132 TOiSONOUS PLANTS GROWING IN GREAT BRITAIN.

gists and apothecaries are careful in not selling to strangers the morecommon preparations of Mercury, or Arsenic, drugs which in them-selves carry fear and dismay in their very names; yet we can get an)'poisonous vegetables either in the common market, or of herb-dealersiwhich are more likely to be abused in their application than other poi-sons which are of not more dangerous tendencies.

The effects of Vegetable Poisons on the human frame vary accord-ing to circumstances. The most usual are: that of disturbing thenervous functions, producing vertigo, faintness, delirium, madness,stupor, or apoplexy, with a consequent loss of understanding, ofspeechiand of all the senses; and, frequently, this dreadful scene ends indeath in a short period.

It is, however, fortunate that these dangerous plants, which eithergrow wild, or are cultivated in this country, are few in number; andit is not less so, that the most virulent often carry with them their ownantidote, as many of them, from their disagreeable taste, producenausea and sickness, by which their mischief is frequently removed ;and when this is not the case, it points out that the best and most ef-fectual one is the application of emetics : and it may be almost con-sidered a divine dispensation, that a piant, very common in all wateryplaces, should he ready at hand, which has from experience provedoae of the most active drugs of this nature, and this is the Ranuncu-lus Flammvla, Water-Spearwort, The juice of this plant, in cases ofsuch emergency, may be given in the quantity of a table-spoonful,and repeated every three minutes until it operates, which it usuallywill do before the third is taken into the stomach.

After the vomiting is over, the effects often remain, by part of thedeleterious qualities being absorbed by the stomach; and as it oftenhappens, in snch cases, that medical assistance may not be at hand, Ishall, under the head of each class, give their proper antidote, whichshould be in all cases applied as soon as possible, even before medicalassistance can be procured. And it should not be forgotten that, indreadful cases where the medicine cannot he foiced down through theusual channel, recourse should be had to the use of clysters.

Under each of the following heads I shall describe such cases as havecome under my notice ; as they may be useful for comparison : andshall put under each of the more dangerous the Plania: oJJlnes k describ-ing as accurately as possible the differences.