712 
THE PREPARATIONS OF CONIUM 
the watery juice of the expressed herb had been used, whereas the first portions 
should have been rejected and only the latter and more resinous part employed. 
Dr, Butter, with a more correct appreciation of the real cause, cautions against 
the employment of too much heat in the preparation of the extract, and gives 
the following directions for its preparation :—Evaporate the freshly expressed 
juice in a broad glazed platter over a charcoal fire, and, as soon as green clots 
form, stir the liquor frequently, keeping it at such a heat as will make them 
move about without driving them above the surface or occasioning an ebullition. 
Evaporate with constant stirring till the extract is of sufficient consistence to 
form pills. Such directions, taken in conjunction with the precaution “ ne am- 
buratur^'^ given in the previous formula, sufficiently indicate by what agency the 
powerful juice was reduced to an inert mass. As with the dried leaf, so with 
the extract, the active principle has departed and a dead inert body alone re¬ 
mains. The above mentioned authors introduce us to scores of patients who 
are taking the extract of hemlock largely. We look from one to another to 
discover some evidence—no matter how slight—of its action, but we search in 
vain ; not a trace even of its earliest and most prominent effects are anywhere 
visible. We can hardly admit that these effects, evanescent though they be, 
could have been overlooked by such a body of intelligent observers. As scholars, 
at least, they were acquainted with the observations of Paulus ^gineta, Dios- 
corides, Plato, Galen, Plinius, respecting the action of hemlock ; and, as scien¬ 
tific facts, these observations were repeatedly advanced in the discussions which 
the treatise of Stbrck excited in those days.* * * § 
Passing by these earlier observers, I find the effects of hemlock practically in¬ 
dicated, for the first time, in the works of Dr. Fothergill. Speaking of a parti¬ 
cular patient, he says, “ The dose of hemlock (extract) was gradually increased 
from 20 to 70 grains a day; if he took more, it either made him sickish or 
created a singular kind of headache and giddiness.”! These are, I think, real 
indications of the presence of hemlock. It must be observed, however, that the 
extract, used by Dr. Fothergill, was much more carefully prepared than that 
used by Storck and his contemporaries,—precautions having been taken both to 
collect the plant at the proper time, when the active principle is most abundant, 
and to avoid prolonged exposure of the juice to a high temperature. 
A medical friend of Bertrand administered 5j of carefully prepared extract, 
daily for a year, without result.J Dr. Allbutt, of Leeds, informs me that he 
“ has often given the extract, in doses so large as to nauseate by its mere mass, 
without other results.” 
It thus appears conclusively that, from the time of its introduction to the 
present day, the extract has been regarded by many as an uncertain preparation, 
and it is remarkable that its value has not been long ago more satisfactorily de¬ 
termined. Christison, Geiber, Orfila, Pereira, and others, all concur in the 
opinion that most of the extract of conium of the shops is inert or nearly so. 
Pereira states that he was unable to procure any sensible quantity of conia 
from 5iv of the extract.§ The observations on the extract are concluded in his 
work by the following statement, which is accepted, I believe, as a pharmaceu¬ 
tical axiom:—“The goodness of the extract may be determined by the dis¬ 
engagement of a strong odour of conia, when it is gradually triturated with 
liquor potassse.” This test is so readily applied, and appears at the same time 
so decisive, that any more elaborate analysis seems superfluous, and yet I veu- 
* Bertrand, ‘ Becneil de Memoires de Med., de Chir., et de Pharm. Militaires,’ lere ser. 
vol. ix. p. 313. 
t De Haen, op. cit. Viventius J., ‘ De Cicuta,’ Naples, 1777, winch contains a very complete 
reference to the observations of the Ancients on the action of Hemlock. 
! Obs. on the Use of Hemlock, John Fothergill, M.D., Works, vol. ii. p. 59. 
§ Elem. Mat. Med. vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 206. 
