In drying they become wrinkled and dark
coloured. Applied to the skin, it shows some signs of acrimony; and
taken internally, it is said sometimes to excite a sense of burning
heat, bloody stools, and other violent symptoms. In the form of syrup,
however, it has been given to the extent of two ounces a-day without any
bad consequence. It is sometimes employed as a diuretic in dropsy. It is
now supposed to be a principal ingredient in the celebrated French gout
medicine L'Eau Medicinale.
193. CONIUM maculatum. HEMLOCK. The Leaves. L. E. D.--Physicians seem
somewhat in dispute about the best mode of exhibiting this medicine;
some recommending the extract, as being most easily taken in the form of
pills; others the powder, as not being subject to that variation which
the extract is liable to, from being made in different ways. With
respect to the period, likewise, at which the plant should be gathered,
they seem not perfectly agreed; some recommending it when in its full
vigour, and just coming into bloom, and others, when the flowers are
going off. An extract of the green plant is ordered by the College in
their last list. Dr. Cullen has for many years commended the making it
from the unripe seeds; and this mode the College of Physicians at
Edinburgh have thought proper to adopt in their late Pharmacopoeia.
Similar Plants.
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