THE  PREPARATIONS  OF  CONIUM,  ETC. 
451 
the  efficacy  of  the  extract  has  been  questioned,  and  several  times 
disproved,  from  the  days  of  Storck  down  to  our  own  times. 
The  following  is  the  formula  for  the  extract,  to  the  agency  of 
which  Storck  attributed  his  wonderful  cures  : — 
"  R  Herbae  recentis  cicutse,  quantum  sufficiat.  Exprimatur 
succus,  isque  recens  lentissimo  igne  in  vase  terreo  (ssepius  agitan- 
do,  ne  amburatur)  coquatur  ad  spissi  cxtracti  consistentiam,  hoc 
extractum  s.  q.  pulveris  foliorum  cicutye  in  massam  pilularem 
subigatur ;  ex  qua  fiant  piluloe  granorum  duorum."* 
In  some  cases  a  few  grains,  taken  daily  for  two  or  three  weeks, 
were  sufficient  to  remove,  as  it  appeared,  an  old-standing  disease, 
while  in  others  the  patient  swallowed  311  of  the  extract  daily  for 
four  or  five  months  without  inconvenience.  "  The  extract  of 
hemlock,"  says  Storck,  "is  a  remedy  absolutely  innocent;  it 
does  not  hurt  the  sight,  but  the  contrary." 
The  following  criticism,  by  an  eminent  contemporary  of  Storck, 
appears  to  me  very  just,  and  worthy  of  mention  in  this  place  : — 
u  Quin  et  incomprehensibile,  ac  plane  paradoxon  videtur,  id 
statuisse.  Proeterquam  enim  quod  nec  in  meis,  nec  in  Breslavi- 
ensium  pluribus,  ea  vis  cicutee  confirmata  fuerit,  si  consulam  auc- 
torem,  qua  namque  dosi,  a  cicutse  extracto,  banc  vim  edi  putet, 
video  a  granis  2  de  die  observasse  eandem  et  sic  porro  a  granis 
4,  ab  8,  a  12,  a  20,  30,  60,  120,  180,  240,  idque  baud  rariore 
admodum  casu  sed  frequenti. 
"  Si  granum  opii  consuevit  homini  blandum  conciliarc,  erunt 
alii  qui  indigeant  dupla  dosi,  rariores  qui  triplo,  quadruploque, 
rarissimi  qui  quintuplo,  qui  sextuplo  uno  die  indigeant.  Cicutge 
autem  dosis  cur  adeo  immense  augenda  fit,  ex  comparatione  cum 
ceteris  paregoricis  hand  facile  capitur."f 
Storck 's  observations  on  the  use  of  hemlock  excited  so  much 
attention  that  his  experiments  were  repeated  in  almost  every 
country  of  Europe,  and  many  of  the  leading  practitioners  of 
those  times  gave  his  far-famed  extract  ample  trials.  It  needed 
but  a  short  time  to  convince  all  observers  that  Storck  had  greatly 
over-estimated  its  virtues.    Not  a  few,  however,  were  satisfied 
*  "  Essay  on  the  Medicinal  Use  of  Hemlock,"  by  A.  Storck,  1761,  p.  14. 
f  "  Epistola  de  Cicuta."  Antonius  de  llaen,  1766,  pp.  20,  21. 
