CICUTA, OR WATER HEMLOCK. 3 



in the neighborhood of towns, while Cicuta grows in wet places. 

 So when Kay speaks of Cicutaria palustris, 1704, Lib. VIII, p. 257, 

 we can be reasonably certain that he means Cicuta. If the symptoms 

 of poisoning are given, as in Wepfer's work, the identity of the plant 

 is without question. 



During the seventeenth century Cicuta was mentioned by other 

 authors, but little was written of it as a poisonous plant. 



In 1723 Helds, Weinmann, and Goritz described a case of three 

 students near Kegensburg who ate the root of Cicuta virosa with 

 resulting illness and two fatalities. There are three independent 

 accounts, one by each of the writers mentioned, and the symptoms 

 and autopsy findings are described in some detail. Weinmann tells 

 of the death of seven persons near Nuremberg. Goritz grew the 

 plant and gives a description of it. 



The next account of importance was by Schwencke in 1756. The 

 original paper was in Dutch, but a German translation by Miiller 

 was pubhshed in 1776. After a description of the plant he gives 

 the details of the poisoning of four children near the village of 

 Overschie. They were left to themselves in their home, and the 

 mother on her return found them scattered about the floor "strug- 

 ghng with death." Three of the four died. Autopsies were made 

 on two, and Schwencke gives the details of the autopsies and discusses 

 the symptoms fully. 



Up to the nineteenth century there were many other references to 

 Cicuta, some of which gave some little information in regard to its 

 poisonous properties, but the foregoing account includes the more 

 important papers. All of these accounts were concerned with the 

 European species, Cicuta virosa. 



During the nineteenth century a large number of cases of poisoning 

 by Cicuta virosa were reported, the greater number being in Ger- 

 many. These reports bear a close resemblance to each other. Most 

 of the cases were of children, and the descriptions of sjnnptoms 

 differ but little^ except that in some cases greater detail is given. 

 Much of this hterature will be referred to in the further discussion of 

 the subject. 



Apparently the first mention of Cicuta as a poisonous plant in 

 America was by Schwencke, who speaks of it as the Virginian " Wasser 

 Schierhng." Schoepf, in his Materia Medica Americana, 1787, makes 

 the following statement: "Ob affinitatem genericam cum Cicuta 

 virosa partim, suspecta esse deberet; id quod testimonium Schwenkii, 

 de Cicuta aquatica, p. 28, confirmat, qui hanc plantam Cephalalgiam 

 et vertiginem causare dicit." 



In this connection it should perhaps be noted that the so-called 

 Cicuta venenosa described in connection with a case of poisoning by 

 Greenway, 1793, was not Cicuta. In the Kew index this name is 



