266  PREPARATIONS  OF  CONIUM  MACULATUM,  ETC. 
THE  PREPARATIONS  OF  CONIUM  MACULATUM  OF  THE 
BRITISH  PHARMACOPOEIA,  1864. 
By  John  Harley,  M.  D.,  Lond.,  F.L.S., 
(Assistant  Physician  to  King's  College  Hospital,  and  to  the  London  Fever 
Hospital,  etc.) 
In  furnishing  four  preparations, — poultice,  juice,  tincture,  and 
extract, — the  Conium  maculatum  occupies  a  prominent  position 
in  the  British  Pharmacopoeia.  Yet,  perhaps,  there  is  no  plant 
in  any  Materia  Medica  of  whose  medicinal  value  we  have  less 
assurance  than  that  of  Hemlock.  It  is  commonly  reputed  to 
be  a  very  poisonous  plant,  and  medical  practitioners  of  the  pre- 
sent day  partake  of  this  opinion,  and  prescribe  it  in  very  small 
doses. 
The  object  of  my  inquiries  is  to  ascertain  how  far  this  impres- 
sion is  correct,  and  at  the  same  time  to  determine  the  medicinal 
value  of  its  preparation  more  accurately  than  has  yet  been  done. 
I  have  occasionally  prescribed  the  extract  and  tincture  of  the 
London  Pharmacopoeia  in  much  larger  doses  than  are  usually 
given,  but  without  effect.  Negative  results  have  been  too  uni 
formly  present  to  allow  me  to  attribute  them,  in  every  case,  to 
carelessness  in  the  manufacture  or  preservation  of  the  particular 
drug  used  ;  and  a  very  old  impression  that  the  potency  of  the 
plant  is  greatly  exaggerated,  has,  for  several  years  past,  gained 
strength  in  my  mind.  Wishing  to  give  the  officinal  preparations 
fair  trial,  I  have  long  waited  for  an  opportunity  of  getting  the 
fresh,  well-grown  plant  in  its  proper  season,  so  that  I  might  have 
a  sound  basis  for  my  experiments. 
On  mentioning  the  subject  to  Mr.  Hemingway,  the  dis- 
tinguished pharmaceutical  chemist,  of  Portman  Street,  Portman 
Square,  he  has  most  kindly  relieved  me  of  my  chief  difficulty, 
and  while  he  has  given  me  the  benefit  of  a  most  cordial  interest 
in  the  matter,  he  has  provided  me  with  most  reliable  means  for 
conducting  my  experiments.  The  first  object  of  my  inquiries 
has  been  the — 
Tinctura  Conii  fructus. — The  tincture  with  which  the  follow- 
ing observations  were  made,  was  most  carefully  prepared  by  Mr. 
Hemingway,  in  the  early  part  of  November  last,  under  my  own 
inspection.    In  investigations  of  this  kind  it  is  of  fundamental 
