489 
AN ATTEMPT TO ANSWER THE QUESTION—WHICH PART OF THE 
PLANT CONIUM MACULATUM IS THE BEST FOR MEDICINAL 
USE? 
BY WM. MANLIUS SMITH, M.D., MANLIUS, N.Y. 
[Note. —Last year we published the statements of Dr. Harley, of London, in relation to 
the conium of England, and it is but proper to give place to the report of Dr. Smith, who is a 
careful and qualified experimenter. It is to be regretted that a remedy so much used should 
be so variable. We have known two-grain pills of Tilden and Co.’s “Ext. Conii,” U-S.P., to 
be returned because of their excessive activity, the patient supposing that an error had been 
made; and formerly, when illustrating the chemistry of conium, we used a specimen of 
Thayer’s fluid extract as being particularly good. The great importance of uniformity in the 
strength of medicines of this class should cause manufacturers to carefully seek out all causes 
of variation, and avoid them,—immature plants, those that are too old, and those that have 
become altered by the fermentative action arising from the green plant lying in heaps, prepa¬ 
ratory to pressing it. It is well known that most of the conium used by the extract makers is 
of spontaneous growth, along roadsides and near dwellings, and that often many hours, if not 
a day or two, elapses between the gathering and pressing. Nowit is quite probable that much 
of the conium may be more or less injured by this fermentation, according to the extent it has 
advanced ; and, as it is not probable that the injured plant is rejected, it is to be feared that 
much inferior conium enters the preparations of commerce. Formerly, when alcohol was 
cheap, we believe Tilden and Co. used to sprinkle the recent herbs with it, with a view to 
retard decomposition. They formerly added alcohol to the marc before pressing for similar 
reasons, and to favour the extraction of the juice. We do not know what the present custom 
is. So long as the business of making narcotic and other extracts from green plants is con¬ 
signed to these large operators, it is very needful that they should use every precaution to 
guard against deteriorating causes.— Ed. Amee. Joukn. Phaem.J 
If we place any confidence in the maxim “Ubi virus, ibi virtus,”we should expect to 
find in Conium maculatum a valuable medicinal agent ; for, since the days of Socrates, 
it has been known that the hemlock in efficient quantities is capable of destroying life. 
But if we are to judge of its value by the degree of use commonly made of it by medical 
men, we can assign it only an inferior rank in the Materia Medica. 
If we reflect, however, that the disuse into which conium has fallen may have arisen 
from the circumstance that the preparations of it attainable by physicians vary more in 
quality than those of most other medicinal substances, and that frequently these prepara¬ 
tions are totally destitute of activity, we may think it worth our while to inquire if there 
is not some means by which such a degree of uniformity and stability can be given 
them as to render them worthy of the confidence and reliance of the medical profession. 
It was with a view of fixing upon some good plan for securing this result, and also 
with the hope of adding, perhaps, something to the general stock of knowledge with 
regard to the therapeutic uses of the article, that the subject of conium was accepted by 
the writer for examination. In the outset of the investigation, the fact presented itself 
that pharmacopoeias differ as to the part of the plant recommended for medicinal use, 
the U. S. Pharmacopoeia directing the leaves, and the British the fruits or seeds. From 
all that could be gathered from the ordinary treatises on Materia Medica, it would seem 
that the seeds are the most active, but how much more energetic is not specified. 
The first thing in order, then, seemed to be to settle, by some precise and accurate 
experiments, the difference, if any, existing in different parts of the plant as respects 
their activity. As the medicinal efficacy of conium is believed to reside in the alkaloid, 
or alkaloids existing in it, the method of ascertaining the comparative quantities of 
these alkaloids that are contained in different parts of the plant presented itself as an 
available one for the purpose in view. 
The plan adopted has been to make, as nearly as possible, precisely similar prepara¬ 
tions from the leaves collected at two different stages of growth, and from the seeds at 
different degrees of maturity, and then by a delicate re-agent to test their comparative 
richness in the alkaloids. The re-agent, used was that recommended by F. F. Mayer in 
the ‘ American Journal of Pharmacy,’ vol. xxxv. p. 23, consisting of a dilute solution of 
iodide of potassium and corrosive sublimate in water. As comparative results only were 
aimed at, the following modification of the course of proceeding prescribed by Mayer 
was adopted:—The various solutions to be tested were each diluted with carefully- 
ascertained amounts of water till but a faintly perceptible turbidity was produced on 
