35 
Saim (Juniperits sabtna) has also been used for the same pur¬ 
poses («). 
Pennyroyal (Mentha puletjium). This innocent herb was used in one 
case, but it is doubtful whether it really has any injurious proper¬ 
ties (h). 
Tansy (Tancnrtum. vul/are). This plant has been used in the United 
States, in several cases with fatal results, many other plants and herbs 
ha\e been used improperly, both Digitalis and Belladonna, and according 
to 1 rofessor lidy the following must be looked upon with suspicion : 
hellebore, A etca raceinosa, Tdtjnmi vitae, tansy, wormwood and mug- 
wort ( Artemisia rub/aris) (<■•). 
The Foxglove ( Digitalis purpurea) has been the subject of several 
manslaughter cases when given bv quacks. From these cases it will 
be seen that upwards of twenty plants have been used for criminal 
purposes. Doubtless many poisons are used in India and the East 
which are almost impossible to discover and hence a number of crimes 
pass unpunished. Possibly cases pass undetected here, but analysis 
and experiments with animals, as in the Lamson case, must act as a 
deterrent. Great strides have been made in this direction since 
Palmer was convicted after a lengthy and sensational trial of poison¬ 
ing with strychnine, but on the other hand, many supposed criminals 
have been acquitted for want of sufficient evidence. Many vegetable 
poisons are most difficult to detect, some being almost impossible to 
hud out, to wit, some of those used by the Juju men on the*West Coast 
of Africa, but in nearly all cases the most careful and delicate analysis 
is necessary, and even where the poison has not been detected, experi¬ 
ments on animals, which produced the symptoms of the poison 
suspected, have led to convictions. Of all cases of murder the law 
considers that by poison the most detestable, because it can, of all 
others, be least prevented by manhood or forethought. It is a 
deliberate act necessarily implying malice, however great the provoca¬ 
tion may have been. Luckily the percentage of murders by poisoning, 
is very small, only about 5% we fancy. 
Plants which have been used by mistake for culinary or medicinal 
PURPOSES. 
This class is rather a large one, and when we look at the large 
number of plants which have caused fatal results through gross 
ignorance and carelessness one wonders that in these days of education 
it should be possible for such cases to occur. 
Lately we have had occasion to visit a good many of our local 
schools, both National and Board; we find on the walls excellent plates 
of British birds, and others showing the cocoa and other useful plants, 
but never have Ave met with one shoving common poisonous plants to 
be avoided. Perhaps there may be such, but at any rate from enquiries 
we have made they are not in general use (cl). If the Board of 
Education would forego a few yards of red tape and cause a little of 
(a) It. v. Phillips, C.C.C., February, 1885. It. v. Fascoe, Cornwall Lent. Ass., 
185:2. 11. v. Moore, Northern Circuit, December, 1853. 
(b) 11. v. Wallis, 1871. 11. v. Collins, Chelmsford, Aut. Ass., 1820. 
(<•) Tidy Leg. Med., p. ii.. p. Kir. 
(</) Since this was written we have come across one chart of Poisonous Plants, 
that in a town school. 
