(ENANTHE CROCATA. 
§§ 622-624.] 
tetanic convulsions. These, in some cases, are very severe, and resemble 
those induced by strychnine ; but in a few cases there is early coma 
without convulsions. There is also difficulty or absolute impossibility 
of swallowing. In fatal cases the respiration becomes stertorous, the 
pulse small, the pupils dilated, and the face cyanotic, and death occurs 
within some four hours, and in a few cases later. The fatal dose is 
unknown. 
§ 622. Separation of Cicutoxin from the Body. —An attempt might 
be made to extract cicutoxin from the tissues on the same principles as 
those by which it has been separated from the plant, and to identify it 
by physiological experiments. In all recorded cases, identification has 
been neither by chemical nor physiological aids, but by the recognition 
of portions of the plant. 
IX.—iEthusa Cynapium (Fool’s Parsley). 
§ 623. This plant has long been considered poisonous, and a number 
of cases are on record in which it is alleged that death or illness resulted 
from its use. Dr John Harley, 1 however, in an elaborate paper, has 
asserted the innocence of this plant, and has analysed the cases on 
record. He has experimented on himself, on animals, and on men, 
with the expressed juice and with the tincture. The results were 
entirely negative ; some of the published cases he refers to conium, and 
others to aconite. The discussion does not seem entirely closed, for 
Dr Davison 2 relates a case of serious illness he attended in which he 
identified the plant taken by the patient as fool’s parsley. 
X.—(Enanthe Crocata. 
§ 624. The Water Hemlock. 3 * — This, a poisonous umbelliferous 
plant, indigenous to England, and growing in moist places such as 
ditches, etc., is in flower in the month of August. It resembles some¬ 
what celery, and the root is something like the parsnip, for which it 
has been eaten. All parts of the plant are said to be poisonous, but 
the leaves and stalks only slightly so, while the root is very deadly. 
We unfortunately know nothing whatever about the active principles 
1 St Thomas's Hospital Reports, N.S., 1875. 
2 Brit. Med. Journ., 1904, ii. 124. 
3 The earliest treatise on poisoning by the water-hemlock is by Wepfer— Cicutce 
Aquat. Historia et Noxce, 1679. For cases, see Trojanowsky, Dorp. med. Ztg., 1875 ; 
Meyer, Med. Zeitg. f. Preussen, 1842 ; Schlesier in Casper’s Wochenschrift, 1843 ; 
Maly, taster. med. Wochenschr., 1844 ; Badgeley, Montreal Med. Gaz., 1844 ; Lender. 
Viertelj. f. ger. Med., 1865 ; Gampf, Coin. Pharm. Zeitg., 1875 ; and the treatises of 
Taylor and others. 
