386 NATURAL HISTORY. 



spines : seeds black, rough, dotted, somewhat like flax- 

 seed. Stem two to four feet high : hoth herb and seeds 

 are powerfully narcotic poisons. Children are apt to be 

 attracted by the flowers and thorny apples, therefore, 

 the plant being common, it is highly important that 

 every one should be made acquainted with its dangerous 

 properties. Symptoms of its effects are, great anxiety, 

 tremor, difficulty of breathing, dizziness, palsy, delirium, 

 and death. Emetics and acidulated drinks are the popu- 

 lar remedies. Being powerfully nai-cotic, it is itself a 

 potent medicine ; used with certain restrictions, is useful 

 in asthma, etc. Said to be a native of America, but is, 

 most likely, of Asiatic origin. O . 



Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), leaves lance-ovate, decur- 

 rent ; stem clammy, three to six feet high ; flowers green- 

 ish-yellow ; corolla bordered with rose color, standing in 

 terminal panicles. The whole plant has a disagreeable, 

 stupefying odor and nauseous, acrid taste. Native of 

 Central America, Tobago, and the Proviace of Tabasco 

 in Mexico, it was taken to England toward the end of 

 the sixteenth century by Sir Walter Raleigh, by whom 

 the practice of smoking this pernicious weed was first 

 introduced. As its first use, whether smoked or chewed, 

 produces a deadly sickness, it Avas only after repeated 

 and painful trials that it at last became tolerate-l. first as 

 smoked or chewed, and lastly in the form of snuff. The 

 habitual use of tobacco is always, more or less, injuri- 

 ous to the system, especially to the nervous system. 

 Smoked, it soothes or quiets the nerves of the stomach ; 

 consequently the appetite for food is lessened ; employed 

 as snuff, it excites or exhilirates another set of nerves, 

 but in each case equally deleterious. Sailors use it to 

 keep off scurvy. Taken into the stoma?h. it is a power- 



