has been noticed, with starting of the eyes. The most serious derangement of the nervous system has 
always been observed: and has been more or less severe, in proportion to the quantity that may have been 
taken; unless a part of the poison have been quickly ejected from the stomach. Wepfer, who wrote a work 
entitled “Historia Cicut® Aquatic®,” narrates many cases of its effects on different men and amma . 
The following account is gleaned from his admirable treatise, and subjoined to it is one of the cases, in his 
0W " iTIhl month of March, 1670, two boys and six girls found the roots of this plant in a meadow, and 
upon tasting them, perceiving that they were not unpleasant, all partook of them. The two boys who ate 
a large quantity, were soon after seised with pains, loss of speech, an abolition of all the senses . and temblj 
convulsions. The mouth was so closely shut, that it could not be opened by any means. Blood was forced 
from the ears, and the eyes were horribly distorted. Both the boys died in half an hour from the first ac- 
cession of the symptoms. The six girls, who had taken a smaller quantity of the roots were 1 kew. e 
seized with epileptic symptoms, but in the intervals of the paroxysms some Venice treacle is olved m 
vinegar, was given them; in consequence of which, they vomited and recovered: but one, the sister of the 
boy who died, after she had vomited, had a very narrow escape of her life; she lay nine hours with er 
hands and feet outstretched and cold. All this time she had a cadaverous countenance, aud her respiration 
could scarcely be perceived. When she recovered, she complained a long time of pam in her stomach, and 
was unable to eat any food; her tongue being much wounded by her teeth during the convulsive fits 
Mr A S Taylor observes, that Cicuta virosa has given rise to several fatal accidents its roots havmg 
been mistaken for parsnips, and that Dr. Badgley has communicated some cases of poisoning M 
to the Montreal Medical Gazette (June 1844) :-Four children, between five and seven years of age 
roots of Water-hemlock by mistake for parsnips. Within hatf an hour, they were all seized 1 wrth extreme 
nausea, burning pain at the epigastrium, and colicky pains in the bowels : they all complained, on reaching 
their homes, of sickness, for which warm milk was administered to them Efforts to jomft weremducedj 
in one, there was full vomiting, but in the other three nothing was ejected from the stomach. The pa n s 
vraduaUy increased in two of them; and, in the space of about two hours from the time of their eating 
the roots, they were labouring under complete coma, with tetanic convulsions, -the jaws rigidty fixed, pro- 
found stertor, and the whole face puffed and bloated, having precisely the appearance of the head of a 
person who had been for some hours under water ; pulse intermitting, sometimes imperceptible. Emetic 
were exhibited, but without effect; and enemata of castor-oil and oil of turpentine were employed with 
great relief. The child who had eaten most sparingly had taken warm milk, and had vomited freely. O 
died in three hours ; the others recovered. i . „ ... I 
Dr. Schlesier met with the following case:-A girl, eet. eight, who had eaten this plant, was found Ij* j j 
quite insensible. Her respiration was feeble, and rattling; the pulse soft, small, and scarcely P^* 1 ' ’ 1 
Te pupils dilated and fixed; the face pallid ; limbs flaccid ; abdomen distensed; and there was general 
coldness of the surface, with an entire loss of the power of swallowing. Stimulating embrocations and 
cataplasms were applied, and after some hours the pupils contracted; the body became warm; the breathi g 
eaZ TutThere were involuntary motions of the limbs. There was a slight return of consciousness and | 
the power of speaking, but the difficulty of swallowing continued; and the patient died in about sixteen 
™ account of four boys, who partook of this plant, ° f 
whom died The internal surface of the stomach was highly inflamed, and the brain gorged with bloo . 
b“c narrates some cases, where those who were vomited with the sulphate of "TLomac 
“Trois soldats allemands perirent en meins d’une demi-heure on trouva les membranes £ Urt m 
nerforfes chez Pun des trois, corrodees chez les deux autres. L’estomac etait rempli d une ecume 
blanchatre. Les intestines, les poumons, et le crnur etaient Basques, et fldtns les vaisseaux veineux p 
^ ‘4 a“ J «Thicl bifel the cattle, and whir* 
he was enabled to arrest, by ascertaining the important fact, that it was entirely owing to their eating 
Cicuta virosa . 
