Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/486

454]  woods, live under the trunks of old trees, in the chinks of rocks, or under large stones. Being of a timid disposition, they proceed only at night in quest of food, which consists of fallen fruit, roots, leaves, insects, &c. It is, however, not founded on truth, that they extract the milk from the udders of cows; as the peculiar smallness of their mouth renders the act of sucking impracticable.—They may be advantageously kept in gardens, where they will be of considerable service, by devouring many noxious insects, especially moles, mice, and snails, which last they eat with great avidity.—The flesh of these creatures is eatable.  . See.  . See.  HELLEBORE, or Helleborus, L. a genus of plants consisting of five species, two of which are natives of Britain: the principal of these is the fœtidus, Fetid Hellebore, Bear's-foot, Ox-heel, or Setterwort. It grows in meadows, shady places, and hedges; producing green flowers, somewhat tinged with purple at the edges, which blow in the months of March and April.

In a recent state, this species has an extremely fetid smell, accompanied with a bitter taste, which is so remarkably acrid, as to excoriate the mouth and fauces. A decoction of it is, by country people, employed as a cathartic, for which purpose one or two drams are fully sufficient. The dried leaves of the fetid hellebore are sometimes given to children as a vermifuge; but as their operation is so violent, that a large dose might easily prove fatal, this virulent plant ought to be employed only by farriers.—Beside immediate vomiting, the most proper antidotes to every species of the hellebore, are mucilaginous drinks in very large quantities; such as the decoctions of oatmeal, pearl-barley, linseed, marsh-mallows, &c. or milk and water; after taking which, the poisonous matter will be most effectually counteracted by diluted vinegar, juice of lemons, or other vegetable acids.  . See.  HEMLOCK, or Conium, L. a genus of plants comprising five species; one of which is a native of Britain, namely, the maculatum, Common Hemlock; or Kex, a biennial plant, growing in hedges, orchards, rubbish, on cultivated ground and dunghills; it flowers in the months of June and July. Its stalk is more than a yard high, sometimes an inch thick, hollow, marked with many dark-red spots, and knotty; its umbels consist of numerous small white flowers, and the fruit resembles aniseed, but has an unpleasant taste. The whole plant is poisonous; though its leaves were formerly often employed in schirrous tumors of the breast, and cancers; in which painful disorder, though it may not in every case effect a cure, it is a very useful medicine, when duly prepared and administered.

As the Common Hemlock, however, is one of the most deleterious vegetables of this climate, we advise the reader to refrain from meddling with this precarious medicine, and to intrust its preparation to professional hands. If inadvertently taken, this species, as well as the two following kinds of the Hemlock, require similar antidotes and treatment with the  bore,