recovered. One of their children slept from that nighty (which was Thursday three weeks,) till Monday 
evening following, and then (having just only opened her eyes, and made two sprunts,* without speaking 
one word,) died immediately while she was asleep ; endeavours were used to awaken her, but in vain. The 
other two children slept about twenty-four hours, and upon their wakening, fell a vomiting again, which I think 
saved their lives. By Mr. Newport’s and my directions, they sent some of the same herb to the doctors and 
apothecaries in Salop, who generally say it is Dog’s Mercury ; but some say, it is a sort of night-shade : 
whatever it be, it is certainly poisonous, and it is observed that cattle never browse upon it : but I guess it 
to be a mistake. ... I am no herbalist, but this I observed of the herb; It is branched and seeded some- 
thing like spinage, or mercury, but leaved with lakeweed.” — ( Philos . Trans., No. 203 for September, 1693.) 
Sir H. Sloane was afterwards furnished with some specimens of the plant, and found it to be 
Dog’s Mercury. 
Mercuriauis Annua. 
Annual, or as it is sometimes called, French Mercury, with branched stems, and smooth, glossy leaves, 
grows wild in waste or uncultivated ground, chiefly in the more temperate parts of Europe. It occurs 
frequently near London, in Battersea Fields ; It may be at once distinguished from M. perennis by its 
annual root, branched stem, and smooth leaves, and by its flowering in autumn. This plant is mucilaginous, 
and was formerly much employed in enemas and emollient fomentations. It is sometimes eaten as spinage, 
and when used in considerable quantities, it operates as a cathartic. A syrup made from the leaves, given 
in the dose of two ounces, is said to prove a mild and useful laxative. According to Lamarck, the seeds are 
very fattening to those small birds, which the Italians call Beccaficos, or Fig-eaters, and which are so much 
relished by the epicures of the south of Europe. 
The bark of the Poison Ash, which grows naturally in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Carolina, and Japan, 
rising twenty feet and upwards, is browm, inclining to gray. The footstalks become of a bright purple 
towards the latter part of Summer, and in Autumn all the leaves are of a beautiful purple before they fall 
off. Professor Kalm says, “an incision being made into the tree, a whitish yellow juice, which has a 
nauseous smell, comes out between the bark and the wood. This tree is not known for its good qualities, 
but greatly so for the effect of its poison; which, though it is noxious to some people, yet does not in the 
least affect others ; and, therefore, one person can handle the tree as he pleases, cut it, peel off its bark, rub 
it, or the wood, upon his hands, smell it, spread the juice upon his skin, and make more experiments, with 
no inconvenience to himself. Another person, on the contrary, dares not meddle with the tree, while its 
wood is fresh, nor even expose himself to the smoke of a fire which is made with its wood, without soon 
feeling its bad effects; for the face, the hands, and frequently the whole body, swell excessively, and are 
affected with very acute pain. Sometimes bladders or blisters arise in great plenty, and make the sick 
person look as if he was infected with the leprosy. In some people, the external thin skin peels off in a few 
days, as is the case when a person has scalded or burnt any part of his body. Nay, the nature of some 
persons will not even allow them to approach the place where the tree grows, or to expose themselves to 
the wind when it carries the effluvia, or exhalation, of this tree with it, without letting them feel the incon- 
venience of the swelling just described. Their eyes are sometimes shut up for one, or two, or more days 
together, by the swelling. I know (says the Professor) two brothers, one of whom could hot come near it 
without swelling. I have known old people who were more afraid of this tree than of a viper, and I was 
acquainted with a person, who, merely by the noxious exhalations of it, was swelled to such a degree, that 
he was as stiff 1 as a log of wood, and could only be turned about in sheets.” In some places this tree is rooted 
out, on purpose that its poison may not affect the workmen. The natives are said to distinguish it in the 
dark, by its extreme coldness to the touch; and the thickened juice of this tree is said to be the fine varnish 
of Japan, with which they blacken their different utensils. 
To Sprunt, v. n. ( sprengen , Teut,) to spring up ; to germinate, to spring forward. 
