Cia) 
of Mefirs. Gatakef and Bromfield ; the latter afferts that in dofes of 
¢ one grain it had a mortal effe& upon one of his patients.* ‘ 
As this fpecies of Nightfhade is thought to be the trevor xn&me of 
‘Diofcorides, its external ufe was reforted to in ancient times as a 
difcutient and anodyne in various affeétions of the fkin, tumefaétions 
of the glands, ulcers, and diforders of the eyes; nor does the utility 
of this practice want the confirmation of later experience.’ 
Of its internal ufe we find very little eviderice in the writings of 
the ancients; though, according to Cefalpinus,” it appears riot to have 
been wholly neglected. 
In the year 1757, Mr. Gataker, furgeon to thé Weftminfter Hof- 
pital, called the attention of the faculty to this plant, by a publication’ 
recommending its intertrial ufe in old fores, {erophulous, and cancerous 
ulcers, cutatieous eruptions, and even in dropfies; all of which were 
much relieved, or completely eured, by the Solanum. It appears from 
his experiments, that one grain of the dried leaves of the plant, in- 
fufed in an ounce of water; fometimes produced a confiderable effe@ ; 
*that in the dofe of two ot three-grains it feldom failed to evacuate 
the firft paflages, or to increafe very fenfibly either the difcharge by 
the fkih, or that by the kidneys, and it not unfrequently occalioned 
head-ach, giddinefs, dimnefs, and.drowfinefs. Mr. Gataker’s pamphlet 
“was foon followed by another, publifhed on the famie fubject by Mr. 
» €Tt onght to be remarked; however; that Diofcorides and Theophraftus mention 
it as an efculent plant; and Guerin (dé vegetat. venen. Alfatic, 1766. p. 66.) relates 
that he drank an infufion of fifteen grains of the Solanum nigrum without fuffering 
‘any confequent complaint ; and that an epileptic patient took from half a dram to two 
drams of the exprefled juice of the plant without perceiving any narcotic fymptom to 
follow; not with fome foldiérs; to whom a ftill larger dofe was given, together with 
two dratns of the juice of the berries, was any other effect produced than that of an. 
increafed quantity of urine. See Murray. J. ¢.. a 
: § Mat: Med. Lib. 4. ¢. 71: 
& With the Arabians it is a common application to burns and ulcers. See Forfkal. 
. Deferi : plant. c. 2. p. 46, Ray alfo fpeaks highly of its effects in indurations of the 
ee y 
breaft, ee Hips 3 ee : 
2 & De plant. 213. | 
- -  -  * Obfervations on the internal ufe of Solanums : 
Bromfield, 
