14 
THE PRINCIPLES OF BOTANY. 
in gardens or fields where it is likely to be picked by children 
or ignorant persons. Even the common schoolboy practice 
of making whistles of the hollow stems of this and other 
umbelliferous plants is dangerous and should he discouraged. 
“ When dry and mixed with hay the plant seems to lose 
many of its active properties, for cattle and sheep will eat it 
in this state with no bad results. John Ray tells us that 
the thrush will feed on the seeds of the hemlock without 
harm ; but this observation requires confirmation, though the 
action of the plant varies greatly on different animals. The 
hemlock being an abundant wild plant in Britain, is seldom 
cultivated. 
“ When collected for medical purposes the leaves should 
be collected in the month of June, just before the flowers 
expand, dried quickly in the sun or on tin plates before the 
fire, and kept in strong bags or vessels excluded from the 
light. 
“The hemlock was well known to the ancients, being 
probably the kwvctiov (konciori) of the Greeks. Much discus¬ 
sion has taken place as to whether this was the plant used to 
poisou Socrates, or whether it was the water hemlock, Cicuta 
virosa; but competent judges have considered that the de¬ 
scription of the poison and its effects given by Plato in the 
‘ Phaedon’ agrees better with what is known of the common 
hemlock than with any other plant. The kwvglov (konciori) 
was the usual poison given to those sentenced to death by 
the Areopagites, and is supposed to have formed an ingredient 
in the poison cup taken by the old men of Ceos. The 
conium is probably also the f root of hemlock digged P the 
dark,’ which entered into the witches’ cauldron, so vividly 
described by Shakespeare. Dr. Prior gives us the spelling 
of the hemlock as used by Gerarde; he says: ‘ Homlock, 
coming, he supposes, from haem or healm, straw, or haulm 
and leac , plant, so called from the dry hollow stalks that 
remain after flowering.’ Gerard says: f Homlock is a very 
evill, dangerous, hurtful, and poysonous herbe, insomuch that 
whosoever taketh of it into his body dieth remedilesse, except 
the party drinke some wine, that is naturally hot before 
the venom hath taken the heart, as Pliny saith; but being 
drunke with wine, the poison is with greater speed carried to 
the heart, by reason whereof it killeth presently; therefore 
not to be applied outwardly, much lesse taken inwardly into 
the body,’ We are told that the first physician who endea¬ 
voured to bring hemlock into repute as a medicine, and who 
worked out its properties, was Baron Stoerck, of Vienna, who 
announced his discovery in 1760. Since that time it has 
