HEN
The German Ephemerides mention an inftance alfo of its be- ing eaten without injury ; and the judicious Linnseus doubted el its indignity, and thence gave it the old name of coccium, refer ving that of clcuta for the water Hemlock, known to be a poifon. Philof. Tranf. N° 473. p. 18.
Whatever may be the effects of the roots, we have lately had a very fata] proof that the leaves are poifonous. Four perfons having ignorantly boiled a large quantity of them with bacon, and after eating the broth with bread, eat the leaves with their bacon ; of thefe, two of them grew convul- fed, and died in a few hours, and the other two became co- matofe, and would probably have {har'd the fame fate, had they not had large quantities of oil given them, and by that means voided by vomit what they had taken. The effects of this poifon on them all, were obferved in every particular to be the fame with over large dofes of opium. Philof. Tranf. N-473. p. 20.
Water Hemlock. See the article Phellandrium.
HEMP, Cannabis (Cycl.) — This valuable plant delights in a ftrong and rich mould, but it mult be warm and dry. Lands where hay and woodftacks have flood, are often found to yield very great crops of Hemp, A land that is gravelly, if rich and deep, will do very well ; but if it be ftiff or maift, it will by no means fucceed. Hemp is a very good thing for deftroying weeds, but it is what the farmers call a feeler of land, that is, it robs and exhaufts it very quick ; therefore it is beft to be fown on very rank lands, and not repeated too often on the fame piece.
The beft Hemp-feed for fowing, is that which looks brighter}, and which will retain its brightnefs, and not break when rub- bed. Three bufliels of feed is the general allowance for an acre ; but the richer the land is, the thicker it mould be fown ; and the poorer, on the contrary, the thinner fown. Some people only give the land one plowing for Hemp, which is juft before they fow it ; but others prepare it as finely as the gardeners do their mould. The time for fowing Hemp is from the beginning of April till the end. The feed muft not be buried, but only jult covered in the ground. If it be fown in a dry time, it muft be at firft carefully preferved from the birds, which are great devourers of the feed before it flioots.
The male Hemp, or fummer Hemp, which bears no feeds, and is called by the farmers Fimbk-hcmp, will have its {talks turn white in July, and it is then to be gathered. The re- maining plants, which are the female Hemp, called by the former Karle-hemp, are to be left till Michaelmas. When this is gathered, it is to be left as the other to dry a little, and then houfed. After this the Karle-bemp is to be threfhed far the feed. Mortimer's Husbandry, p. 153. An acre of Hemp in the beft land yields from two to three quarters of feed j and this feed, with the Hemp unwrought, is worth from five to eight pounds; and if the Hemp be wrought, from ten to twelve pounds, or more; but the male, or Fimble-bemf, is not worth more than half as much as the other. The growing of Hemp on proper lands, would not only be a great advantage to the farmers, hut alfo to the poor, as it would give them a fecond harveft-work after the corn harveft was over, and which would employ them even in wet feafons ; yet it is a piece of hufbandry too much neglected among us.
IlEMp-Jeeds are ufed in medicine on many occafions, but they are fufpected of being bad for the head. An emulfion made from them, is of great ufe in jaundices. They are faid alfo to abate the quantity of femen, if taken for a long time toge- ther.
HEN, GnlUna, in zoology. See the article Gallina.
HEN BANK, in botany. See the article Hyosciamus.
This plant has been always efteemed poifonous, and we have a rate account of the manner of its affecting thofe who have taken it, from Touey in France, which appears very Angular, A working man of that place digging in bis garden in fpring, met with fome roots of thTs plant, which being long and large he took for parfneps ; he carried them as fuch to his wife, who drefled them, and herfelf and eight children eat of them, thewnan accidentally not dining at home. The confequence was that they were all feized with convulfions in a terrible manner ; they were in general fpecchlefs, but when they ipuke they uttered abfolute mad- nefs ; they had many of them the rifus fardonicus, and all had their eyes ftarting as it were out of their heads. The madnefs of all of them continued fo compleat, that there could be no ufe in fpeaking to them ; and the convulfions fo ftrong, that five or fix perfons were neccflary to hold them while they had the medicines poured down their throats. One of the boys efcaping while they were giving the me- dicines to the reft, ran into a pond, where he would inevi- tably have been drowned, if he had not been followed and taken out. The medicines given thefe people, were tartarum ftibiatum to the ftrongeft, in dofes of forty-five grains ; and to the others thcriaca with fait of rue. They all recovered, but with great difficulty, and with very odd fymptoms at the going off of the heavier effects of the poifon. The next day they had all recovered the ufe of their reafon, but had not the kaft remembrance of any thing that had happened j and all , Suppl. Vol, I.
HEN
this day eveiy object that they viewed appeared double to them. On the day following this fymptom was removed, but in the place of this there came on another in the fame organ, every thing they faw now appearing red as fcarlet. This fymptom gradually went off afterwards, and they found them- felves perfectly well. Phil. Tranf. N°450. p. 449.
Henbane Loufe, in natural hiftory, a name given by fome to a peculiar infect found very frequently on that plant in the fummer months. It is one of the cimices of authors, and is very well defcribed by Lifter in the Philofophical Tranfacti- ons. It is a very large cimex, of a fine red, fpotted with black. It feeds on the juices of the Henbane, whole leaves and ftalks it pierces with its trunk. It is very remarkable that the juices of this {linking plant become of a very, agreeable and aroma- tic flavour in the body of this infect, and on trial it may per- haps be found, that the mifchievous narcotic quality of the plant may be rendered wholefome, and a good medicine, in the body of this infect. Phil. Tranf. N° 71. In June and July it is common to fee fevcral feries of oblong orange- coloured bodies adhering to the upper fides of the leaves of this plant ; thefe are the eggs of this cimex. Thefe eggs are white in the belly of the infect, and whitifli when laid firft, but they grow more deep coloured when the young ones come near the time of hatching. They are hatched into perfect cimices, not in that of worms. Thefe eggs yield a colour which is fo fine, that it may be worth introducing into ufe in fome manner ; it is a fine lively carnation. There needs no more to obtain it, but the rubbing or crufliing the eggs, while frefh, upon white paper. The infects themfelves are fo common, that from May to the end of June it is fcarce poffible to find a plant without them ; and the eggs are not lefs frequent in their feafon, in hot weather. They are fome- times laid in May, but never later than June ; their colour is apt to fade of itfelf; but this might probably be much affifled as to holding, by alum or other additions.
Henb an £-_/£«/. This is a feed ufed by many people in. the tooth-ach, and in feveral other maladies, and is an ingredient in fome of the officinal compositions, particularly in the phi- Ionium romanum 3 but it lias been found, when taken alone, to be poifonous. Sir Hans Sloane gives an account in the Philofophical Tranfactions, of fome children who, eating the feeds of the common Henbane, were affected with intenfe thirft, ravings, dimnefs of fight, and a profound fieep, which in one of them laftcd two-days.
Thefe were all recovered by bleeding, bliftering, purging, and vomiting. What Sir Hans obferves particularly of the cafe is, that the delirium which was occafipned by thefe feeds, was not of the common kind, but was of the nature of that produced by the dutroa, a fpecies of ftramonium, and by the baugue of the Eaft- Indies, which is a plant with leaves like hemp. Philof. Tranf. N° 430.
The virtues of this feed may compenfate for the mifchief it may do when taken in an improper manner ; in the tooth-ach nothing is perhaps equal to it. Sir Hans Sloane mentions an account of a quack who cured this pain immediately by burn- ing thefe feeds, and caufing the vapour to be received into the tooth through a funnel. The empiric flily contrived to have fome fmall maggots conveyed at the fame time into a pail of water placed under the per foil's head, which he pre- tended to have fallen out of the tooth, by the virtues of the medicine j but thefe being bred up to their change, became fmall beetles, and were doubtlefs of the common kind.
HENED Penny, in our old writers, a cuftomary payment of money inftead of Hens at Chriftmas. It is mentioned in a charter of king Edward III. Mon. Angl. Tom. 2. p. 327. Du Cange is of opinion it may be Hen-penny, Gallinagium 9 or a compofition for eggs : But Cowel thinks it is mifprinted Hened-penny for Heved-penny, or Head-penny.
HEN-HARRIER, in zoology, the Englifh name for the male fubbutco, the female of which is fo very different, that it is called by another name, the ring-tail. See the article Ring- tail.
The male fubbuteo, or Hen-harrier, is fmaller than the ring- tail ; its head, neck, and back, are of a dove colour; its moulder feathers, however, are fomewhat brownifti ; its rump is fomewhat whitifli, and its breaft of a fine clean white, variegated with tranfverfc brown fpots ; its wings and tail are grey or dove-coloured, variegated with black, and its legs fmaller and flenderer than is ufual in the hawk kind. Ray's Ornithol. p. 40.
HENIECOE, in botany, a name given by the people of Gui- nea to a fpecies of plant which we are unacquainted with, but which they give with very great fuccefs in all kinds of the co- lic, boiled' in water. Philof. Tranf. N° 232.
HENIOCHAS, in aftronomy, a northern conftellatbn. See the article Auriga.
HEN-MOULD Soil, in agriculture, a term ufed by the huf- bandmen in Northamptonftiire, and other counties, to exprefs a black, hollow, fpungy, and mouldering earth, ufually found at the bottoms of hills.
It is an earth much fitter for grazing than for corn, becaufe it will never fettle clofe enough to the grain to keep it fufEci- ently fleady while it is growing up, without which, the far- mers obfervc, it either does not grow well ; or if it feem to 13 H thrive,
