CERTAIN POISONOUS PLANTS 



are possessed of a virulent narcotic poison, which 

 taken into the human body produces vertigo, nausea, 

 delirium and a general anarchy of the nervous sys- 

 tem. In that quaint old work, "History and Present 

 State of Virginia" (1705), by Robert Beverly, the 

 author gives a curious account of what happened to 

 some soldiers who made a boiled dish of the early 

 shoots of the plant, supposing them to be edible pot- 

 herbs. "Some of them eat plentifully of it," writes 

 Master Beverly, "the Effect of which was a very 

 pleasant Comedy ; for they turn'd natural Fools upon 

 it for several Days: One would blow up a Feather 

 in the Air; another would dart Straws at it with 

 much Fury; another, stark naked, was sitting in a 

 Corner, like a Monkey, grinning and making mows 

 at them; a Fourth would fondly kiss and paw his 

 Companions and snear in their Faces with a Coun- 

 tenance more antick than any Dutch Droll. ... A 

 thousand such simple Tricks they play'd, and after 

 Eleven Days, returned to themselves again, not re- 

 membering anything that had pass'd." 4 



There are several species of Datura indigenous 

 within our limits, all resembling one another in gen- 

 eral look and all poisonous. On the Pacific Slope, 



* Beverly calls the plant James Town weed, which seems to have 

 been the original term, now corrupted to Jimson. 



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