POISONOUS PLANTS IN GENERAL 219 



slippers (Figs. 212, 213). Tlie symptoms are like those just 

 described, and tlie treatment recommended is the same. 



Fortunately there are many persons who are not affected 

 by handling poison-ivy, poison-sumac, or either of the orchids 

 mentioned; and there are other persons upon whom the 

 effect is but slight. On the other hand, certain persons, 

 particularly women and children, have skins so sensitive as 

 to be poisoned by handling plants which are commonly re- 

 garded as harmless. Thus one occasionally hears of a person 

 who cannot handle the herbage of the carrot or parsnip, or 

 who cannot wash parsnip roots without being poisoned. In 

 all such cases, as also in cases of poisoning by the other plants 

 referred to in this section, the treatment recommended is 

 much the same as that given for ivy poisoning. 



64. Poisonous plants in general. The preceding sections 

 have shown that serious or even fatal consequences may 

 result from eating, chewing, or sucking various parts of poi- 

 sonous plants, or from overdoses of medicines prepared 

 from them; that the juice of certain plants causes painful 

 effects wherever it touches the skin ; and that merely handling 

 other kinds produces similar effects with certain persons. 

 We have seen also that the number of common plants, both 

 wild and cultivated, which are poisonous in one way or an- 

 other is much larger than is generally realized. The practical 

 conclusions to be drawn from these facts are surely very 

 plain, but as they cannot be too strongly emphasized it may 

 be useful to embody them in the following summary: — 



1. Never put into the mouth anj' part of any plant with 

 which you are not perfectly well accjuainted and know to 

 be harmless bej'ond the possibilit}^ of a doubt. 



2. Be especially cautious with regard to plants which are 

 young or show only .\'oung spring shoots, or which have 

 not come into blossom or fruit ; for the younger a plant is, 

 or the fewer parts it displays, the more easily it ma3' be mis- 

 taken for some other kind. 



3. Be suspicious of all plants which resemble those known 

 to be poisonous; for such resemblance is likely to indicate 

 relationship, and plants closely related are apt to possess 

 similar properties. But never suppose a plant to be harm- 



