DRUGS AND TOBACCO 143 



sweet, and very poisonous. ' Banish, therefore, these perni- 

 cious plants from your gardens ', says Gerarde, ' and from all 

 places noar to your homes where children do resort.' 



This deadly character of belladonna is due to the presence 

 of an alkaloid called atropine. one-tenth of a grain of which 

 swallowed by a man has been known to occasion symptoms of 

 poisoning ; it is contained in all parts of the plant, but is 

 especially abundant in the thick fleshy roots. 



Atropa, the name of the genus to which belladonna belongs, 

 is derived from the Greek Atropos, the mighty goddess, who 

 with ' the abhorred shears ' cuts the * thin spun thread ' of 

 human life. 



Atropine possesses the valuable power of dilating the 

 pupil of the eye, and is, therefore, of great service to oculists 

 in their work. The tiny disks which they use for this purpose 

 are made of gelatine with ^oSo f a grain of atropine in each, 

 the entire disk weighing only one-fiftieth of a grain. Italian 

 ladies used to consider this enlargement of the pupil an addi- 

 tion to their charms, hence the name belladonna which in 

 Italian means beautiful lady. 



The various preparations of belladonna serve many useful 

 purposes ; they lessen pain, for instance, in cases of neuralgia, 

 and rheumatism, and sciatica, and for this and many other 

 reasons the plant is considered a very valuable one. 



It is not very common in England, though in our southern 

 counties it is found often growing in the shade of trees on the 

 slopes of chalky hills, and its cultivation under favourable 

 circumstances yields excellent results. There seems no reason, 

 therefore, why we should be dependent on foreign sources of 

 supply for a commodity of such vital importance to us, and 

 it is gratifying to learn that a beginning has been made in 

 the work of rendering us self-supporting in this respect. 



' Before the war the bulk of the world's supply of bella- 

 donna was derived from plants growing wild on waste stony 

 places in Southern Europe, comparatively little belladonna 

 having hitherto been grown in England. The industry wa<* 



