144 
CONIUM MACULATUM. 
three lanceolate leaves, which are disposed on the internal side of 
the umbel ; the flowers are composed of five unequal heart-shaped 
petals, which turn inward ; the germen is situated under the flower, 
and support two reflexed styles, which are permanent; the stigmata 
obtuse ; the stamens are five, and support roundish anthers ; the 
seeds are flat on one side, and hemispherical on the other, with five 
serrated ribs ; the character of the seeds, the polished and spotted 
stalks, together with the peculiar nauseous foetid smell, particularly 
when rubbed between the fingers, will serve to distinguish it from 
all other plants.* 
Hemlock has been long known as a powerful narcotic poison, 
and many cases are recorded of the fatal consequences arising from 
eating the leaves or roots. Sir Astley Cooper says, " the effects of this 
poison are known rather from history, than from any recent observa- 
tions which have been made with respect to it. The Greeks were in 
the habit of putting to death, by this poison, persons who had for- 
feited their lives to their country, and it was by this poison that 
Socrates was destroyed." But whether this species of hemlock was 
really the poison usually administered at the Athenian executions is 
not quite clear ; Dioscorides only proves it to have been one of the 
umbelliferae ; Linnaeus, Lamarck, and other botanists, believed the 
juice of the Gonium Maculatum to be the poison used by the Gre- 
cians ; Haller supposed it to be the Cicuta Virosa, f but the word 
Cicuta with the ancients seemed not indicative of any particular 
species of plants, but of poisonous vegetables in general, % 
Effects of Hemlock on the Animal Economy. Hem- 
lock, when taken in an overdose, gives rise to all the symptoms pro- 
duced by other narcotic poisons, viz. sickness, anxiety, vertigo, 
delirium, dilatations of the pupils, stupor, convulsions, &c. A soldier 
who had eaten of some broth for his supper, in which the leaves of 
hemlock had been put, soon fell into a profound sleep, his respi- 
ration became extremely difficult, pulse hard, small, and slow, to 30 
pulsations in a minute; the face bluish, and distended with blood ; the 
extremities became cold, and he died three hours after taking the 
* Hemlock may be distinguished from the ChoerophyUum Sylvestre, (wild chervil or 
cow-parsley) to which it bears a very great resemblance, by (he stems of the latter 
being furrowed, and liairy, and without spots. The Conium Bulbosum has a spotted 
stem, but its swelled joints and rough seeds distinguish it from hemlock. 
t The Cicuta Virosa, or water cowbane, is a very virulent poison, considerably more 
energetic than the hemlock, to which it bears some resemblance ; it is indigenous to 
Britain, and found in marshy situations. Ed, 
i Vide Plin. Hist. Nat. iv. 14. 
