166 
NAT. ORDER. LOBEL1ACE.E. 
say in regard to the poisonous properties of this plant ; he remarks, 
" that not only horses and cattle have been supposed to be killed by 
eating- it, but a remarkable instance of its deleterious effect on the sys- 
tem, is related in the report of a trial for murder of a notorious empiric 
in Massachusetts, who used this Lobelia to a pernicious extent as a 
nostrum. This daring 1 and ignorant man is said to have usually pre- 
scribed it, and frequently with impunity, in the dose of a common tea- 
spoonful of the powdered seeds or leaves, and often repeated. If the 
medicine does not operate as an emetic, or evacuate the bowels power- 
fully, it frequently destroys life, and sometimes in the short space of 
four or five hours. The testimony of Dr. Drury, of Marblehead, and 
the Eev. Dr. Cutler, have brought the Lobelia into notice for the cure 
and relief of asthma. Induced by their accounts, and the obvious ex- 
pectorant effects of the plant, I administered it to a domestic in my 
family, who was distressingly affected with spasmodic asthma. 
This woman was of a slender form, and of a narrow, depressed 
thorax ; and for years past has been subject to this complaint. Dur- 
ing one of her paroxyms, I directed her to take a teaspoonful of the 
brandy tincture every two hours. After taking the second spoonful, 
she was immediately relieved. In a subsequent attack, the experi- 
ment was repeated, increasing the dose to a teaspoonful every hour, 
and with the same effect ; the patient declaring that she never found 
such immediate and entire relief from any of the numerous medicines 
she had previously taken for this complaint. She complained of dizzi- 
ness, nausea, and some debility, and after taking the second spoonful, 
told me that she suspected the medicine administered was tobacco." 
Thus we have the accounts of one who professed to be a teacher in 
medicine, and who tells us distinctly that, from the accounts given him 
by others, and the effects of the herb, witnessed by himself, he is fully 
persuaded that the Lobelia possesses powerful narcotic and deadly 
poisonous properties, that it is highly dangerous, almost under any 
circumstances, as a medicine. This is similar to the accounts of other 
writers on the poisonous qualities of this plant, and this is the general 
