362 JO URNAL, BOMB A Y NA TURAL HISTOR Y SOCIETY^ Vol IX. 



their bodies to excite pity ; its root is so acrid that it is used in 

 Roumelia for causing issues, and even as a vesicant." A young- 

 woman who had applied it is said* to have affirmed " that the pain 

 it occasioned was intolerable and that she felt as if being flayed alive." 

 It is also said to be emetic. The blistering properties of the entire 

 genus Plumbago were not unknown to Pliny, for he says, observes 

 Loudon,* that this plant (I should rather say the genus Plumbago — 

 K. R. K.) was so called "from plumbum, because it possessed the power 

 of curing a disorder in the eyes called by that name, which appears to 

 have been the same as cataract." There is also a modern reason for the 

 application of the name to this genus. P. europcea is called toothwort 

 and also dentelaire, Fr., from its curing the toothache, " for which purpose 

 the bruised root is chewed, when it excites by its causticity a healthy 

 salivation, but stains the teeth a lead colour." The u Pharmacopoeia of 

 India" notes that the Javanese apply the root of P. rosea topically for 

 the cure of toothache. Here is additional testimony from authori- 

 tative writers! : — " The Plumbagos contain a very caustic colouring 

 matter ; the root of the European species contains a fatty substance 

 which gives a leaden colour to fingers and paper." In referring to 

 Plumbago europcea, Beckf remarks as follows: — "Suavages observes that 

 the workmen who make use of the decoction of this plant for the pur- 

 pose of obtaining a yellow dye, are tormented by a severe headache if 

 they work longer than six hours." As a stainer of the skin of a leaden 

 hue, I may confidently say that our Plumbago rosea has no 

 such notoriety. Dr. Norman Chevers says that it is a very active but 

 painful and a very uncertain vesicatory. (The italics are mine — K. R. K.) 

 The root is used in various forms in India for criminal purposes. 

 So far back as 1837, Dr. O'Shaughnessy noted this fact and succeeded 

 in detecting the poison by chemical analysis as indicated in the fore- 

 going remarks. Apart from its blistering property when applied to the 

 human skin, there is yet a more serious and dangerous use of the root 

 of Plumbago rosea for criminal purposes which must seriously engage 

 our attention. Dr. O'Shaughnessy says that it is very largely used as 

 an irritant to occasion abortion. For this purpose " it is introduced 



* Encyclopaedia of Plants, pp. 118-119, 1829. 



| E. Le Maout and Decaisne's system of Botany, translated by Mrs. Hooker, p. 528, 1873. 



% Medical Jurisprudence, p. 838, 1836. 



