51 



ciful trade name of "Night-blooming Cactus." In September a boy- 

 was killed in New York by eating the seeds of the jimson weed, which 

 was permitted to grow in a vacant lot; his brother poisoned at the 

 same time was saved only with difficulty. In October two other cases 

 occurred in New York. Four children were playing in one of the public 

 parks of the city where jimson weeds were growing luxuriantly. The 

 boys imagined themselves Indians and roamed about and ate parts of 

 various plants. Three of them ate the seeds of the jimson weed. One 

 died in a state of wild delirium • another was saved after heroic treat- 

 ment with chloral hydrate and morphine ; the third, who ate but few of 

 the seeds, was but little affected. Children are also poisoned by suck- 

 ing the flower, or playing with it in the mouth. The fresh green leaves 

 and also the root have occasionally been cooked by mistake for other 

 wild edible plants. One or two instances are recorded in which cattle 

 have been poisoned by eating the leaves of young plants which were 

 present in grass hay, but these animals generally either avoid the 

 plants or are very resistant to its poison. 



Symptoms and treatment. — The symptoms of the poisoning are about 

 the same in all cases, those characteristic of large doses being head- 

 ache, vertigo, nausea, extreme thirst, dry, burning skin, and general 

 nervous confusion, with dilated pupils, loss of sight and of voluntary 

 motion, and sometimes mania, convulsions, and death. In smaller 

 amounts the effects are like those of the ordinary narcotics. As vomit- 

 ing is not a common symptom, the contents of the stomach must be 

 quickly removed by the use of the stomach tube or emetics. It is well 

 then to wash out that organ thoroughly with strong tea, tannic acid, or 

 an infusion of oak bark, and to administer stimulants, such as brandy 

 and hot, strong coffee. Pilocarpine is recommended by physicians to 

 counteract the drying effect upon the secretions (licorice is very useful), 

 and prolonged artificial respiration must often be resorted to to main- 

 tain the aeration of the blood. 



Datura meteloides is a very large-flowered species, which is native 

 from southern California to Texas, and in some localities is common in 

 cultivation. No cases of poisoning have yet been recorded against it, 

 but it is largely used as an intoxicant by Indians, and is used in gen- 

 eral for the same purposes as jimson weed. It undoubtedly contains 

 the same poisons. 



The jimson weeds should be removed from the vicinity of dwellings 

 and from play grounds by mowing the plants down while in flower or 

 by cultivating the soil. 



NIGHTSHADES. 



Solatium. 



Annual or perennial herbs or shrubs with 5-lobed wheel-shaped co- 

 rollas; stamens protruding in the form of a cylinder, loosely coherent 

 at the apex; and a fleshy fruit or berry containing numerous flat seeds. 



