As they were entering the town, without any previous notice of sickness at the stomach or disorder in the head, one of them was seized with convulsions. The other two ran home, and sent a surgeon to him. The surgeon first endeavoured to bleed, and then to vomit him; but those endeavours were fruitless, and the soldier died in a very short time.
Ignorant yet of the cause of their comrade's death, and of their own danger, they gave of these roots to the other eight prisoners, who all ate some of them with their dinner: the quantity could not be ascertained. A few minutes after, the remaining two who gathered the plant were seized in the same manner as the first; of which one died: the other was bled, and a vomit forced down, on account of his jaws being as it were locked together. This operated, and he recovered; but he was for some time affected with a giddiness in his head; and it is remarkable, that he was neither sick nor in the least disordered in his stomach. The others being bled and vomited immediately, were secured from the approach of any bad symptoms. Upon examination of the plant which the French prisoners mistook for wild celery, Mr. Howell discovered it to be this plant, which grows very plentifully in the neighbourhood of Haverfordwest.
Although the above account, which Mr. Wilmer has so minutely described, seems well attested, and corroborated by the above gentleman, yet I was informed by the late Mr. Adams, comptroller of the Customs at Pembroke, that the Oenanthe does not, that he could find, grow in that part of the country; but that what the above unfortunate French officers did actually eat was the wild Celery, which grows plentifully in all the wet places near that town. I take the liberty of mentioning this circumstance; as it will serve to keep in mind the fact, that celery, when found wild, and growing in wet places, shold be used cautiously, it being in such situations of a pernicious tendency. For such whose curiosity may lead them to become acquainted with the Oenanthe crocata, it grows in plenty near the Red House in Battersea fields on the Thames' bank. The water-courses on the marsh at Northfleet have great quantities of the Apium graveolens growing in them.
Plantae affines.
Cultivated celery differs from it when young, first in the shape and size of its roots. The Oenanthe is perennial, and has a large root, which on being cut is observed to be full of juice, which exudes in form of globules. The celery, on the contrary, has roots in general much smaller, particularly when in a wild state.
The leaves of celery have somewhat the same flavour, but are smaller; the nerves on the lobes of the leaves are also very prominent, and somewhat more pointed.
When the two plants are in bloom, a more conspicuous difference is apparent in the involucrum and seeds, the character of which should be consulted.
It may be mistaken for Parsley; but it is both much larger in foliage and higher in growth; it is also different from it in the shape of the roots.
These are the two plants most likely to be confounded with it. But the student should also consult the difference existing between this plant and the following, which, although somewhat alike in appearance, may be confounded.
Angelica.