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Show FINE-LEAVED WATER-HEMLOC K, 311 MEDICAL VIRTUES. FINE-LEAVED WATER-HEMLOCK. PHELLANDRIUM AQUATICUM. Class V. Pentandria. SSENT ESseENT. E GEN. CHAR, Order 11. Digynia. isk less:: Floscules of the disk Fruit ovate, ; smoot Fruit crowned bya perianth and pistillum. yg. ive 12. i diverging ns of the leaves Spec. Cuan. Ramificatio ae DESCRIPTION. raed, i ri sie oe Ir rises two feet in height. The leaves are triply r mifying at right angles. Leaflets irregularly pinnati id. under ‘ the water filiform. Flowers on terminal umbels. neral umbel none. Partial of seven leaves. Flowers in the centre of each umbel smaller than the outer ones. Fruit ovate, smooth, divisible into two parts or seeds. HISTORY. ers This plant grows in rivers, ditches, and pose needs pe in June or July. Itis generally supposed to possess qualities. Horses, on eating it, are said to nee am but this effect should not be ascribed to the phel an fi poor to an insect which resides within its stalks, viz. the paraplecticus The seeds of the plant, however, acco rding to Dr. Lange, when taken in large doses, produce a rema rkable sensation of weight in the head, accompanied with giddi ness, intoxication, &c., and therefore may be deemed capable of proving anactive medicine. They are oblong, striated, of a greenish yellow, about the size of those of dill, and manifesting an aromaticacrid taste, approaching nearlyto that of the seeds oflo vage. Distilled with water they yield an essential oil, of a pale yellow colour, and of a strong penetrating smell. One poun dof the seeds affords an ounce of watery extract, but nearly double this quantity of spirituous extract, of which more thanthree drachms consists of resin, Pliny states the seeds of phellandriumto be an efficacious medicine in calculous complaints, and disor ders of the bladder ; and in this opinion he is followed by Dodo nzus, who mentions them also as possessing diuretic and emmenago gue powers. But on these authorities little reliance is to be placed; so that the eflicacy of this plant rests chiefly on the testi monies of Ernstingius and Lange, by whomvarious casesof its successful use are published, especially in wounds and inveterate ulcers of different Kinds, and evenin cancers; also in phthi sis pulmonalis, asthma, dyspepsia, intermittent fevers, &c. About two scruples of the seed, two or three times a day, was the ordinary dose given , Though the disorders here noticed are so multifario us and dissimilar as to afford no satisfactory evid ence of the medicinal qualities of these seeds, yet they appe ar to us deser ving ad of ffurther Investigation, ‘ Piet * 7 well Ubi eevirus er according to the maxim—“ ibj virtus,? |