STRAMONIUM. 



L91 



shaped, and black. At night the leaves, particularly the upper 

 ones, rise up and enclose the flowers {Baxter), 



Geographical Distribution. — Europe, Asia, and North 

 America. In this country its locality is chiefly among rubbish ; 

 and it may be found in the neighbourhood of London, and 

 in many other localities. It is common in Wales and in Ire- 

 land. 



Parts used in Medicine, and Mode of Preparation.-- 



The Fresh Plant before it flowers. The juice is expressed and 

 treated as other fresh plants. It must be remembered that the 

 plan laid down for collecting this plant and drying the leaves in 

 allopathic pharmacopoeias must on no account be followed in 

 the preparation for homoeopathic uses. The dried plant loses 

 a great deal of its medicinal virtue, and this remark applies to 

 all other plants in which the power chiefly exists in the fresh 

 state.* A preparation should be made from the seeds, which 

 have been found, from various sources, to be very powerful. 



Physiological Effects. — On Animals. Orfila found that 



half an ounce killed a dog within twenty-four hours; but a 

 quarter of an ounce applied to a wound killed another in six 

 hours. The symptoms were those showing that the effects 

 were produced on the nervous system generally. 



On Man.— Pereira (op. cit.) divides the effects of the doses 

 on man into three classes. 1. In small but gradually increasing 

 doses it diminishes sensibility, and thereby frequently alle- 

 viates pain ; it does not usually affect the pulse ; it slightly and 

 temporarily dilates the pupil, and has no tendency to cause 

 constipation but rather relaxation ; though it allays pain, it does 

 not usually produce sleep. 2. In larger doses it causes thirst, 

 dryness of the throat, nausea, giddiness, nervous agitation, 

 dilatation of the pupil, obscurity of vision, headache, disturb- 

 ance of the cerebral functions, perspiration, occasionally relaxa- 



It would be far more satisfactory if the non-indigenous plants could be 

 always prepared by careful homeopathic pharmaceutists in the country in which 

 thev grow; the tinctures to be made on the spot, from the fresh-gathered plant. 



