074 * H OUT US JAMAH^ENSIS, 't^vsm 



number, covered, when double, with two half-glabose stigrrias mglst and yellow, and, 

 whcii tiie germ is single, with one siignia (jnlv. I cannot be brought to thmk tlnit the 

 arum should be cla'i'ieA gynavdria. Certainly the aiuhei's grow not upon the style nor 

 gern), but upon ,the spadis, which has been laiprojjcrlv termed the pistil. The dumb- 

 cane sho'uld be classed monoecia decandria, or dodecandria. Why should it not be so 

 classed as well as the palms. 



" The obvious qualities of the dumb cane are penetrating, thinning, and resolvini^. 

 It also abouniis in some seasons of the year with a caustic oil, which will blister the 

 tongue and bring off the skin ; but this does not hajjpen always,. and at some particular 

 seasons only.* One day in .luly 1 ha])peMed to cut one of tlie loaves off at the pedicel, 

 and, apjjlying it to my tongue, I immediately felt an inexpressible pain, or rather btirn^ 

 itig, as if an actual cautery had been applied to it; yet this sensation differed greatly 

 tioui that caused Jjy cue//<? f///i(7, or such hot, acrid, aromatic, medicines,- ns affecting 

 only that particular part chiefly ; the rest of my mouth was affected, as. is observed in 

 common after taking the European arum, but the .-^kin only came off" from that part of 

 my mouth which had touched the plant. , I found oil of olives and milk both ineffectual, 

 though applied directly, and it was wltii the most inconceivable difficulty that' I conkl 

 litter a single oiunosyllable : I was therefore obliged, for.some hour.s, to communicate 

 my thoughts by means of pen and ink, A gentleman tasted the same witli his tongue 

 the moment after me, but.was not nearly so cmch affected, aior did his tongue blister, 

 and a third gentleman some minutes alter the second, and was still less affected thereby. 

 It may be remarked in cutting this plant, either in its stem or pedicel of-the leaves, 

 that a milky juice issues iiom it, not from the whole transverse section, but from some 

 particular vessels, in which resides -the caustic oil above-mentioned ; and, as the most. 

 jjart ihat uui riow from a section of the pedicels is. thrown out mstautaneously, it is 

 reasonable to suppose the greatest quantity fell to my share, less to the second gentle- 

 man, and still less to the third ; and least some should conclude that a plant abounding 

 with such an oil must be poisonous, it may not be amiss to put them in mind that the 

 tea, which is so very commonl}' drank in all parts of the globe, also abounds with an 

 acrid oil, which being of a penetrating active nature may, by its stimulating quality, 

 be the cause of the watchings or anti-uarcotic quahty observed after drinking it late ia 

 an evening ; whereas the oil of tiie dumb-cane causes sleep. T'he method of prepar- 

 ing it is to. mix a fourth part of common distilled rum with three-fourth's of the juice, 

 expressed from the stem or roots indifferently, of whicli a common spoonful may be 

 taken even' morning and evening; the juice in this quantity is greatly narcotic and re- 

 solving. Tiie narcotic quality 1 am well assured of by my own experience ; its resolv- 

 ing quaiit}' is obvious, by its rendering the saliva fluid ibr many hours after takiii^ so 

 small a dose as a common tea spoonful ; this was farther evinced by its draining off all 

 the water in a dropsical patient, who had not only his abdomen but his scrotum filled in 

 a week after he had been tapped; upon his taking this in a proper quantity, added to 

 a diuretic decoction, all the water ran dripping out of the orifice made by the trocar, 

 both from the belly and scrotum. Dr. Trapham's jnethod gf curing dropsies by an 



ointment 



Dr. V.'^iiglit .says Tie never could find a patient capable of swaUowinp it; peiliaps this may have been oc 

 casioned by hi.s administering it in such season.'*, (which is .said to be in October, Use lains at that time proba- 

 b!;v filling it more than nsual with sap,) as its caustic qualities prevailed the most in. The doctor mentions 

 t, at a ntgro woman, who had been long ailing, in a fit ot'duspair eat a good deal of the dumb-cane, v.itb<* 

 vji -V to dtstioy herself. It excoriated her uiouth and Uiioatinuch, aad she voided dafiy worms, iwt,*t(i< 

 Tc^ed lier health soon after-. 



