194 HYOSCYAMUS NIGER 



useful remedy in spasmodic affections of the uterus, bladder, 

 urethra, &c. ; and in hypochondriasis and emotional epilepsy, &c. 

 The use of henbane is contra-indicated in convulsive and cerebral 

 diseases generally ; and old and feeble persons are frequently 

 unpleasantly affected by henbane. It may be frequently given as 

 a substitute for opium, where the administration of the latter is 

 objectionable, as it does not cause constipation and sickness like 

 it. In India henbane seeds are prescribed by the Mahomedan 

 doctors " to soothe the mind, procure sleep, and keep the bowels 

 gently open in cases of melancholia and mania." Garrod has 

 demonstrated that hyoscyamus should not be given in com- 

 bination with free potash or soda, which render it perfectly 

 inert ; but according to Dr. John Harley, the action of these 

 substances on henbane is so slow that a dose of henbane is 

 not impaired by taking it with one of a caustic alkali. Locally 

 applied, henbane may prove valuable in certain diseases of the 

 eye from the power it possesses of dilating the pupil ; and as an 

 external application it may be employed in various neuralgic and 

 other painful and irritable affections. 



Per. Mat. Med., vol. ii, pt. 1, p. 539 ; Pharmacographia, p. 416 ; 

 U. S. Disp., by W. & B., p. 471 ; Royle's Mat. Med., by J. 

 Harley, p. 485; Garr., Mat. Med., p. 329; Pharmacopoeia 

 of India, p. 180; Pharm. Journ., vol. i, 1st ser., p. 406; 

 Lancet, May 8th, 1841 ; Bentley, in Pharm. Jour., 2nd ser., 

 vol. 3, p. 475 ; Usher, in Pharm. Journ., 2nd ser., vol. ix, p. 

 85 ; Tilden, in Pharm. Journ., 2nd ser., vol. viii, p. 127 ; 

 Attfield, in Pharm. Journ., vol. iii, 2nd ser., p. 447 ; Stocks, 

 in Hooker's Journ. Bot., vol. iv, p. 178 ; Garrod, in Pharm. 

 Journ., 1st ser., vol. xvii, p. 462, and vol. xviii, p. 174,- Med. 

 Times and Gaz., April, 1868, p. 876. 



DESCRIPTION OF PLATE. 



Drawn from a plant in the Garden of the Apothecaries' Company, Chelsea ; 

 the root-leaf added from a wild specimen from Devonshire. 1. A flowering 

 branch. 2. The same, in fruit below. 3. A root-leaf. 4. Corolla cut open. 

 5. Vertical section of calyx and ovary. 6. Transverse section of ovary. 

 7. Ripe fruiting calyx. 8. Capsule. 9. Vertical section of the same. 10. 

 Seed. 11. Section of the same. (2 reduced. 10, 11 much magnified.) 



