Forbidding as this plant may appear to fome, its large glofiy berries are certainly a great temptation to 

 children ; and, therefore, gentlemen, if they have the plant in their gardens, mould never fuffer it to ripen 

 its fruit. 



It flowers in June and July ; its berries are ripe in Auguft and September. 



Numerous inflances of the pernicious, and even deleterious effe&s of the deadly Nightfhade are on record ; 

 among others, fuch of our readers as are fond of hiftory will not be difpleafed with the prolixity of the 

 following account taken from Blair s Pharmaco-Botanologia, p. Si. 



" The Solanum Lethale feems to produce the fame effects with the Hyofcyamus, Cynogloffum, and other 

 " intenfe Narcoticks, which ufually, before they affect the perfon with fieep, produce delirious and manaical 

 f( fymptoms ; however it is an herb of fo pernicious a nature, that fcarce any Author who treats of it fails, 

 " from proper obfervation, or good information, to give difmal inftances of its bad effe&s. Simon Pauli 

 " refers us to Lobelius his Adverfaria, and Bodeus a Stapel. Mr. Rays account of what happened to a 

 " Mendicant Friar, upon the taking a glafs of the infufion of it in mallow wine, gives a good account of the 

 '* various fymptoms it produces. In a fhort time, he became delirious, after a little (Cachinne) a grinning laughter 

 " like the Rifus Sardonicus fucceeded ; after that feveral irregular motions ; and at laft a real madnefs, and 

 *' fuch a ftupidity as thofe that are fottiftily drunk have: which after all was cured by a draught of vinegar. 

 " Mr. Miller mentions feveral Children at Croydon, who not long fince were poifoned. Another inftance 

 *' of its bad effects has fallen under my own obfervation : two or three perfons not far from hence, having 

 w got into a gentleman's garden, were delighted with the black berries of the Solanum Lethale, and eat fome of 

 " them ; it was very pleafant (within a {hort time after) to fee their frantic humours, geftures, and fpeeches : 

 " but upon their taking of emeticks in due time, they were cured. It is worthy of recital what Mr. Ray 

 ft tells us happened to a Lady of Quality of his acquaintance, who having a fmall ulcer a little below her 

 " eye, which (he fufpe&ed to be cancrous ; {he applied a bit of the leaf of this Solanum, which fo relaxed 

 " the Tunica Uvea in one night, that fhe could not contract the Pupilla the next day, fo that the Pupilla of 

 " the one eye was four times as big as the other ; and upon the removal of the leaf, the fibres recovered their 

 ef mufcular tone by degrees : and, left this mould feem to be merely accidental, me repeated the experiment 

 " three times, at which Mr. Ray himfelf was prefent. 



" But the moft memorable inftance of the direful effe&s of this Plant is to be feen recorded by the cele- 

 ee brated Buchanan, in his Hiftory of Scotland, by which w T e may obferve how the Almighty God can 

 " convert the moft deadly poifons into the fitteft antidotes, for thofe whom he has a mind to preferve. This 

 " obliges me to make a digreffion, not altogether unfuitable, fince it gives the botanical defcription of a 

 " Plant, writ about a hundred and fifty years , ago, by one who himfelf was no profefled Botamjl, the ufe 

 " made of it, and the wonderful effefts it produced. 



" In the reign of Duncan I. King of Scotland (who was afterwards murdered by Mackbeth the Tyrant) 

 ce Harold the Dane invaded England, not long before the days of King William the Conqueror : Sweno, his 

 " brother, at the fame time invaded Scotland. Upon his landing in Fife, he obtained a fignal victory, which 

 " obliged the King of Scotland, with the remainder of his routed forces, to retire to Bertha (an ancient town 

 ** of great note fituated on the river Toy, which was not long after deftroyed by an inundation, and out 

 " of whofe ruins the town of Perth was built, and now ftands upon the fame river, two miles nearer the 

 *' fea) and purfued them fo clofely, that he laid fiege to the town both by land and water. The Scots were 

 " put to great ftraits, not for want of provifions, but for want of men to repel the behegers. King Duncan 

 " was a peaceable unacltive man ; he had fometime before committed the government to the management of 

 " Bancho, of a cunning and fubtle wit ; and to Mackbeth, of a fierce, bold, afpiring fpirit. Mackbeth 

 " went to the country to raife a reinforcement, while Bancho treated with the enemy, and firft obtained a 

 " ceflation of arms, and then fpun out time by framing of articles of peace. The Danes wanted provifions, 

 " but abounded with men; the Scots abounded in provifions, but wanted men. The truce was equally 

 " acceptable to both, efpecially to the Danes, who for the prefent expected plenty of all things, and for the 

 et future the conqueft of a whole kingdom. Care was immediately taken by the Scots to afford them ail 

 " manner of liquors, both wine and ale, and they continued to mix with them a good quantity of the 

 " Deadly Nightfhade (this Solanum Lethale, or Somniferum) of which we now treat. The bait took ; the 

 ■' Danes drank plentifully, and were all intoxicated : mad with this poifonous juice, and afleep through 

 " drunkennefs, the Scots fell upon them, killed the moft part, and, with much ado, a few remaining got to 

 '* their veflels, while their befotted King was carried, like a fack-load, upon a beaft down to the river, where 

 " there were fcarce failors enough faved from the flaughter to man the veflels." 



Deering relates, that a friend of his, a Dr. Medley, has feveral times eaten three or four of the berries, 

 without receiving any hurt : and Haller mentions his having feen a medical ftudent fwallow feveral. It 

 is probable that thefe berries will not kill, unlefs many are eaten, but perhaps this poifon, like many others, 

 may aft differently on different conftitutions. 



Vinegar has been recommended as an antidote to its poifon ; but powerful evacuations, particularly 



vomiting, are moft to be depended on. In cafes where a poifon of this kind is known to have been fwallowed, 



the medical practitioner will be juftified in a bold practice, for his patient is not only in a very dangerous 



fituation, but the effect, of emeticks has been known to be leffened by the poifon, fo that fourteen grains of 



, Emetick Tartar have been fcarcely fufHcient to excite vomiting. 



Many fubftances, which in large quantities, or injudicioufly admininiftered, have proved poifonous, in 

 fmall dofes, fkilfully exhibited, have been found extremely efficacious in the cure of difeafes, and hence this, 

 as well as other plants have been tried, particularly in fuch diforders as have no impreflion made on them by 

 common remedies ; but after numerous trials, there appears but little hopes of fuccefs from the Atropa 



Belladonna. 



Such as wilh to know the particular difeafes againft which the Deadly and the Garden Nightfhades have 

 been directed, with the various fymptoms they have produced on being taken, may confult Gataker's 

 Ob/ervations on the Internal Ufe of the Nighfjliade, with the Supplement; and Bromfield's Account of the 



Engli/h Nightfliades, and their Eff eels, 1757- 



We have feen a goat eat, without, injury, the leaves and ftalks ; and the caterpillar of the Phalcsna Antiqua, 

 Roe/el t. 39, and Br offices Roe/el t. 29, feed on its foliage. 



