SPOTTED HEMLOCK.

1067

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Pa ra j ° n - Acute inflammation, fever, apoplexy, or a tendency to it, and^'Lck ’ aie atnon S the circumstances which oppose the employment of

We* a Uses of hemlock may be reduced to two heads: those which"^ich L° n * ts ’ n ^ ucnce oyer ^e organic functions ; and, secondly, thosefe Sol aave reference to its influence over the cerebro-spinal system. The* niis Ve »t °r discutient and alterative uses come under the first head; thej P^smodic and anodyne under the second.

Use * , ® resolvent or discutient and alterative .—Under the continued

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la r ,,„ SDla ll and repeated doses of hemlock, glandular and visceral en-«6t er j Cl| t* have frequently subsided: hence has arisen the opinion,te^^Hed in all ages, of the resolvent and discutient powers of thisy e Ss j^> an d of the stimulus which it communicates to the absorbingWe l’ 'hhe mammae and the skin are the parts in which these powerseff ec t een supposed to be more especially manifested; and the assertedlock opting of the breast, profuse sweating, and eruptions) of hem-lim -? 11 these parts, in healthy individuals, lend support to this opinion,to b e ,. e wfluence of hemlock over the organic functions does not appearWh to this resolvent operation. In foul ulcers the quality of the

U) e , ar j? e has been greatly improved, while pain has been alleviated, andwished ^ enc ^ the sores to spread has apparently been greatly dimi-W e i' Ifj then, these effects be really referrihle to hemlock (and they6en ass erted by so many writers in all ages, that we can scarcelyfou^ h* admit them), they prove that this plant exercises a most pro-H'e u ln fluence over nutrition and the other organic functions, and whichfteq u Ve no better term to indicate than that of alterative. But soc ase s n hy has this influence failed to manifest itself, especially in thosea.rn Qri "'here it was most desired, that a very proper doubt has prevailed"Wtlf P ract hioners of the present day, whether it really exists, andHot r , e . r ^ose phenomena which have been supposed to indicate it, areW s ea % referrible to other influences and circumstances. That hemlockit influence of the kind referred to, I confess I do not doubt; butha s ^ been greatly exaggerated, and thereby much unmerited discreditto td een brought on the remedy: for practitioners, finding that it woidd^to&otL^ ^at had been ascribed to it, have frequently dismissed it asa Sc ? b ae r useless. Whether the failures ought, in part at least, to be'Ve to imperfect modes of preparing and administering this plant,that jv.’ as y e b unable positively to affirm. One fact, however, is certain,l ' ea rlv ai1 ^ tbe preparations of hemlock in ordinary use are inert, orchajZ » and others, probably, have had their properties greatlyWrist- ln ti' e process of their preparation. The remark made by Dr.

with respect to the physiological effects of this plant, applies°r . e point under discussion. “ If,” says this writer, “ physicians^ e cts ' 1 °i°S' s ^ s would acquire definite information as to the physiologicaliun U i hemlock, in small or medicinal doses, they must begin the<W e ? anew - Little importance can be attached to any thing alreadypr 0p o ,. th is field, as I have no doubt whatever, that by far the greaterpf VeWv 11 tire preparations of hemlock hitherto employed have beenUlert.’s tittle energy, and, in the doses commonly used, are absolutely

^larnp ^ Seases to which the preceding remarks especially apply, are,Wents and indurations of the absorbing and secreting glands, and