SOLANACEiE. 493 



known for its soporific and intoxicating powers, and has frequently been em- 

 ployed with criminal intentions (Fleming, Cat. Med. PL). Belon (Singulari- 

 teSj 460), thus quaintly speaks of it : " Voudroit-on chose plus singuliere que 

 de trouver drogue pour faire incontinant dormir quelqu'un qui ne peut reposer. 

 Us vont chez un droguiste (car ilsn'ont point d'apoticaires) auquel demandent 

 pour demie aspre de la semence de Tatoula. Puis la baillent a celuy qui ne 

 peut dormir. Tatoula n'est autre chose ce que les Arabes appellent nux metel. 

 Jovius escrivant de PEmpereur Seleim, diet qu'il avoit quelques fois accous- 

 tume manger d' une semence qui rend les gens joyeux et oste la memoire des 

 choses qui rend les hommes pensifs et molestez des choses humaines, et que 

 quelques heures apres que on en a mange, l'on ne demande qu'a se resiouyr 

 et ne permit qu'on se soucie de penser quelque chose, qui rende l'esprit tou- 

 mente." The seeds of this plant were considered to be aphrodisiac, and are 

 said to have been used by courtezans in India and Turkey. 



JD. sanguinea and D. suaveolens, now included by some botanists in the 

 genus Brugmansia, are both natives of Peru, and are used for a variety of 

 purposes; the leaves are made into an ointment, which is considered benefi- 

 cial to ulcers, to maturate abscesses, and relieve pain. The seeds are nar- 

 cotic, and a decoction of them is used to procure sleep. It is said that they 

 were formerly used by the priestesses of the Sun before delivering their oracles. 

 The flowers of the second-named are extremely odorous, and their emana- 

 tions are dangerous in a closed apartment. (Feuillee, Plant. Med. ii. 761.) 



Nicotiana . — Linn. 



Calyx urceolate, 5-cleft. Corolla funnel-shaped, with the limb plaited, 5-cleft. Sta- 

 mens five, inclined. Stigma emarginate. Capsule 2-valved, 2-celled, many-seeded. 



This genus is almost wholly American, a very few species having been 

 found in other parts of the world. It consists of herbaceous or rarely suffru- 

 ticose plants, with terminal flowers in racemes or panicles, and all possessing 

 an unpleasant narcotic smell. Its generic name was bestowed upon it in 

 honour of Jean Nicot, Ambassador of Francis II. of France to Portugal ; he 

 brought some Tobacco from Lisbon, and presented it to Catherine de Medecis 

 as an herb possessing many valuable properties. Its common name is said 

 by some writers to be derived from Tobaco, a province of Yucatan, where 

 the Spaniards first found it, and learned its use ; others derive it from Tobago, 

 but, according to Humboldt, it is a Haytian word, signifying the pipe or tube 

 through which the herb is smoked. There are several species of Tobacco 

 used, but only one is officinal. 



N. tabacum, Linn. — Leaves oblong-lanceolate, sessile, acuminate ; the lower ones decur- 

 rent. Segments of the corolla acute; throat inflated. 



Linn., Sp. PL 258 ; Woodville, ii. 208 ; Stokes, i. 390 ; Stephenson and 

 Churchill, i. 37 ; Rafinesque, Med. Flor., ii. 245 ; Lindley, Flor. Med., 513. 

 Common Names. — Tobacco ; Virginian Tobacco. 

 Foreign Names. — Tabac, Fr. ; Tabacco, It. ; Tabak, Ger. 



Description. — Stem erect, round, branched towards the top, rising to the height of four 

 or five feet. The leaves are numerous, alternate, sessile, oblong, pointed, entire, of a 

 dull-green colour ; they, as well as the whole plant, are clammy and pubescent ; the lower 

 cauline leaves are decurrent ; they become smaller and narrower as they approach the 

 top. The flowers are in loose panicles, upon longish footstalks, and are furnished with 

 long, linear, pointed bracts. The calyx is urceolate, and divided into five acute, pointed 

 segments ; the corolla is monopetalous, twice the length of the calyx, of a pale-greenish 

 colour externally, and swelling above into an oblong cup, which expands into five pointed, 



