

 example, he gives — 



Oenanthe dcutae facie succo viroso crocante Lobel, 1570, p. 326. 

 Cicutaria pnlustris tenui/olia Bauhin, 1623. Lib. IV, Sec. V, p. 161. 

 Cicuta aquatica Gesneri Bauhin, 1651. Lib. XXVII, p. 175. 



In regard to these and other identifications, it may be said that the 

 plant descriptions of that time were not complete enough to make 

 identification certain from morphological characters. Tlie habits of 

 these two genera, Conium and Cicuta, however, sometimes show 

 pretty clearly which is meant. Conium grows in fairly dry ground 



