ATROPA BELLADONNA. (a3 
nor locality, nor any other circumstance has appeared to di- 
minish the preservative effect of this plant. * * * * 
Do not believe, my learned colleague, that these results 
have been too lightly deduced, or from a small number of 
individuals, or from epidemics of little violence. It is from 
' entire provinces, from cities affected with this terrible scourge— 
from epidemics the most fatal in all seasons, and in localities 
the most diversified—on individuals of every age and of every 
condition, that observations have been made with the greatest 
accuracy, and have led to the above results.’”” (London Medical 
Gazette, vol. iv. p- 293.) 
The following are the remarks from the Lancet, which drew 
attention in the letter quoted above :— 
“On the Prophylactic Powers of Belladonna against Scarlet 
Fever. By C. W. Hufeland.—The author has been led, both by 
his own experience and that of a great many other practitioners, 
to form such a favourable opinion with respect to the powers of 
this medicine, that he is convinced that in epidemics of scarlet 
fever it ought universally to be resorted to, as the best means of 
preventing the disease altogether, or mitigating its violence. 
The following are his general conclusions :— 
“1. The proper use of Belladonna has, in most cases, pre- 
vented infection, even in those instances where, by the continual 
intercourse with patients labouring under scarlet fever, the 
predisposition towards it was greatly increased. | 
“2. Numerous observations have shown that, by the general 
use of Belladonna, epidemics of scarlet fever have actually been 
arrested, f 
“3. In those few instances where the use of Belladonna was 
insufficient to prevent infection, the disease has been invariably 
slight. 
“4. There are exceptions to the above three points, but 
their number is extremely small. 
“Tt seems that in some epidemics Belladonna has no protective 
Powers at all; the individual disposition, the method of using 
H 
