224

WATER-HEMLOCK, OR COWBANE.

They are peculiar in their form, and are easily distinguished from seeds of other umbelliferous plants. There are three common umbel ous plants, indigenous in this country, that may be mistaken for hem Conium maculatum, the true hemlock, has a round, smooth stem blot with purple, its lower leaves are smooth and lustrous, it has a ge involucre of from three to seven leaflets, and a partial one of three leat the fruit has wavy, notched ridges. All parts of the plant when br have a special mousey odor. Ethusa cynapium, fool's parsley, is di guished by its one-sided partial involucre of three leaflets, and the abs of a general involucre; the stem is hairy and striated; and the ridge the fruit are neither undulated nor notched. Anthriscus vulgaris, mon-beaked parsley, has slightly hairy leaves, no general involucre, a bristly fruit. Anthriscus sylvestris, cow parsley, has a striated blot stem, which is downy below, a partial involucre of five or more lea and a smooth fruit. A person may be poisoned by a decoction of le of hemlock, and no leaves be found in the stomach or bowels (ca Bowyer, p. 223). In this case the stomach had been emptied, and contents lost, before it was sent for analysis. No trace of conia found.

Conine. The poisonous alkaloid of hemlock is known under the na of Conine, conia, coniine, conicine, and conicina. It resembles nic and ammonia in its volatility, alkaline reaction, and in some of its cher properties. It is a liquid of oily consistency, of a pale yellow e powerfully alkaline, and has, when its vapor is diluted, a smell resem that of mice, and an acrid, bitter taste. It gives a volatile greasy stai paper, and burns with a yellow flame and thick smoke. [Prof. Wor says that when strong sulphuric acid is brought into contact with conine, the mixture assumes a pale red color, which increases in inten and, after a time, becomes nearly blood-red. The action of nitric and phuric acids is nearly similar, especially that of the former. Micro-Ch istry of Poisons, p. 449.] In reference to its presence in organic mixt it may be detected by its peculiar odor, or by distilling the liquid wi solution of potash and examining the distillate. It may also be separ by the process of Stas.

The reactions produced by tests on small quantities should be trusted, unless there is strong evidence of the action of the poison on body from the symptoms.

WATER-HEMLOCK, OR COWBANE (CICUTA VIROSA).

Symptoms and Appearances.-The symptoms produced by the root this plant are giddiness, dimness of sight, headache, and difficulty breathing. There is burning pain in the stomach, with vomiting, these symptoms are accompanied by heat and dryness of the thr Convulsions have been observed to precede death. In the cases of th children who died in convulsions from this poison, Metzdorff found injected state of the mucous membrane of the stomach, with redness of air-passages, as well as of the cardia and pylorus; the vessels of the b and the sinuses were filled with dark liquid blood. (Wibmer, Cicuta, 1

The roots of the five-leaved water-hemlock Enanthe phellandri (Phellandrium aquaticum) have been eaten in mistake for parsnips, produced symptoms of poisoning.

POISONING WITH ENANTHE.

HEMLOCK WATER-DROPWORT (ENANTHE CROCATA).

225

This umbelliferous plant, known also as five-finger root, or dead tongue, grows on the banks of rivers, streams, and ditches. It is one of the most poisonous of the order, and is considered to be one of the most virulent of English vegetable poisons. It has often been mistaken for celery.

Symptoms and Appearances.-In 1857, two cases of poisoning with this plant occurred at West Bolden, in Durham. Two laborers ate some of the roots of the cenanthe. They were found soon afterwards lying insensible and speechless, with livid faces, swollen and protruded tongues, and there were convulsive movements of the jaws, with frothy mucus and blood about their mouths; the eyes full and projecting, the pupils dilated, the breathing stertorous and labored, with occasional general convulsions. The men both died in an hour and a half from the time at which they were first discovered. On inspection, it was found that there had been bleeding from the ears; the abdomen was livid and swollen. The stomach contained a gruel-like liquid with some of the partly digested roots; on removing this liquid the lining membrane was found congested and softened. The lungs were engorged with dark liquid blood, and the blood contained in the heart was in a similar state. Boyle, in whose practice these cases occurred, forwarded to the author a portion of the roots, and there was no doubt that they were the roots of the oenanthe crocata. Drinkwater gives an account of three cases of poisoning by this plant, in 1875, two of which proved fatal. It seems that three boys ate the roots and stems of the plant, which they supposed to be wild carrots. They had a sweet, nutty ta-te. One boy complained of feeling cold, and was attacked with severe Vomiting and purging. After this he recovered, and was able to give evidence at the inquest on his two companions. A second boy was found dead in the road about fifty yards from the brook where the oenanthe grew. He had vomited, struggled, and been violently convulsed. His face was Hack, and froth had escaped from his mouth. The third boy was found in a similar condition-dead, with froth about his mouth. The post-mortem examination revealed congestion of the brain with black fluid blood, engorgement of the lungs and heart with the same, and congestion of the riucous membrane of the stomach. This organ contained the masticated foot of the oenanthe, with some of the green leaves. (For other cases, see Med. Gaz., vol. 34, p. 288.) This plant is equally fatal to animals. CamPron states that forty-three oxen, turned into a pasture in which the oenanthe rew, were killed by eating the plant. Foaming at the mouth, shivering, ficult breathing, tetanic spasms, with pleurothotonos, or spasmodic bending of the body to one side, were among the symptoms. (Lancet, 1873, i. p. 918.)

It is not often that attempts are made to destroy persons by the administration of these vegetable poisons; but a case occurred in France in which a woman attempted to poison her husband by mixing slices of the root of this plant with his soup. His suspicions were excited by the acrid taste of the soup. The woman was tried for the crime, and Toulmouche deposed at the trial that the plant from which the root had been taken was the Enanthe crocata-that it was a powerful poison, and might cause death in two or three hours. The prisoner was convicted. (Gaz. Méd., Jan. 3, 146, 18; also Jour. de Chim. Méd., 1854, 533.)

Analysis.-The œnanthe crocata can be identified only by its botanical characters. The leaves are of a dark-green color, with a reddish-colored border. They have no unpleasant odor when rubbed. The seeds, of which an illustration is annexed (Fig. 34), are peculiar. The plant bears a greater

226

SYMPTOMS PRODUCED BY FOOL'S PARSLEY.

resemblance to celery than most of the other umbelliferæ. Its stem is nelled, round, smooth, and branched, of a yellowish-red color, and gro to the height of two or three feet. The root, consisting of a series long tubercules, with long slender fibres, is of a yellowish-white colo

Fig. 34.
b

d

Seeds of Enanthe Crocata. a, Natural size; b, magnified 30 diameters. c, One-half of a Seed magnified. d, One-half natural size. e, Group of Seeds.

not unpleasant to the taste. It is the most active part of the plant. leaves yield much tannic acid to water, but the decoction appears to tain no alkaloidal base, since the chloride of potassium and mercury duces no precipitate in it. The roots and stems of this plant are frequently eaten than the leaves or seeds.

FOOL'S PARLSLEY (ETHUSA CYNAPIUM).

FOOL'S PARSLEY, or LESSER HEMLOCK, is very common in gardens hedgerows. The leaves so closely resemble those of parsley that have often been gathered by mistake.

Symptoms and Appearances.-In May, 1845, a girl, æt. five year good health, ate the bulbs of the æthusa by mistake for young tur She was suddenly seized with pain in the abdomen, followed by a fe of sickness; but she did not vomit. She complained of feeling ver On trying to eat, she could not swallow. She was incapable of answe questions, and her countenance bore a wild expression. The lower

Fig. 35.

Seeds of Fool's Parsley. a, Natural size.

b, Magnified 30 diameters. c, Group of Seeds.

became fixed, so as to prevent anything b introduced into the mouth. She then bec insensible, and died in an hour from the mencement of the symptoms: so far as coul ascertained, there were no convulsions. A se child, æt. three years, shortly after eating same substance, was attacked with pain in stomach, sickness, vomiting, and profuse per ration. She soon recovered, with the excep of suffering severe griping pains without p ing; but these disappeared on the following A third child, of the same age, suffered f similar symptoms. Recovery in the two cases was probably due to the plant having b eaten on a full stomach, and to the effect of e and copious vomiting. (Med. Times, Aug. 1845, p. 408.)

This plant is known from garden parsley the smell of its leaves when rubbed, which is peculiar, disagreeable, very different from that possessed by the leaves of parsley. The lea

WATER-PARSNIP-LOBELIA.

227

of fool's parsley are finer, more acute, and of a darker green color. The ds are also peculiar. They are represented in the annexed illustration Fiz. 35). Its flower-stem, which is striated or slightly grooved, is easily known from all other umbelliferous plants by the beard, or three long pendulous leaves of the involucrum under the flower. The flowers are white, whilst those of the garden parsley are of a pale yellow color. Jno. Harley denies the existence of poisonous properties in this plant. (See UN POISONS, 3d edit., p. 745.)

WATER-PARSNIP.

This plant (Sium latifolium and S. angustifolium or S. nodiflora) is not unlike the watercress, for which it has been mistaken. Two girls, aged five and three years respectively, died in 1882 from eating the leaves. After these were eaten, the younger child became suddenly ill and died; while the other succumbed two days later. (Brit. Med. Jour., 1882, ii. p. 26.)

INDIAN TOBACCO (LOBELIA INFLATA).

The powdered leaves of Indian tobacco contain an alkaloid, lobeline, capable of producing poisonous effects on the brain and spinal marrow, attended with irritation of the stomach and bowels. When administered in doses of from ten to twenty grains lobelia operates as an emetic; but in larger quantity it may act deleteriously. In one case a man lost his Life by swallowing one drachm of the powdered leaves, prescribed by a quack. This person was seen by a medical practitioner soon after taking the poison: he was evidently suffering great pain, but he was quite unconious-the pulse was small, and the pupils were strongly contracted and insensible to light. He had vomited the greater part of the poison, suffered from spasmodic twitchings of the face, sank into a state of complete insensibility, and died in about thirty-six hours. On inspection, some id was found in the stomach, but none of the powder. The gastric Eucous membrane was intensely inflamed, and the vessels of the brain were greatly congested. (Pharm. Times, 1847, p. 182.) The seeds of belia are equally poisonous. In the Med. Times and Gaz., 1853, ii. p. 68, two cases are reported in which the seeds proved fatal. In one, the mucous membrane of the stomach was highly inflamed. Another case is referred to in the same journal (1853, i. p. 270). There have been many quests and trials for manslaughter in this country as the result of the improper administration of the leaves of the Lobelia inflata by ignorant quacks (Coffinites) calling themselves medical botanists, and dealers in vegetable medicines. The medical evidence given on these trials has proved that in large doses lobelia is a most noxious drug. (See Med. Graz., vol. 44, pp. 383 and 433; vol. 46, p. 384; Lancet, 1853, i. p. 237; Pharm. Jour., Aug. 1851, p. 87; and for some remarks on the action of the poison, see a paper by Curtis and Pearson, Med. Gaz., 1850, vol. 46, D25) Those who profit by the sale of this drug among the ignorant poor maintain the doctrine that it cannot kill, and never has been known to destroy life. In 1856, one of these quacks was convicted on a charge of manslaughter for killing a woman with overdoses of lobelia. Severe pain, followed by loss of consciousness and congestion of the brain, was the chief symptom preceding death. The admission that in proper doses was a useful remedy in spasmodic asthma was of no avail on this occaon. The man was sentenced to three months' imprisonment. (Reg. v. Borden, or Jackson, Lincoln Sum. Ass., 1856.) A man named Riley

it

228

POISONING WITH FOXGLOVE.

Drake was convicted in the United States of having caused the deat a woman by administering lobelia in improper doses. (Wharton & St Med. Jur., p. 522.) In 1882, a man suffering from heart-disease, and was an enormous eater, took as an emetic a medicine containing lo prepared from Coffin's prescriptions. At the post-mortem examina made twelve hours after death, an aperture about the size of a goosewas found in the lesser curvature of the stomach, and about two pin liquid having a milky appearance in the peritoneal cavity. The stor itself contained lobelia seeds and cayenne pepper. The dictum of the called Coffinites is that "heat is life; and the want of heat, disease death." In accordance with their principles, their drugs are lobelia cayenne. (Brit. Med. Jour., 1882, 2, p. 24.) In 1884 (Reg. v W C. C. C., Jan. 1884), an herbalist was acquitted when tried for the slaughter of an invalid woman named Sainsbury. The deceased, who suffering from chronic lung-disease, took some of the prisoner's medi the essential ingredient of which was lobelia. She died in a few min At this trial many herbalists, and two medical men, swore that lobelia not a poison. The editor believes that, when full doses are given. safety of the patient is usually insured by the copious vomiting ensues. When vomiting does not supervene, death may ensue. woman Sainsbury died quickly without having vomited.

Lobelia is seen in the form of a greenish-colored powder (fragmen leaves). This powder acquires a reddish-brown color with strong n acid, and is blackened by concentrated sulphuric acid. Iodine water

Fig. 36.
6

no effect upon the infusion. Ferrous sulphate ferric chloride produce with it a dark-green c -the ferric chloride very rapidly. The leaves seeds contain an acrid substance called Lobelac It acts as a powerful emetic in doses of from half to one grain. The leaves of lobelia are g rally seen in fragments which do not readily a of identification by the microscope. The seeds very small, of a lengthened oval shape (Fig. reticulated on the surface with projecting hair fibres, and of a light-brown color. The discov of them among, the fragments of leaves would nish a sufficient proof of the presence of lob In one case (Reg. v. Wallis, p. 220), the ed succeeded, by a modification of Stas's process (see Strychnine, p. ante), in extracting a quantity of the alkaloid, lobeline, from the stom of the deceased woman. Lobeline is similar to nicotine in its propert

Seeds of Lobelia.

a, Natural size.

b, Magnified 70 diameters.

FOXGLOVE (DIGITALIS PURPUREA). DIGITALIN.

Purple foxglove is a well-known hedge-plant growing abundantly England. All parts of the plant-the seeds, leaves, and rootpoisonous, owing to the presence of the poisonous principle digita The leaves, whether in the form of powder, infusion, extract, or tinct exert an action on the brain and spinal marrow, as well as on the stom and bowels. They retain their noxious properties when dried.

Symptoms and Effects.-Cases of poisoning with foxglove are not v common. A boy who took, by the advice of a quack, six ounces o strong decoction of the leaves, suffered from vomiting, purging, and sev pain in the abdomen. After some time he became lethargic, and slept several hours; in the night he was seized with convulsions. The pu