456 SOLANACE^. ' 



In Britain it is chiefly fovmd in the southern counties, but even of 

 these it is a doubtful native. 



In a few localities in England and France, as well as in North 

 America, the plant is cultivated for medicinal use. 



History — Although a plant so striking as belladonna can hardly 

 have been unknown to the classical authors, it cannot with certainty be 

 identified in their writings. 



Saladinus of Ascoli,^ who wrote an enumeration of medicinal plants 

 about A.D. 1450, names the leaves of both Solatrum furiale and Sola- 

 trurn minus, the former of which is probably Belladonna. However 

 this may be, the first indubitable notice of it that we have met with, is 

 in the Grand Herbier printed at Paris, probably about 1504.^ The 

 plant is also mentioned about this period as Solatrum mortale or 

 Dolwurtz, in the writings of Hieron3Tiius Brunschwyg.^ 



In 1542 belladonna was well figured as Solanum somnifeintm or 

 Dollkraut by the German botanist Leonhard Fuchs, who fully recog- 

 nized its poisonous properties.* Yet it was confounded by other writers 

 of this period as Tragus,' who reproduced Fuchs' figure as " Solanum 

 hortense !" Strygium and Strychnon were other names not unfrequent- 

 ly applied to Atropa during the IGth and l7th centuries. 



Matthiolus, who terms the plant Solatrum majus, states^ that it is 

 commonly called by the Venetians Herha Bella donna, from the cir- 

 cumstance of the Italian ladies using a distilled water of the plant as a 

 cosmetic. Gesner" was also familiar with the name Belladonna. The 

 introduction of the root of belladonna into British medicine is of recent 

 date, and is due to Mr. Peter Squire of London, who recommended it 

 as the basis of a useful anodyne liniment, about the year 18G0. 



Description — Belladonna has a large, fleshy, tapering root, 1 to 2 

 inches thick, and a foot or more in length, from which diverge stout 

 branches. Externally the fresh roots are of an earthy brown, rough 

 with cracks and transverse ridges. The bark is thick and juicy, and as 

 well as the more fibrous central portion, is internally of a dull creamy 

 white. A transverse section of the main root shows a distinct radiate 

 structure. The root has an earthy smell with but very little taste at 

 first, but a powerfully acrid after-taste is soon developed. 



Dried root of Belladonna is sold in rough irregular pieces of a 

 dirty greyish colour, whitish internally, breaking easily with a short 

 fracture, and having an earthy smell not unlike that of liquorice root. 

 The bark being probably the chief seat of the alkaloid, roots not ex- 

 ceeding the thickness of the finger should be preferred. The drug is 

 for the most part imported from Germany, and is often of doubtful 

 quality. English-grown root purchased in a fresh state (the large and 

 old being rejected), then washed, cut into transverse segments and dried 

 by a gentle heat, furnishes a more reliable and satisfactory article. 



^ Compendium Aromatariorum,, 1488. work of the year 1500 shows Solanum 



-Le Grant Hci-hicr en frnncoys, contendt nUjrmn. 



les qnalitez, vertus et proprietez ties herhes * Hisloria Stirpium, BasiL 1542. 689. 



etc., Paris (no date) 4°. cap. DeSolasf.ro ^De Stirpium .... historia, Argentorati, 



rustico. 1552. 301. 



' Das destillier Btich (sub voce Nacht- " Comment, in lib. vi. Dioscoridis, Vene- 



schet Wasser). Strassburg, 1521, fol. 93 h. tiis, 1558. 533. 



The figure probably refers to Atropa, but 'Z>e hortis Germanice, Argentorat. 1561, 



that given in the edition of tlie same fol. 282. 



