THE POISONOUS PLANTS OF BOMBAY. 501 



and purging, which nothiug could arrest, and which terminated fatally 

 {Neues Magazin^l. 3, p. 557). Orfila quotes a similar case from 

 the Gazette de Saute which proved fiatal within four hours in con- 

 sequence of a strong decoction of an ounce of the root having been 

 administered partly by the mouth and partly in a clyster to repel the 

 secretion of milk. ( Jb^/co? G^c??., I, 680.)" 



Let this unquestionable testimony of Orfila^ quoted as it is by such 

 an equally unquestionable authority as Sir Robert Christison, be a 

 warning to those who delight to call themselves the admirers and fol- 

 lowers of Hommopathy. I have recently come across a writer on the 

 " Homoeopathic use o/ PZanfs"-— Richard Hughes, L.R.C.P., Ed. — who, 

 in an elaborate volume entitled A Manual of Pharmacodynamics (5th 

 Ed., Lend., 1886, p. 334), makes the following remarks regarding the 

 action of Bryonia on the mammary glands i — " Whenever from the 

 first coming in of the milk, from catching cold while nursing, or from 

 abrupt weaning, the breast becomes swollen, tender, knotty, ^nd 

 painful, Bryonia will almost certainly resolve the inflammation and 

 prevent the formation of abscess. Br. Durham advises it in milk- 

 fever." As against this homoeopathic preaching, compare the testimony 

 of our leading Allopathic Physician, Sir Robert Christison's reference 

 to Orfiia's experience, as cited above, that the administration of the 

 Bryony root, partly by mouth and partly by clyster, *' to repel the 

 secretion of milk^^ has been followed by fatal results. So much for 

 the glory of Jiomosopathy and its admirers ! 



Having so far dwelt on the European writers describing the poison- 

 ous properties of the genus Bryo7iy, I may briefly state what Indian 

 writers have said regarding them. 



Dr. Edulji Cowasji Appu (Tukina), L. M. and S., of the Bombay 

 University, says emphatically, in describing the properties of the genus 

 Bryony, that its root contains " a peculiar bitter principle named 

 Bryomnj which in non-medicinal doses is highly poisonous, acting as'a 

 violent emetic and cathartic, giving rise to symptoms resembling those 

 of cholera."* I can safely vouch for this statement. 



Shodhal, an old Sanskrit writer, has distinctly noted that plant is 

 hydrogogue &nd €metic.1[ 



* Practitioner's Vade Mecum, p. 120, 1891, Bombay. 



t yide Kata Bhat's Nighant-Sangrah, Junagadh, 1893, p, 569, 



