J86 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1751. 



about 3 honrs after eating of it ; and then 3 of the men were become quite in- 

 sensible, did not know their comrades, talked incoherently, and were in as high 

 a delirium as people in the rage of a fever. They all had low irregular pulses, 

 slavered, and frequently changed colour: their eyes looked fiery, and they 

 catched at whatever lay next them, calling out that it was going to fall. They 

 complained of their legs being powerless. He mixed what ipecacuanha he had 

 with him in warm water, and made them drink it ; and afterwards threw in as 

 much warm water and oil, as he could prevail with them to swallow. Those 

 who were not insensible vomited freely, and were relieved by it. Two of the 3 

 affected with delirium, though they drank great quantities, did not vomit, but 

 had profuse sweats, and passed plenty of urine, by which they were likewise 

 somewhat relieved. The 3d of these was obstinate, and could not be prevailed 

 on to do any thing. The symptoms with him continued longer, and were more 

 violent. He was so restless, that though he could not walk, 2 of his comrades 

 were not able to keep him in a chair. Next morning they had no other com- 

 plaint than people commonly have after great drinking ; but afterwards (though 

 the danger seemed over) some of them complained of feebleness and a weight at 

 their stomachs ; others, of gripes, stitches, headach ; and all of them were ver- 

 tiginous at times. These complaints continued above a month after the accident. 

 One of the women had her hands stiff and swelled; whether from the action of 

 the vomit, or the force of the poison, he knew not. The man who gathered 

 these leaves in mistake for another plant, said, that from the nearest conjecture 

 he could make, there might be from 15 to 20 leaves, boiled in about 10 quarts 

 of water. They did not eat half of that quantity, and the poison began to dis- 

 cover itself with some of them in half an hour. This seemed to be the hyoscy- 

 ainus major albus of Caspar Bauhin. It is easily known by its large duskish 

 bell-fiower ; but if not in the flower, the remarkably noisome smell of the leaf, 

 somewhat narcotic, if once known, will ever after discover it. 



Some time before this accident, some of the horses had been put into an 

 orchard, where they cropped the branches of these trees, and in about 4 hours, 

 without any previous symptom of disorder, dropped down, and after a struggle 

 of a minute or two died. This was probably about the time that the juice entered 

 the blood. 



Remarks by Mr. Wm. IVatson, F.R.S. — On reading the above paper, Mr. 

 Watson observed, that the effects could not arise from the hyoscyamus albus, or 

 white henbane, as Dr. Stedman imagines ; that plant, from the concurrent tes- 

 timony of the best botanical writers, not being found so far north as Brabant : 

 but the mischief was done by the hyoscyamus niger, or black henbane, which 

 grows plentifully there, as well as almost all over Europe in uncultivated places, 

 and by the sides of roads. The white on the contrary is sown in gardens, and 



