SiS * Sprengel, Hist. Rei. Herb., ii, 326. + Bull. des Plantes Vin. et 
427-2 
History and Habitat.—Stramonium is judged by De Candolle to be indige- 
nous to the Old World, probably to the borders of the Caspian Sea and the adja- 
cent regions. It is one of the many Solanaceous plants whose origin is exceedingly 
doubtful. This species is now only found near the habitations of man, and then 
generally in garbage heaps where the soil is loose but rich, being in reality a true 
weed of civilization, scattered throughout almost all of the temperate and warmer 
regions of the globe. It was at one time seriously maintained that America was 
its birthplace, but in no locality here does it at all approach a situation that has the 
semblance ofa natural site; so thoroughly does it cling to waste heaps that the 
American Aborigines named it Zhe White Man’s Plant in allusion to its only 
place of growth, 7. e., near the homes of the civilized. With us in the North, it 
blossoms from July to October, and ripens its capsules from September to November. 
The first notice of Stramonium is, in all probability, that of Fuchsius (1542), 
who states that it was introduced into Germany from Italy.* Gerarde (who 
received some of the seeds from Lord Zouch, who sent them from Constantinople, 
about the end of the 16th century), cultivated the plant in England. | 
Baron Stérck was first to introduce the plant into medicine, to any extent. 
He used it internally in mania and epilepsy. “If,” he says, “ Stramonium produces 
symptoms of madness in a healthy person, would it not be desirable to make 
experiments in order to discover whether this plant, by its effects on the brain in 
changing the ideas and the state of the sensorium (2. ¢. of the part, whatever it 
may be, which is the centre of action of the nerves upon the body)—should we 
not, I say, try whether this plant would not restore to a healthy state those who 
are suffering from alienation of mind? and if by the change which Stramonium 
would cause in those who suffer from convulsions, by putting them into a contrary 
state to that in which they were, would it not cause their cure?” Bergius states + 
that he frequently saw maniacs restored to saneness of mind, which they never 
afterward lost, by the continued use of the extract of Stramonium; and that by the 
same means he effectually cured the delirium so often attendant upon child-birth. 
In general practice Stramonium has been used as a narcotic, soothing drug, 
in chorea (Wedenberg) ; epilepsy (Odhelius) ; neuralgia; and tic-douloureux ; 
and as an ointment, for the same purpose, in recent burns and scalds, nympho- 
mania and rheumatism. One of its principal uses, however, has been that of the 
dried leaves, smoked as cigarettes, during the spasm of asthma, a practice highly 
recommended by Dr. Bigelow. 
The officinal parts of this plant in the U.S. Ph., are: Stramonii Folia and 
_ Stramonit Semen; of the latter the preparations are: Extractum Stramonii ; 
_ Extractum Stramonii Fluidum, and Tinctura Stramonii. In the Eclectic Materia 
__ Medica the following preparations are recommended: Cataplasma Stramonit ; 
 Extractum Stramonii Alcoholicum; Tinctura Stramonii ; Unguentum Stramoniz. 
r drug also plays a part in their Zinctura Viburnii Composita and Unguentum 
“Stramonit Compositum.t : eo. 7 | 
Susp. de Fr., i, 38; and Mat. Med.,\. c. 
___ $ Dulcamara, Stramonium, Cicuta, Belladonna, Rumex, and Oleum Terebinthinz. 
