ON SILPHIUM, OR ASSAFCETIDA. 
589 
Against Da Candolle, who thinks that the rising, half-elaborated sap of the 
Umbelliferce (in the stems and leaves) is narcotic, but the true, elaborated sap 
(in the fruit, and with gum and resins in the roots) aromatic— 
“ This hypothesis on the more or less elaborated state of the sap in its rise and return 
as true sap to aid in the production of roots (sweet, mucilaginous, and aromatic) in no 
way explains how it is that the root of Enanthe crocata is poisonous, while that of 
CEnanthe pimpinelloides is esculent; how the root of Conium is fatal to life, though that 
of Arracha is used as food ; why also the roots of the Pastinaca can, at special times, 
produce accidents. No one doubts that the extract (from fresh plants) of Conium ma- 
culatum , JEthusa Cynapium, or Cicuta virosa is narcotic; but who believes that the ex¬ 
tract of the stalks of parsley or angelica possess the same property ? As to the fruits, 
are those of the poisonous Umbelliferce less to be feared than the plants themselves? 
I do not think so, especially since the discovery, in the fruits, of conicine and phellan- 
drine. Thus De Candolle’s hypothesis does not explain the various medical properties 
of the plants of this Order. According to this school of botanists, all Natural Orders 
might be considered as possessing, in each individual, the same medical properties ; the 
Labiatce and the Cruciferce, in which no poisonous plant has been yet found, would be 
placed side by side with the Umbelliferce , which include the carrot and the hemlock, 
plants with essentially different effects. It is therefore evident that to the method (of 
judgment) applicable to a few Natural Orders, there are many exceptions, and among 
them the Umbelliferce; for though this Order contains plants, many aromatic and some 
edible, what botanist would be bold enough to eat the root of a new (Enanthe which 
he might just have discovered?” 
We think, however, that the author goes too far in his decentralization and 
endeavour to abolish any attempt at classifying the various properties of this 
Order. 
Our own opinion is, that the plants of the whole Order, one of those most de¬ 
serving the term “ Natural,” contains two well-determined principles ; but from 
many circumstances,—situation, soil, cultivation, and especially natural selec¬ 
tion,—in many individuals these are modified, and remain undeveloped and non¬ 
existent. 
These principles are— 
Firstly, an essential oil, or elaborated sap, found in most organs of the mature 
plant, throughout almost the whole Order, but more especially— 
a. In the vittse of the fruit, abundant in the plants which are aromatic, tonic, 
stimulant, and carminative; less abundant (or, if latent, liable to arise under 
altered circumstances) in those which are esculent. 
b. In the laticiferous vessels of the lower stem and roots, as latex combined 
with gum and resin, especially in the plants producing the foetid gum-resins. 
Secondly, a narcotic substance (alkaloidal), often poisonous, contained princi¬ 
pally in the young and acrid sap of the plants of this Order. 
This narcotico-acrid juice is latent in most cultivated Umbellifers, but is de¬ 
veloped in many wild plants of the Order, especially in those whose habitat is 
in marshy places, and whose sap is therefore most abundant. 
In the Conia , Cicuta!, and some of the CEnanthites, it is so powerful, that very 
little is changed into essential oil; hence the fruit and root remain dangerous. 
On the other hand, it is certain that several of our cultivated plants of the 
Order, if left wild and in damp habitats, will secrete an acrid sap, possessing 
in a greater or less degree, injurious qualities. 
Circumstances of soil and climate change the appearance of these principles. 
Apium graveolens (celery), in absence of light, develops but little aromatic oil, 
and becomes edible. In many plants of the Order, possessing esculent tubers, 
we find slight traces of an acrid principle and essential oil in the fresh plant, 
though none appears in the tubers and roots. 
The root of Daucus Carota contains a little essential oil, and the plant in 
its wild state has an acrid juice; and Daucus maritimus , on the shores of the 
