cracked, his teeth smarted, and his gums became tender and bloody.[1] Dr. Withering alleges that it will blister the skin. A man at Bevay in the north of France, after swallowing by mistake a glassful of the juice which had been kept for some time as a remedy for vermin on the head, was seized in four hours with violent vomiting and colic, and expired in two days.[2] The acridity of the genus ranunculus is entirely lost by drying, either with or without artificial heat. The R. acris, however, is far from being the most active species of the genus. The taste of the leaves of R. bulbosus, alpestris, gramineus, and Flammula. and also of the unripe germens of R. sceleratus, is much more pungent. The R. repens, Ficaria, auricomus, aquatilis, and Lingua, I have found to be bland.
The genus Anemone produces similar effects on the animal economy. The most pungent species I have examined are the A. pulsatilla, A. hortensis, and A. coronaria; the A. nemorosa and A. patens are less active; and the A. hepatica, as well as the A. alpestris, are bland. The powder of the A. pulsatilla causes itching of the eyes, colic and vomiting, if in pulverizing it the operator do not avoid the fine dust which is driven up; and Bulliard relates the case of a man who, in applying the bruised root to his calf for rheumatism, was attacked with inflammation and gangrene of the whole leg.[3] The same author mentions an instance where violent convulsions were produced by an infusion of the A. nemorosa, and the person was for some time thought to be in great danger.[4] The acridity of the anemone is retained under desiccation even in the vapour-bath; but is very slowly lost under exposure to the air, not entirely, however, in two months. The ripe fruit of the A. hortensis is bland. The activity of the anemones is owing to a volatile oil, which, when left for some time in the water with which it passes over in distillation is converted into a neutral crystalline body called anemonine, and a peculiar acid termed anemonic acid.[5]
The Caltha palustris, or marsh marigold, a plant closely allied in external characters to the ranunculus, is considered by toxicologists a powerful acrid poison. Wibmer observes that it has an acrid, burning taste,[6]—a remark which has been also made by Haller.[7] On the continent the flower buds are said to be sometimes pickled and used for capers on account of their pungency. The following set of cases which happened in 1817 near Solingen will show that in some localities it possesses energetic and singular properties. The poison was taken accidentally by a family of five persons, in consequence of their having been compelled by the badness of the times to try to make food of various herbs. They were all seized half an hour after eating with sickness, pain in the abdomen, vomiting, headache, and ringing in the ears, afterwards with dysuria and diarrhœa, next day with œdema of the whole body, particularly of the face, and
