HERB-PARIS. 403 



may produce effects similar to colchicum, foxglove, &c. The berries are 

 said to hare proved noxious to children. 



Medical Properties and Uses. — This plant was recom- 

 mended by Tragus, Camerarius, and other of the old writers, 

 as an excellent remedy in the form of cataplasm to inflammatory 

 tumours, cancers, pestilential buboes, &c. The berries were 

 used for the same purpose and were likewise esteemed benefi- 

 cial in diseases of the eyes *. Gesner f, however, made some 

 experiments which placed the virtues of the plant in a new 

 light, but which do not prove it superior to others of the same 

 class. He gave ten grains of nux vomica to two dogs ; one of 

 them died in four hours, the other, which was made to swallow 

 half a drachm of Herb-Paris, escaped unhurt, being seized with 

 vomiting J. He also himself took a drachm of the leaves in 

 wine, which caused profuse perspiration and dryness of the 

 throat. Hence probably the character of the plant as an alexi- 

 pharmic and remedy in the plague, in which it was frequently 

 prescribed. Linnaeus § recommends the root in doses of thirty 

 to forty grains as an emetic in lieu of ipecacuanha. Coste and 

 Willemet|| confirm this assertion, and state that its operation 

 is rendered more certain by the addition of a little emetic tartai'. 

 Bergius ^ gave a scruple of the dried leaves every night to a 

 child labouring under hooping-cough ; by this means the bowels 

 wei'e gently opened, and tranquil sleep followed. He speaks 

 of its efficacy in other convulsive diseases, and had known it 

 commended in mania. 



The precise value of this plant as a therapeutical agent, is not 

 however, well understood, and its properties need to be further 

 explored. It has i»een compared to opium, while its botanical 

 affinities place it very near meadow-saffi-on {Colchicum autum- 

 nale). 



" * By the peculiar induction of those who believed in signatures ;— the 

 dark purple berry having some resemblance to the pupil of the eye. 



•\- Epist. med. p. 53. 



+ A similar experiment with arsenic and corrosive sublimate is men- 

 tioned by Lobel. 



§ Flora Lapponica, ed. Smith, p. 124. 



II Essais sur quebjues plantes indigenes, p. 12. 



i[ Mat. Med. torn. i. p. 313. 



