DATURA STRAMONIUM. 
127 
body of a woman who had taken the seed of this plant through 
mistake ; the cortical substance of the brain was full of blood, and 
there were some hard clots in the cavities of the cranium. It is 
worthy of remark, that many of the most active vegetable poisons 
belong to the class and order, Pentandria, Monogynia, forming 
for the most part the natural order, Luridse of Linnaeus, viz. the 
Tobacco, Henbane, Belladonna, Strychnus, Solan um, &c. The 
remedies to be used in case of poisoning by the thorn apple, are 
similar to those recommended for the Belladonna, and other vegetable 
poisons of this class. 
Chemical Properties, &c. The active principle of the 
Stramonium resides in an extractive matter, which is imparted to 
water and alcohol, but more readily to the former than the latter ; 
the watery infusion is of a pale yellow colour, which becomes deeper 
by the addition of alkalies : the muriate of tin produces a copious 
precipitate, which is the extractive matter. Brandes has succeeded 
in extracting from the seeds (which appear to contain the most 
active principles of the plant) an alkaline principle, to which he has 
given the name of Daturine ; it contains the whole of the poisonous 
matter in a highly concentrated state, and even its vapour is ex- 
ceedingly deleterious. 
Medical Properties and Uses. Dr. Storck of Vienna we 
believe to have been the first European physician who tried the 
Stramonium as a remedial measure, and, as he states, with consi- 
derable success in mania and melancholy; Dr. Barton also recom- 
mends it as a medicine of great efficacy, and by the Swedish 
physicians it has been very extensively used in cases of mania and 
epilepsy. In tic douloureux Stramonium has likewise been found 
serviceable, in moderate doses frequently repeated ; we may observe 
however, that it does not appear to us a remedy calculated to 
conquer the disease, but that its action is like that of other 
powerful anodynes in allaying pain and irritation. In spasmodic 
asthma, the leaves of more than one species of Datura are said to 
have afforded relief, by smoking them in the manner of tobacco; 
^nd Professor Bigelow gives some remarkable cases in confirmation 
of this assertion. On the whole, we should consider Stramonium as 
a very powerful, but dangerous, narcotic and anodyne, and that its 
action as such must be somewhat similar to that of the other 
vegetable narcotics, but of greater power. In extreme cases the 
use of it might be justified, but we think some further knowledge of 
its properties, at least in this country, is requisite to establish it 
as a remedial measure. In ordinary cases, where anodynes are 
