ATROPA BELLADONNA. 73 
ladonna, its character is much more mild than in ordinary 
cases.” 
The following is from the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal 
and Monthly Archives of Medical Science: “ In 1829, scarlatina 
raged both among our troops and the inhabitants of the towns 
and villages where we were quartered. The Grand Vizier, 
who had expended much time and money on the discipline of 
this his favourite corps d’armée, gladly accepted the proposal of 
Dr. Oppenheim to try the effects of Belladonna. As the troops 
were generally very young men and totally unaccustomed to 
narcotics, the dose he gave was comparatively small: thirty-six 
grains of the extract of Belladonna were mixed up with one 
pound of liquorice, and ten grains of this were given morning 
and evening to each soldier. The success of the experiment 
far exceeded his most sanguine expectations, for not more than 
twelve men out of 1,200 sickened after this plan was adopted; 
of these twelve, six died; and it is to be remarked that the dis- 
ease continued unabated among the inhabitants where the 
soldiers were quartered, after it had ceased among the latter, 
although they lived in the same house.” 
In the London Medical Gazette, July 1829, the following letter 
from Messrs. Jander and Williams, of Bromley, Kent, concerning 
Belladonna as a preservative of scarlatina, addressed to the editor, 
is particularly interesting. ‘ During the months of April and 
May, scarlet fever was very prevalent in this town and neigh- 
bourhood, and in many cases it proved fatal. Our attention was 
called by a friend to a notice in the Lancet of May, ‘On the 
prophylactic powers of Belladonna against scarlet fever, by M. 
Hufeland.’ We were at that time attending in a boarding- 
school, where the disease had attacked twelve of the boys, many 
of whom had been most dangerously ill, but none died. There 
still remained several boys, perhaps twenty, who had not taken 
the infection; also four young children of the master’s, and 
several servants. We immediately commenced the use of the 
Belladonna, in the exact manner and doses advised by Hufe- 
