322 STAVESACRE. 



the yellowish internal substance possessing these qualities in a greater 

 degree than the cortical part. Their virtues are partially extracted by 

 water, and completely by alcohol. Neumann obtained from the seeds by 

 expression a portion of fatty oil. 



Lassaigne and Feneulle * have detected in the seeds of Stavesacre a pe- 

 culiar alkaline principle, on which its active properties depend, and which 

 they have named delphine or delphinia. It is a solid white pulverulent, 

 but crystalline powder, fusible like wax, very bitter and acrid, almost in- 

 soluble in water, but very soluble in ether and alcohol, and unites with 

 acids, forming neutral salts. It is obtained by boiling the powdered seeds 

 in distilled water, which must be pressed through a cloth, then filtered, 

 and boiled for a few minutes with pure magnesia ; the decoction is then 

 refiltered, and the residuum left on the filter boiled with alcohol ; which 

 is lastly carefully evaporated, and the result is a white powder,— del- 

 phinia. 



Poisonous Properties.— The ancients were well acquainted with 

 the acrimonious qualities of Stavesacre, and placed it in the rank of the most 

 baneful poisons. The experiments of Hillefeld f and of Orfila % upon dogs 

 prove that the seeds introduced into the stomach or applied to wounds, 

 cause death, preceded by efforts to vomit, debility, trembling, immobility, 

 and convulsions ; after death, traces of inflammation are found in the 

 stomach, enormous inflammatory swelling of the limb to which they have 

 been applied, and sometimes sanguineous congestion in the lungs. The 

 active principle, delphinia, even in small doses, is a violent poison, acting 

 chiefly on the nervous system. 



The treatment required in cases of poisoning by Stavesacre will not 

 differ from that already advised under the articles, Arum, Bryony, Crow- 

 foot, Hellebore, $c. 



Medicinal Properties and Uses. — The seeds only of this 

 plant have been used in medicine, and from time immemorial 

 they have had a place in most of the European pharmacopoeias. 

 In their action, (from the presence of delphinia,) they are 

 powerfully purgative and sialagogue. When ingested they 

 produce a sensation of acridity and constriction of the pha- 

 rynx, followed by vomiting, general debility, tremblings, 

 aphony, involuntary evacuation of the faeces, and even death. 

 By the ancients they were used as a cathartic, for carrying off 

 the waters of dropsy, but only in those cases where there was 

 sufficient constitutional power to withstand the operation of 

 drastic purgatives. By the moderns the Stavesacre is rarely 



* Ann. de Chimie et de Phys. xii. p. 358. 

 f Diss, de venen. p. 20. 

 } Toxicol, gen. i. p. 739. 



