REVIEWS. 
375 
BRITISH POISONOUS PLANTS. 
ILLUSTRATED BY J. E. SOWEEBY, DESCRIBED BY C. AND C. P. JOHNSON, 
(SECOND EDITION.) JOHN YAN VOORST. 
T HE first chapter of this work, although it only contains four pages, 
is decidedly its most interesting and popularly useful portion. It 
treats of the nature of poisonous plants in general, and contains simple 
and practical directions for procedure in cases of poisoning before the 
arrival of the qualified practitioner. 
Far be it from our purpose to terrify anxious parents by reciting any of 
the numerous cases of accidental poisoning in cases where persons have 
partaken of common plants ; but we think they would be somewhat sur- 
prised, in glancing over the list, to find amongst them many that are con- 
sidered perfectly harmless, and would keep a watchful eye upon their 
nursemaids and children. 
The little work “ owes its existence,” we are told, to a case of accidental 
poisoning by a plant belonging to the buttercup (crowfoot) tribe. The 
common elder has caused death. The foxglove “ is one of the most 
powerful of our indigenous poisonous herbs;” and (start not, youthful 
reader !) instances of poisoning by sorrel, or “ greensauce,” have generally 
occurred with children who had eaten it in considerable quantity. 
The acid flavour of this herb, which is “ in the mouth” of every child, 
is due to the presence of one of the most dangerous of vegetable poisons, 
namely, oxalic acid — which it contains in the form of binoxalate of 
potash ; and it will be new to many of our readers that, “ It is the above 
mentioned vegetable salt, obtained from common sorrel, that is now so 
generally met with in the shops of the druggists under the false name of 
‘essential salt of lemon,’ for removing ink and other stains ; a very small 
quantity of which acts as a powerful irritant poison. In one instance on 
record, a quarter of an ounce, administered by mistake, occasioned the 
death of a lady within eight minutes.” 
The whole hook is full of interesting descriptions of poisonous plants, 
and we cannot do better than to extract a short one, as characteristic of 
the contents of the volume : — 
“ Common Monkshood : Wolf’s Bane ( Aconitum Napellus ). — 
* * * * Every part of this plant is a powerful poison, and its action 
is often too rapid to admit of the effectual administration of remedies. 
The young leaves have been mistaken for parsley ; the root on several 
occasions for horse-radish. The flavour of them both is totally unlike 
that of the vegetables for which they have been substituted, but this 
circumstance is either not attended to at the time or regarded as too trivial 
to excite more than a passing remark. The root of the monkshood has an 
earthy smell, and is bitter to the taste, without any very remarkable 
pungency at first, but soon produces a slight tingling and a burning sen- 
sation, attended with a kind of numbness and contraction of the skin, of 
the tongue, and roof of the mouth, — the pricking or tingling soon extends 
over the body and a feeling of constriction about the throat, occasionally 
amounting almost to strangling, induces the patient to frequently grasp it 
with the hand. The symptoms may vary according to age, constitution, 
