476 
. - ? o> te eo z . 
en ey ge ge YF AAR 2 
June. of a dufky ereenifh Colour, ftriated and ftain’ d 
enema in various Degrees with a dull purple. 
The Bafe within is yellowifh, and the upper 
Part purple. 
- Thefe Flowers are. fucceeded by large beautiful 
.  gloffy Berries, of a fine jet Black, and the 
Cup of the Flower remains with them. ‘This 
: ‘Cup is form’d of a ba ey Leaf, divided deeply 
‘into five Segments. © 
The Body of the Flower is s form’d of a fingle 
| Petal, tubular and {mall at the Bafe, fwell’d and 
hollow in the Body, and at the ae oe into 
five little wav’d Segments. | 
In the Hollow of the Flower are nigel five 
_ Filaments and a fingle Style: the Filaments:con-— 
verge at their Bafes, and {pread out to the Top, x 
‘and they have large doubled Buttons : the Style 
is flender, and a fitelé bent; as they are: it rifes 
-crown’d with an oblong Head, placed tranfverfely : 
the Berry contains favetet Kidney-fhaped Seeds. 
The five Filaments and fingle Style plainly re-_ 
fer the Plant to the Pentandria Monogynia, the 
from a roundifh Rudiment of the Berry, and is | 
| cines, Opium, and the like, in over Doles. 
i Til it has done all have heard ; what Good. it is 
Culture’ of this ATROPA. 
Je is wild in our own Kinodom': ; and confe- 
quent will be hardy in our Gardens. » 
is perennial, and the Berries ripen freely ; fo that 
the Plant may be propagated. either by Batic the 
one, or fowing: the Seeds from the other. 
quires a. deep mellow Soil’; and when once fixed 
-in fuch a’one, will keep itfelf alive. 
All the Care required about it will be to cut 
down the Stalks before the Ripening of the Ber- 
‘ries, for they have a tempting Look to Children ; | 
and, if eaten, will deftroy them. 
This Plant has ftood now fome Centuries under 
tthe Brand of poifonous; and not without fome 
Reafon, for it is capable of Deftruction. 
have perifh’d by it; but it perhaps may fave more 
‘than it has killed. Poifon is a vague Term, and 
| may be apply’d to moft of the powerful Medi- 
What 
~capable of doing fhould be known as. univer- 
“fifth sae in the Linn @AN peice and its firft fan 8 
Section. | 
HE Antients. fpeak of a Solin manicum, 
or Solanum furiofum, fo nam’d from its Ef- 
fekts in producing a temporary Madnefs. 
have been underftood to mean this Plant : but 
their Commentators have erred: Mararozus. is 
with Reafon to be excepted ‘from the Cenfure ; 
for he judg’d more truly, that it was unknown 
to them. 
‘Their Solanum, whofe Name was ewely the 
Word Strychnos, had, in a fmaller Dofe, the Ef- 
feéts of Inebriation ; in a larger Quantity i it caus’d 
Madnefs ; and in a yet larger, Death. 
"Thus much Tureopnrastus fays of it. A 
Dram of the Root given in Wine, produc’d 
the lefer Effect, two Drams brought on the 
greater, three Drams occafioned Madnefs for Life, 
and four were fatal. ‘This is the Account given 
by the Father of Natural Knowledge; and this 
Droscoripes, and thofe who followed him, 
tranfcribed; adding or altering flightly, according 
to their particular Opinions. 
From thefe Greeks the Romans took’ their 
Detail. Priny has joined the Words of 
-Tueopurastus and Droscoripes together: 
Agrrrius is but a Tranfcriber of Dioscoripzs 
_ and moft who came later have copy’d Purny. 
Hence we have the Hiftory of the Greek Strychnos, 
and its Intoxications, which they call’d Sérychno- 
mania, the Madnefs. of Solanum: and all this late 
Writers have attributed to the Deadly Night- 
fhade. 
‘. The old Greeks knew three Nighthhades : 
the 
Garden. Kind, 
which? they held innocent ; the 
2 
| 
of the Up of Dey Nighthade. ae ns 
and 
‘Somniferous, <i béoushe on Drowfinefs ; 
the furious or mad Mich eiiade; whofe Root in 
They various Dofes occafioned: thefe different Effects. 
_ They have left Defcriptions of all thefe Kinds : 
aad: none of them agree with our Plant; neither 
do the Dofes. They affert, that a Dram of the 
Root of the Solanum furiofum might be’ given 
with: Safety ; but a few Grains Re that of our 
Deadly Nightfhade have been found fatal. | 
~The Deadly Nightfhade therefore is not the 
Solanum furiofum of the Antients; nor do their 
Defcriptions of that Plant agree with it: for that 
_had Leaves like the Rocket, or Acanthus, and clu-. 
{ter’d Berries as the Ivy. The Deadly Nightfhade 
does not appear to have been known to them ; 
but it poflefles the fame Qualities in a fuperior 
Degree: a Grain of it being equal in Effect to 
a Dram of theirs. It is able to bring on the 
‘Strychnomania, or Nightfhade Madnefs; and, when 
taken inadvertently, is fatal. 
With thefe bad Qualities, it poffeffes alfo oreat 
and falutary Virtues ; and thefe were early known; 
though they have been too much. neglected. 
© Gate mentions the Ufe of it internally, in 
the diftilled Water, again{t Inflammations of the 
Vifcera; and in a Syrup from the Juice of the 
Berries : as alfo outwardly, in various inflammatory 
Swellings. 
In the Writings af thofe who firft defcrib’d the 
Plant, it is ianaily recommended as a Cure for 
Cancers. This, tho’ an important Article in its 
Hiftory, was long overlooked, and it was dreaded 
as .a Poifon, while neglected as a Remedy 
for 
‘The Root . 
It re- 
| Many 
\ 
