24 DATURA STRAMONIUM. 
The practice was first suggested by the employ- 
ment of another species, the Datura feroa, for 
similar complaints, in the East Indies. An En- 
glish gentleman, having exhausted the stock with 
which he had been supplied of the oriental plant, 
was advised by Dr. Sims to have recourse to the 
common Stramonium as a substitute ; and upon 
trial, experienced the same benefit as he had done 
from the former species. This instance of suc- 
cess led to further trials, and in a short time sey- 
eral publications appeared, containing cases of 
great relief afforded by smoking this plant in the 
paroxysms of Asthma. Many individuals, of dif- 
ferent ages, habits, and constitutions, had used it 
with the effect of producing immediate relief, and 
of terminating the paroxysm in a short time. 
The efficacy however of this medicine was called 
in question by Dr. Bree, a physician well known 
by his elaborate treatise on Asthma, who publish- 
ed in the Medical and Physical Journal a letter, 
containing the result of a great number of unsuc- 
cessful trials of Stramonium in asthmatic cases, 
It may be doubted whether any other physician 
has been so unfortunate in its use as Dr. Bree, 
since he affirms that not one case of those under 
his care was benefitted by it. Certain it is, that in 
this country the thorn apple is employed with 
