Part 16
A case of the bad effects of the roots of this plant, which occurred in Ireland, is mentioned by Dr. Threlkeld. In the winter season, some men working in a garden threw up some roots which were supposed to be Skirrets, and those were cooked for dinner. About two hours after they were eaten, a person who partook of them was taken with an unusual lassitude, as if being much fatigued, heat and dryness both in the mouth an the throat, a giddiness accompanied with dimness of sight, and a partial stoppage in his urine. Several others who had eaten at the same table, as also servants who had partaken, were subjected to the like influence. Medical assistance being at hand, by the use of emetics they were relieved; but it was many days before the whole of them had recovered from those dreadful symptoms.
Two children having both eaten of the berries of this plant, the one a boy (who recovered) being taken ill, vomitted, and was supposed to have thrown them off his stomach: the other, a little girl, died in convulsions the next morning. As mothers and kindred souls do not like names to be made public in these cases, I cannot help feeling some desire to suppress a publicity of a fact in which a near and dear relative was materially interested. In justice, however, to the public, I must mention that I can vouch for the fact, and trust it may not pass without notice, so far as to let the berries be supposed anything but wholesome.
Plantae affines.
The idea of Skirrets being confounded with this plant, is, I think, erroneous, if it has leaves on, as they are not pinnated, and very different from it. When the Hyoscyamus is in bloom, it has curiously-formed flowers of an uncommonly disgusting hue. The scent of this plant, on bruising it, and its general appearance, render it almost impossible that any one should mistake it. The roots, in the winter season, when destitute of leaves, may, however, be mistaken for those of Parsnep, Parsley, Skirret, and many others of similar shape, and of which it is out of our power to give a distinguishing character.
636. LACTUCA virosa. STRONG-SCENTED WILD LETTUCE.--The juice of this plant is a very powerful opiate, and care should be taken how it is made use of. I have not heard of any dangerous effects having been produced by it. The strong and disagreeable scent and bitter nauseous taste will most likely always operate as a preservative to its being used for food; and as a medicine, it is hoped its use will be confined to the judicious hand of a medical botanist.
Plantae affines.
All the kinds of garden lettuce; but it may be distinguished by its spines on the back of the leaves. It may be remarked, that the milky juice of all lettuce has similar properties to the above; but the juice is not milky till such time as the plant produces seed-stalks, and then the taste in general is too nauseous for it to be eaten.
637. SOLANUM Dulcamara. BITTERSWEET.--The berries of this plant have been sometimes eaten by children, and have produced very alarming effects. It is common in hedges, and should be at all times as much extirpated as possible.
638. SOLANUM nigrum. DEADLY NIGHTSHADE.--Webfer has given us an account of some children that were killed in consequence of having eaten the berries of this plant for black currants. And others have spoken of the direful effects of the whole plant so much, that, from the incontestable proofs of its deleterious qualities, persons cannot be too nice in selecting their pot-herbs, particularly those who make a practice of gathering from dunghills and gardens Fat-Hen, &c. as there is some distant similitude betwixt these plants, and their places of growth are the same.--Curtis's Fl. Lond. fasc. 2.
Plantae affines.
All the Chenopodia grow with this plant wild, and are somewhat alike in appearance; but the Solanum may at all times be distinguished by its disagreeable strong scent.
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FOETID POISONS.
These come near to the Stupefying Poisons; but they are not treated in the same manner; for ether, wine, or acids combined with spirits, appear the properest things to destroy their deleterious properties: spices are then indicated, except for savine, which requires instead thereof acids.
639. CONIUM maculatum. HEMLOCK.--Two soldiers quartered at Waltham Abbey collected in the fields adjoining to that town a quantity of herbs sufficient for themselves and two others for dinner when boiled with bacon. These herbs were accordingly dressed, and the poor men ate of the broth with bread, and afterwards the herbs with bacon: in a short time they were all seized with vertigo. Soon after they were comatose, two of them became convulsed, and died in about three hours.
Plantae affines.
Parsley differs from this except in size and colour of the leaves.
Celery is also much like this plant, and particularly so if found wild; but which, for reasons given before, should never be collected to be eaten.
Fool's parsley is very like it; and when the hemlock is in a small state, and this plant luxuriant, I have been in some doubt as to pointing out a perfect difference, especially when they are not in fructification. The spots on hemlock form generally a distinguishing mark.
640. DIGITALIS purpurea. FOXGLOVE.--A few months ago, a child was ill of a pulmonary complaint, and the apothecary had desired the nurse to procure a small quantity of Coltsfoot and make it a little tea; and accordingly the good woman went to a shop in London, where she procured, as she supposed, three pennyworth of that herb, and made a decoction, of which she gave the patient a tea-cupful; a few minutes after which she found symptoms of convulsions make their appearance, and sent for the apothecary: but who, unfortunately, was so totally ignorant of botany as not to know the plant, but supposing it to be Coltsfoot, after the infant died, took his leave, without ay remark further, than that the disorder which occasioned its death had arisen from some accidental and unusual cause. The nurse, however, did not feel perfectly satisfied of this fact, and carried the remainder of the herb to Apothecaries-Hall; and having applied there for information, was referred to Mr. Leffler, a gentleman who had from his botanical researches that season obtained the Sloanean prize; who told her the mistake. He also went and saw the body, and investigated the whole case in a way that has done that young gentleman great credit; and from him I have been favoured with this account. Had the medical attendant but known the difference between the two plants when he was called in first, there was a chance of the child being saved to its distressed parents. And here was certainly a striking instance of medical men neglecting so far the study of botany, as not to know one of the most useful as well as one of the most dangerous plants of the present Pharmacopoeia.
641. HELLEBORUS foetidus. BEARSFOOT.--The country-people are in the habit of chopping up the leaves of this plant and giving it to children for removing worms; but it is a dangerous medicine, and should be made use of with great caution. It is also recommended as a medicine for the same purpose in horses. As much of the chopped leaves as will lie on a crown-piece, given amongst a feed of corn for three days, and remitted three days, and repeated thus for nine doses, has been known to remove this disease.
"I heard a melancholy story of a mother in this city; viz. that a Country Colleagh gave some of this plant to her two sons, one of six, the other of four years of age, to kill worms; and that before four in the afternoon they were both corpses."-Dr. Threlkeld, in a short account of the plants in the neighbourhood of Dublin.
642. JUNIPERUS Salvina. SAVINE.--The expressed juice of this plant is very poisonous, and often known to produce the most violent effects. It is sometimes used by persons for expelling worms in children, but should be used with great caution; for, if the quantity taken into the stomach is more than it can digest, all the dreadful effects of the poisons of this class are certain to be the immediate consequence.
643. SCROPHULARIA aquatica. WATER-BETONY.--Every part of this plant is said to be violently narcotic; but its very disagreeable strong scent and extremely bitter taste render it not likely to be used in mistake for any culinary vegetable; and although we know what its effects are from report, we do not think it of so dangerous a tendency as some of our poisonous vegetables.
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DRASTIC POISONS.
These purge both upwards and downwards with great violence by means of their acrid poisonous resin, which also violently affects the throat and passages. Although alkalies have been recommended in this case, in order to divide this resin, and that a solution of soap is proper, yet the vegetable acids are also very useful, and have a great effect in diminishing the purgative effect. Besides this, it appears still more advantageous to give astringents: Venice treacle, decoctions of bark or cascarilla, pomegranate rind, and balaustines; all which certainly precipitate this drastic principle.
644. ASCLEPIAS syriaca. SYRIAN DOGSBANE.--All the species of Asclepias have a white acrid juice which is considered poisonous. It is observed to be very acrid when applied to any sensible part of the mouth or throat.
645. BRYONIA alba. WILD VINE, or WHITE BRYONY.--The berries of this plant, when hanging on the hedges, have the appearance of white grapes, and have been eaten by children. They are known to produce dreadful effects; but it frequently happens that they produce nausea on the stomach, by which they operate as an emetic of themselves.
646. EUPHORBIA Lathyris. CAPER SPURGE.--A plant common in old gardens, but not indigenous. The seed-vessels are much in shape of caper-buds: hence its name. People have been in the habit of pickling these berries, from which some dangerous symptoms have arisen; it is probable that the vinegar may have been the means of checking its bad effects. It should, however, never be used as food.
647. EUPHORBIA amygdaloides. WOOD SPURGE.--The juice of this plant has been known to produce very dangerous swellings in the mouth and throat of persons who have occasionally put it into their mouths. We do not know that it is very dangerous; and nothing is likely to tempt any persons to use it as food or otherwise.
648. MERCURIALIS perennis. DOG'S MERCURY.--This plant is of a soporific deleterious nature, and is said to be noxious to both man and beast. Many instances are recorded of its fatal effects.
Mr. Ray acquaints us with the case of a man, his wife, and three children, who were poisoned by eating it fried with bacon: and a melancholy instance is related in the Philosophical Transactions, Number CCIII., of its pernicious effects upon a family who ate at supper the herb boiled and fried. It produced at first nausea and vomiting, and comatose symptoms afterwards; two of the children slept twenty-four hours; when they awoke, they vomited again, and recovered. The other girl could not be awakened during four days; at the expiration of which time she opened her eyes and expired.
Plantae affines.
It appears that the different species of Chenopodium have been mistaken for this plant. I do not see myself any very near likeness: but as all the species of Chenopodium have been called English Mercury, it is possible that the name may have been the cause of the mistake.
649. MERCURIALIS annua. ANNUAL DOG'S MERCURY.--Persons who are in the habit of gathering wild herbs to cook, should be careful of this. It grows plentifully in all rich grounds, and is common with Fat Hen and the other herbs usually collected for such purposes in the spring, and from which it is not readily distinguished: at least, I cannot describe a difference that a person ignorant of botany can distinguish it by.
650. PERIPLOCA graeca.--This is an ornamental creeping plant, and commonly grown in gardens for covering verandas, and other places for shade.
I once witnessed a distressing case. A nurse walking in a garden gathered flower of this plant, and gave it to a child which she had in her arms. The infant having put it to its mouth, it caused a considerable swelling and inflammation, which came on so suddenly, that, had it not been that one of the labourers had met with a similar accident, no one would have known the cause. The child was several days before it was out of danger, as the inflammation had reached the throat.
651. VERATRUM album. WHITE HELLEBORE.--The roots of this plant, and also of the Veratrum nigrum, have been imported mixed with the roots of yellow gentian, and have proved poisonous.--Lewis's Materia Medica.
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POISONOUS FUNGI.
The deleterious effects of these generally show themselves soon after they are in the stomach. Vomiting should be immediately excited, and then the vegetable acids should be given; either vinegar, lemon-juice, or that of apples; after which, give ether and antispasmodic remedies, to stop the excessive bilious vomiting. Infusions of gall-nut, oak-bark, and Peruvian bark, are recommended as capable of neutralizing the poisonous principle of mushrooms. It is however the safest way not to eat any of these plants until they have been soaked in vinegar. Spirit of wine, and ether, extract some part of their poison; and tanning matter decomposes the greatest part of it.
Agaricus bulbosus. -------- necator. -------- mamosus. -------- piperitus. -------- campanulatus. -------- muscarius.
These are kown to be poisonous. But the fungi should all be used with great caution; for I believe even the Champignon and Edible mushroom to possess deleterious qualities when grown in certain places.
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SECTION XIV.--PLANTS NOXIOUS TO CATTLE.
The foregoing lists of poisonous plants are most of them of less dangerous tendency to cattle than to the human species: for although many of them may be mistaken for wholesome, yet, when they are growing wild, it will be observed, that the discriminating powers of the brute creation in this point are so correct, that very few have been known to be eaten by them.
The following are a few of a different class, which, as not containing any thing particularly disagreeable to the taste of cattle, are frequently eaten by them to their injury.
The agricultural student should make himself perfectly acquainted with those.
652. CICUTA virosa. COWBANE.--Linnaeus observes, that cattle have died in consequence of eating the roots. It is fortunate that this plant is not very plentiful: it is poisonous to all kinds of cattle except goats. The flower of this plant is not unlike that of water-parsneps, which cows at some seasons will eat great quantities of.
653. BEAR'S GARLICK. Allium ursinum.
654. CROW GARLICK. Allium vineale.
These plants very frequently occur in meadow-land, and have property of giving a strong garlick flavour to the milk yielded by cows that feed there; and which is often also communicated to the butter.
655. DARNELL GRASS. Lolium temulentum.--This grass has the faculty of causing poultry or birds to become intoxicated, and so much so that it causes their death.
656. LOUSEWORT. Pedicularis palustris.--This plant, which abounds in wet meadows, is said to produce a lousy disease in cows if they eat of it.
657. MAYWEED. Anthemis cotula.--This is altogether of such an acrid nature, that the hands of persons employed in weeding crops and reaping, are often so blistered and corroded as to prevent their working. It also has been known to blister the mouths and nostrils of cattle when feeding where it grows.
658. COLCHICUM autumnale. MEADOW-SAFFRON.--This is a common plant in pasture-land in Worcestershire, Herefordshire, and other counties. Many are the instances that have occurred of the bad effects of it to cattle. I have this last autumn known several cows that died in consequence of eating this plant.
659. MELILOT. Trifolium officinale.--This plant when eaten by cows communicates a disagreeable taste to milk and butter.
660. ROUND-LEAVED SUN-DEW. Drosera rotundifolia.--Very common on marshy commons, and is said to be poisonous to sheep, and to give them the disease called the rot.
661. SEA BARLEY-GRASS. Hordeum maritimum.--This grass has been known in the Isle of Thanet and other places to produce a disease in the mouths of horses, by the panicles of the grass penetrating the skin.
662. WATER-HEMLOCK. Phellandrium aquaticum.--Linnaeus informs us that the horses in Sweden by eating of this plant are seized with a kind of palsy, which he supposes is brought upon them, not so much by any noxious qualities in the plant itself, as by a certain insect which breeds in the stalks, called by him for that reason Curculio paraplecticus [Syst. Nat. 510]. The Swedes give swine's dung for the cure.
663. YEW. Taxus baccata.--This is poisonous to cattle: farmers and other persons should be careful of this being thrown where sheep or cattle feed in snowy weather. It is particularly dangerous to deer, for they will eat of it with avidity when it comes in their way.
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SECTION XV.--PLANTS NOXIOUS IN AGRICULTURE.
Annual Weeds, or such as grow wild in Fields, and that do not produce any Food for Cattle.
Many weeds are troublesome to the farmer amongst his crops; but which, by affording a little fodder at some season or other, in some degree compensate for their intrusion. But as the following are not of this description, they ought at all times to be extirpated: for it should be recollected, that the space occupied by such a plant would, in many instances, afford room for many ears of wheat, &c.
The following are annuals, and chiefly grow among arable crops, as corn, &c. As these every year spring up from seeds, it is a very difficult matter for the farmer to prevent their increase, especially since the practice of fallowing land has become almost obsolete. It is a fact worthy notice, that the seeds of most of the annual weeds will lie in the ground for many years, if they happen to be place deep: so that all land is more or less impregnated with them, and a fresh supply is produced every time the land is ploughed. It is therefore proper that annual weeds of every description should be prevented as much as possible can be from going to seed, for one year's crop will take several seasons to eradicate. The only effectual mode we are acquainted with of getting rid of annual weeds is, either by hoeing them up when young, or by cutting the plants over with any instrument whilst in bloom; for it should be observed, that those never spring from the roots if cut over at that period of their growth, which oftentimes may be easily accomplished.
I once observed a crop of burnet, in which Bromus secalius (Lob Grass) was growing, whose spike stood a considerable height above the crop, and several acres of which a boy or woman might have cut over in a short space of time: but it was not so: the grass seeds and burnet were suffered to ripen together, and no means could be devised to separate the two when threshed. For this reason the burnet seeds never could find a market, and consequently the trouble of saving it, as well as the crop, was lost to the grower. I mention this as an instance of many that frequently occur. How many times do we see with crops of winter tares wild oats seeding in them? or Carduus mutans standing so high above those crops that they might be thus extirpated with great ease?
It may be observed, that it is in culture of this nature where annual seeds multiply. A regular crop of wheat will, by its thickness on the ground, retard their growth by smothering them; but the other gives them every facility, and particularly autumnal-sown crops.
664. Blue-bottle - - - Centaurea Cyanus. 665. White-blite - - - Chenopodium album. 666. Charlock - - - Sinapis arvensis. 667. Chickweed - - - Alsine media. 668. Cockle - - - Agrostemma Githago. 669. Cleavers - - - Galium Aparine. 670. Corn Marigold - - - Chrysanthemum segetum. 671. Corn Crowfoot - - - Ranunculus arvensis. 672. Corn Chamomile - - - Matricaria Chamomilla. 673. Weak-scented do - - ---------- inodora. 674. Grass, Lob - - - Bromus secalinus. 675. ----- Bearded Oat - - Acena fatua. 676. ----- Field Foxtail - Alopecurus agrestis. 677. ----- Darnel - - - Lolium temulentum. 678. Groundsel, common - - Senecio vulgaris. 679. Wall Barley - - - Hordeum murinum. 680. Mallow, common - - - Malva sylvestris. 681. Mayweed, stinking - - Anthemis Cotula. 682. Melilot - - - Trifolium officinale. 683. Mustard, white - - - Sinapis alba. 684. -------, hedge - - - Erysimum Barbarea. 685. Nettle, Stinging, small - Urtica urens. 686. ------, Dead - - - Lamium albium. 687. Nipplewort - - - Lapsana communis. 688. Orach, wild - - - Atriplex hastata. 689. -----, spreading - - -------- patulata. 690. Pilewort - - - Ranunculus ficaria. 691. Persicaria, spotted-leaved Polygonum Ficaria. 692. ----------, pale-flowered --------- pensylvanicum. 693. ----------, climbing - --------- Convolvulus. 694. Pheasant-eye - - - Adonis autumnalis. 695. Poppy, common red - - Papaver Rhoeas. 696. Poppy, long rough-headed - Papaver Argemone. 697. Radish, wild - - - Raphanus Raphanistrum. 698. Shepherd's Needle - - Scandix Pecten Veneris. 699. Spearwort - - - Ranunculus Flammula. 700. Spurry, Corn - - - Spergula arvensis. 701. Thistle, Spear - - - Carduus lanceolatus. 702. ------- Star - - - Centaurea Calcitrapa. 703. ------- Marsh - - - Carduus palustris. 704. ------- Dwarf - - - ------- acaulis. 705. Tine Tare, smooth-podded - Ervum tetraspermum.
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Creeping-rooted Weeds.
The following are such as are perennial, and are of the most troublesome nature, being xtremely difficult to get rid of in consequence of their creeping roots. It unfortunately appens that, where the land is the most worked, and the roots the more broken thereby, the more the crop of weeds increases on the land. Therefore, the only effectual mode of extirpating plants of this nature, is by picking out the roots after the plough, or by digging them up at every opportunity by some proper instrument.
Where weeds of this nature occur, there is too often thought to be more labour than profit in their extirpation. And although this is an argument of some propriety, where a farmer is tenant at will, or where his strength is not proportionate to the land: yet if land is worth any thing at all, that, whatever it may be, is lost, if it is suffered thus to become barren. And as prevention is in most cases considered preferable to cure, more care ought to be taken than generally is, of all our hedges and waste pieces of land by road sides, &c. Many of these plants are found growing in such places, and their seeds are of that nature that they are calculated to fly to considerable distances,--a contrivance in nature to fertilize the ground in her own way; but which, as agriculturists, it is the business of men to check.