DATUKAS — SAFFORD. 539 



After having instilled suspicion into the mind of Othello he makes 

 Iago exclaim : 



Look, where he comes ! Not poppy, nor mandragora, 



Nor all the drowsy sirups of the world, 



Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep which thou ow'dst yesterday. 4 



Cleopatra, bereft of her Antony, begs Charmian for a potion of 

 mandragora, that she might sleep out the great gap of time when he 

 was away from her. 6 



Again, he refers to mandragora in the second part of Henry VI, 

 when in reply to the Queen's taunt : " Hast thou not spirit to curse 

 thine enemies ? " Suffolk replies : 



A plague upon them! wherefore should I curse them? 

 Would curses kill, as doth the mandrake's groan, 

 I would invent as bitter-searching terms, 

 As curst, as harsh and horrible to hear. 6 



NARCOTIC SOLANACEAE. 



The Solanum family, to which the genus Datura belongs, includes 

 a great number of plants remarkable for their narcotic properties, 

 among them the mandrake (Mandragora), belladonna (Atropa), 

 henbane (Hyoscyamus), and Scopolia of the Old World, and tobacco 

 (Nicotiana) of the New. Strange to say, it also includes several im- 

 portant food plants, such as the egg plant, tomato, and potato. 



In the Old World the most famous of all was the mandrake, Man- 

 dragora officinalis, so frequently mentioned by Shakespeare. During 

 the Middle Ages this plant was much used in amorous incantations. 

 Its forked root, which by a little contrivance is easily made to assume 

 the human form, helped to endow the plant with magical properties. 

 According to early herbalists it would shriek aloud when torn from 

 the ground, and so dangerous was it that those who ventured to 

 gather it had to stop their ears to guard against deafness or even 

 death. One of the Greek writers published an illustration repre- 

 senting the custom of using a dog in gathering it. The earth having 

 been carefully dug from around the plant, a dog is tied to the stalk. 

 In attempting to run away the dog pulls up the plant and is repre- 

 sented as writhing in the agonies of death. Among the famous Old 

 World plants are the deadly nightshade, Atropa belladonna, the 

 principal source of atropine ; the henbanes, or " insane roots," 

 Hyoscyamus niger and Hyoscyamus muticus; and the metel-nut, or 

 nux-methel, belonging to the genus Datura. In the New World there 

 are a number of species belonging to this genus, some of which, as 

 stated above, have been confused with Old World species. 



1 Othello, act 3, scene 3. 

 6 Antony and Cleopatra, act 1, scene 3. 



8 Henry VI, second part, act 3, scene 2. See also Bulleine's Bulwarke of Defense against 

 Sickness, p. 41, 1579. 



