Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Date:
1844
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    the end of March, the middle of April, the middle of June, and the middle of August. The author proceeded to inquire carefully into the effects of season upon this species as it grows wild in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, but was surprised to find that every part of the plant in this locality is destitute of narcotic properties at all seasons. The juice of a whole pound of the tubers, the part which has proved so deadly else- where, had no effect wrhen secured in the stomach of a small dog, either in the end of October when the tubers are plump and perfect, but the plant not above ground, or in the month of June when it was coming into flower; and an alcoholic extract of the leaves, and that prepared from the ripe fruit, had no effect whatever when intro- duced into the cellular tissue of a rabbit, under the same conditions in which the Common Hemlock acts so energetically. By a comparative experiment he ascertained that tubers, collected near Liverpool, where one of the accidents alluded to above happened in 1782, act with considerable violence on the dog; and he briefly noticed some expe- riments, made at his request by Dr Pereira, with tho (Enanthe of Woolwich, shewing that there also it is a powerful poison to the lower animals. Climate seemed to the author to furnish the only adequate explanation of these extraordinary differences; yet the plant grows in all parts of Scotland with great luxuriance. 3. Cieuta irirosa. Water-hemlock.—This species has been also held to be a deadly poison ever since an express treatise on its effects was published by Wcpfer in 1716 ; and repeated instances of its fatal action have been observed since, and some of these very recently, in Germany. The root is the only part which has given occasion to accidents ; it has proved fatal in two hours and a half. Neverthe- less, this plant too seems innocuous in Scotland, or nearly so, al- though, like tho last species, it grows with great luxuriance. The juice of a pound of the roots collected in the end of July, while tho plant was in full flower, produced no narcotic symptoms ; and the only effects observed, namely, efforts to vomit, might have arisen from the operation which is necessary to secure the juice in tho stomach. An alcoholic extract of the leaves collected at the same time, and a similar preparation made with two ounces of the full-grown seeds, while still green and juicy, had no effect whatever when introduced into the cellular tissue of a rabbit, except that inflammation was excited where the extract was applied. 4. The author has not yet had an opportunity of trying the ef- fects of the fourth species, sEthnsa cynapiurn, or fool’s-parsley.