TOMATO. 701 
The whole plant smells unpleasantly, and its juices, when 
subject to heat by the action of fire, emit a vapour so powerful 
as to provoke, if inspired, vertigo, and vomiting. The specific 
principles furnished by the Tomato will, when concentrated, 
if taken medicinally, produce effects very similar to those which 
follow the administration of mercurial salts, viz., a sore state 
of the gums, with a profuse flow of saliva, and with very active 
stimulation of the liver ; some peevishness is felt on the following 
day, with a depressing backache, almost suggesting paralysis. The 
fruit, if given in studied moderation as food, or as physic, will 
remedy this train of symptoms when due to other idiopathic 
causes. Some of the American physicians declare the Tomato 
to be the most useful, and benign medicament known for correct- 
ing derangements of the liver. They have caused an extract 
of the fruit to be prepared by manufacturing chemists which, 
it is confidently predicted, will depose calomel for the future. 
This extract proves curative of an ulcerated sore mouth, such 
as nurses suffer from, or canker; it is given internally for this 
purpose, and applied topically to the sore parts. Likewise, 
foul, unhealthy ulcers may be cleansed, and their healing 
promoted, by a Tomato poultice, this being repeated as often 
as the sore seems to need such attention. The poultice should 
be freshly made each time, and applied hot. Again, a tincture 
is made from the Tomato for curative purposes by treating its 
apples with alcohol, and letting this stand (including some of 
the leaves) for eight days before it is strained, and filtered. A 
teaspoonful of the tincture is a sufficient dose, two or three 
times in the day, together with half a wineglassful of cold water. 
Spaniards, and Italians eat Tomatoes with oil, and pepper ; 
we take them frequently stewed with butter, after splitting, and 
stuffing them with bread-crumb, and a spice of garlic. — 
Telling about a tomato-poultice we are incidentally reminded of 
another application for cleansing foul sores, which 1s still more 
curious, the fresh cow-dung poultice. This is yet of common 
Tustic use, strong testimony being available as to the reliet it 
gives against pain, and as to the speedy maturation It brings 
about when placed over a gathering abscess, or an indolent 
boil. The only feasible explanation for these effects seems to 
be that the said poultice, as a highly septic application, acts 
much in the same way as the septic tank does upon sewage, 
wherein “the saprophytic (fermenting) organisms destroy those 
