142 The Thorn Apple. 



possess officinal properties, but the seeds and leaves are the 

 most generally used ; the former are given in the dose of a grain 

 twice a day ; of the extract made by evaporating the decoction, 

 one-eighth to one-quarter of a grain : of the powdered leaves, 

 two or three grains. Applied to the eye, it is equally useful with 

 Belladonna for dilating the pupil, for which purpose it is used 

 by surgeons, as well as in cases of irritable ulcers, inflamed 

 tumors, swelling of the mammao, and hemorrhoidal affections. 



'' Their flowers mysterious, let thy knowledge shift 

 The useful poison and their healing gift." 



Phillips remarks that in symbolical language the Datura is 

 made the emblem of deceitful charms, and the common Stra- 

 monium is given to represent disagreement. This dangerous 

 narcotic plant clothes itself with such an elegant indented foliage 

 and garnishes its branches with corollas of so graceful and neg- 

 ligent a shape, and of so pure a white, that all suspicion of its 

 deleterious nature seems lulled to rest, while, like the Lamia? of 

 old, its charms only allure that its powers may destroy. Children 

 are no longer in danger of being devoured by the Lamias; but 

 they are not free from danger where the Stramonium flourishes, 

 as we have known several instances of its baleful effects to young 

 persons who have endeavored to chew this plant. We feel it 

 the more necessary to caution the unwary against the dangers of 

 this powerful plant, since it has had its medicinal virtues so much 

 extolled as to induce the ignorant into a belief that it must natu- 

 rally be an innocent and harmless vegetable ; but it should be 

 impressed on the minds of persons in general that those plants 

 which afford the most efficacious medicine in the hands of the 

 skilful practitioner, are the most dangerous in those of the igno- 

 rant, and should therefore never be used as a household remedy. 

 This is employed occasionally as an anodyne, on account of its 

 narcotic properties not inducing constipation like opium. Its 

 effects, however, are frequently formidable, and even fatal, when 

 administered by the incautious. Swain mentions a case wherein 

 a decoction o'f three of the capsules of the Stramonium in milk 

 produced a paralysis of the whole body, so that the patient be- 

 came mad. He continued seven hours in this situation, then 

 came to himself and slept quietly the remainder of the night. 

 Mr. J. A. "Waller observes that a temporary madness is uniformly 



