HA RD V/ICKE'S SCIENCE- G OS SIP. 



an hour after the poison was taken. The juice of 

 C. maculatum, probably mixed with opium, was 

 given by the Athenians to citizens condemned to 

 death, as in the case of Socrates and Phocion. 



Cicuta virosa. The water-hemlock or cowbane is 

 still more poisonous than Conium. It contains in 

 its sap a volatile alkaloid, cicutine, which is fatal 

 to cattle and man, but is said to have no dangerous 

 effect on horses or dogs. The poison does not seem 

 to develope till the summer months, as cows, it is 

 stated, can eat the plant with impunity in the 

 spring. This is, in a certain degree, analogous with 

 the difference in the power of the poison of adders in 

 cool and hot weather. 



(Enanthe fistulosa, crocata, and phellandrinm. 

 The water -dropworts are perhaps the most virulent 

 of umbelliferous plants, and the resemblance of the 

 roots of crocata to parsnips, of the leaves of the same 

 and of phellandrium to parsley, and of their shoots 

 generally to celery, has led to disastrous results, by 

 their being eaten by cattle and even children. 

 The poisonous principle resides in the yellowish 

 juice. 



ALthusa cynapium. The fool's-parsley is another 

 poisonous British umbellifer. Its odour is nauseous, 

 and the plant, when eaten, has been known to give 

 the "lock-jaw," and to cause death in less than one 

 hour. It may be easily recognised by the three or 

 more slender bracteoles which hang from beneath 

 each cluster of flowers. 



Composite. — Lacticca virosa. The lettuce 

 •secretes a well-known milky fluid which, when 

 •exposed to the air, hardens and forms the drug 

 known as lactucarium. Athough this juice is 

 strongly narcotic, L. virosa is probably not poisonous 

 to man, in spite of its specific name, and its pro- 

 perties, like those of many other plants, have been 

 greatly exaggerated. As an injection the juice 

 seems, however, to have more power, and 36 grs. 

 injected into the jugular . vein of a dog, killed the 

 animal in fifteen minutes. 



Some of the Compositee are poisonous to insects, 

 notably {Chrysanthemum roseum) which gives 

 ■"Persian Powder," and (C. rigidum) which fur- 

 nishes " Dalmatian insect-powder ;" and our own ox- 

 eye daisy, Chrysanthemum leucanthemum, and flea- 

 bane, Inula dysenterica, are said to be destructive to 

 fleas. 



(Loganiace^).— Although this order is chiefly 

 tropical and not represented at all in our latitudes, I 

 cannot pass it over unnoticed, as it is eminently 

 poisonous, and affords some of the most toxic drugs 

 known. {Strychnos nux-vomica), a native of Ceylon, 

 produces fruit the size of an orange, the flattened 

 orbicular seeds of which contain, in great quantity, two 

 violent poisonous alkaloids, strychnine and brucine, 

 which are largely used in medicine. This plant has a 

 representative in the Philippine Islands, in (S. Ignatii), 

 the seeds of which, under the name of St. Ignatius 



107 



Beans, are largely used for the manufacture of 

 strychnine, Strychnine is, perhaps, after prussic 

 acid, the most virulent of poisons. It kills in a few 

 minutes, and its victims perish after horrible con- 

 tortions. As already stated, it has no effect if 

 directly applied to nervous tissue. From the bark of 

 (S. toxifera) of Guiana, is prepared the dreaded 

 "Wourali" or "Curare" poison, and for a most 

 interesting account of its preparation, uses, and pro- 

 perties, I refer the reader to Charles Waterton's 

 "Wanderings in South America." This enthusiastic 

 naturalist made several visits to the Maconshi 

 Indians of Guiana, with the chief object of collecting 

 some of the poison. As most of the species of this 

 genus are highly toxic, it is remarkable that the fruit 

 of one of them (S. potatoriicm) of India has the 

 curious property of making foul and muddy water 

 quite clear and drinkable, if the seeds are simply 

 rubbed round the inside of the vessel containing the 

 water. It thus plays, in India, the same part as the 

 kola-nut is said to do in Africa. 



Solan ace/e. — A widely distributed group of 

 plants, characterised by their generally dangerous 

 and narcotic properties. In some species a certain 

 part of the plant may be edible, or even very whole- 

 some, while all the other parts retain more or less 

 narcotic properties. The tomato is an instance ; 

 while the leaves, stem, and fruit of the potato are 

 strongly narcotic, and the tuber itself, when grown 

 in the air and light, becomes poisonous. Death has 

 actually taken place from eating this vegetable grown 

 in such conditions. 



Atropa belladonna. The dwale or deadly night- 

 shade is, perhaps, of all our poisonous plants, the 

 one best known to be so, and on this account cases 

 of people being poisoned by it do not more frequently 

 occur, for otherwise its berries are not unattractive, 

 especially to children. Its active principle resides in 

 a narcotic alkaloid, atropine, which is present 

 throughout the plant, but in larger quantity in its 

 dark, purple, cherry-like berries. These are highly 

 toxic : very few of them will cause certain death, and 

 even half a berry has sometimes proved fatal to 

 children. The whole plant is so poisonous that 

 merely carrying it for some time has been known to 

 cause temporary paralysis of the hand. Atropine 

 has besides, the peculiar and useful property cf 

 dilating the pupil of the eye. 



Solanum dulcamara and nigrum. The bitter- 

 sweet and the common nightshade are also more or 

 less poisonous, according to the quantity of solanine 

 their sap may happen to contain — this seems to be 

 very variable. The alkaloid solanine is most readily 

 obtained from the sprouts of potatoes. 



Hyoscyamus niger. The hen-bane, the active 

 principle of which is the alkaloid hyoscyamine, is 

 not uncommon in England. It is a dangerous plant 

 for man to eat, but not so to cattle, horses, or swine. 

 Horses have been given one to two pounds of the 



