30G FLORA HISTORICA. 



Swaine mentions a case wherein a decoction 

 of three of the capsules of the Stramonium in 

 milk, produced a paralysis of the whole body, so 

 that the patient became mad. He continued 

 seven hours in this situation, then came to him- 

 self, and slept quietly the remainder of the night. 

 Mr. J. A. Waller observes '' that a temporary 

 madness seems uniformly the result of this poi- 

 son." Vicat records a case of a man who drank 

 a decoction of the fruit, and became melancholy, 

 lost his voice, his pulse disappeared, and the 

 limbs became paralyzed; after which madness 

 came on. Another, after drinking milk boiled 

 with the same fruit, experienced vertigoes, be- 

 came insensible, talked in a raving manner, had 

 at first a small weak pulse, which afterwards be- 

 came hardly perceptible. His legs were para- 

 lyzed, and he ultimately becam.e mad. The smell 

 alone of this plant causes ebriety, and it has 

 been used for the most dreadful purposes in east- 

 ern countries. Garcias tells us that thieves mix 

 it in the food of those whom they intend to rob, 

 and Acosta mentions that abandoned females 

 frequently give it to their incautious gallants. 

 In Java these unfortunate women take it them- 

 selves as a stimulus. Some of these women are 

 so experienced in administering this medicine, 



