of the throat, vomiting, and excessive weakness and faintness, without any convulsions or insensibility.—It appears then that this plant is a true narcotico-acrid poison. The emanations from the plant are said on some occasions to have proved injurious; but the effect here was probably the work of the imagination.
Aware of these singular properties being generally ascribed to the Œnanthe crocata, I was anxious to make a methodical examination of the subject, physiologically as well as chemically,—especially as the plant grows in great abundance and very luxuriantly in a locality not far from Edinburgh. But I have found it in that situation, to all appearance, quite inert. The juice of fourteen ounces of the root in the end of October had no effect on a little dog when secured in the stomach by a ligature on the gullet. The juice of sixteen ounces in the middle of June was also without effect. An alcoholic extract of four ounces of the full grown leaves in the end of June, introduced into the cellular tissue in the form of emulsion, had no effect on a rabbit. An alcoholic extract of three ounces of the ripe seeds was administered in the same way with the same result. Finally, the resinoid extract of eight ounces of the root, analogous to that which had proved so deadly in my hands when obtained from Woolwich plants, had also no effect whatever, when prepared from those growing in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh. Relying upon these results, I ate a whole tuber weighing an ounce, without observing any effect, except its disagreeable taste; which was the only circumstance that prevented me from trying a larger quantity.—It may be well to add, that, amidst the numerous cases of poisoning with œnanthe now on record, there is not one that has occurred in Scotland. At the same time, the common people in Scotland are not at all given to rash experiments in cookery, or to make use of vegetables not produced by the care of the gardener or farmer.[1] The only other locality from which I have been hitherto able to obtain plants for examination is the neighbourhod of Liverpool, where a fatal case of poisoning with it occurred near the close of last century. When the juice of sixteen ounces of this root in the beginning of September was secured in the stomach of a dog, efforts to vomit were produced, followed by several fits of violent convulsions and spasm of the voluntary muscles, a paralytic state of the fore-legs, and a constant tendency to fall backwards; but the animal recovered. No morbid appearances of any note have been observed after death in any of the fatal cases which are recorded.—The most appropriate treatment consists in the prompt employment of emetics, and diffusible stimulants. Of Poisoning with Fool's Parsley.
Another umbelliferous plant of great activity is fool's parsley, or
- ↑ Instead of quoting special facts on the subject of poisoning with Œnanthe, I have thought it better to give in the meantime a short analysis of a long investigation, which I have from time to time made on the subject, and which was read in the Royal Society of Edinburgh last year. This paper will be published ere long; and the references and experiments will then be supplied, which, if introduced here, will lead to disproportionate details.
