Solanum nigrum. Garden Nightshade 
SOLANUM L.mxi Gen. PI. Pentandria monooynia. 
bUocukrU 1 ' J ’“ h<rX fl,bcoalita! ’ T ce P° ro 6=™«° dehifcentes. Bacca 
SOLANUM **** ?'"■ * I»*™ baccar,. 
SOLANUM Mule mermi herbaceo, foliis ovatis dentato-ahguiatis, diftichis nutantibus. 
SOMNUM nigrum/i.4 S ue “ c ' t' 7*- H*r- W - - > > 49 - 576 . 
CniAw™ officmaram - p. ®66. S 
Cra'aw™ vulgare. Parkinfim. 346. 
SOLANUM hortenfe, Ger. 339. 
- ^ T- >54- Hudfi^FL angi p. ? 8. Oeifo-. Da». 4 6o. 
Tota planta contufa tetrum odorem fpirat. 
RADIX annua, ramofa, albida. 
CAULIS pedalis aut bipedalis, ramofiffimus, fubangu- 
loliis ex folus decurrentibus, fcabriufculus, 
lolidus, ad geniculos paululum incraflatus, 
obfcure viridis, feu ex viridi purpureus prefer- 
tim ad bafin et ad nodos. 
1 pnr,'? 01 ' pla f ' vhen . bruifed fmeils ver y difagreeably. 
f annual, branched, and whitifh. 
• I STALK from one foot to two feet high, very much 
branched, fomewhat angular from the leaves 
running down the ftalk, roughifh, folid, fome- 
what fwelled at the joints, of a dirty green 
or rather a purplifh green colour,- particularly 
at bottom and at the joints. 
: BRANCHES alternate, like the ftalk. 
LEAVES alternate, Handing on long footftalks, {light- 
ly running down the ftalk, of an oval pointed 
TTT r»w™o Pe ’ an .g ul ?rly indented, with a foft hairinefs. 
£ LOWERS growing in a kind of Umbell ; Footstalk 
of the flowers fpreading, and arifinp from the 
middle of the joint. 
, CALYX : a Perianthium divided into five fegments, 
which are oval, continuing, and when the fruit 
; is ripe, turning fomewhat back. Jig, i. 
■ COROLLA monopetalous, fomewhat wheel-fhaped of 
a white colour, the fegments oval and pointed 
fig • >• 
STAMINA: five very (hort white hairy Filaments, 
fig\ 4- Antherie oblong, yellow, fomewhat 
united, of two cavities, each having a hole at 
the top. fig. 5. 
PISTILLUM : Germen rdundifh, and green fig. 6 ; 
Style tapering, green, the lower part villous; 
PERICARPIUM : Bacca rotunda, prifmim viridis 1 SEED-VESSEL: aTutd’bfwyffirft green and after 
SFMTNA T Um mgra ’ . t b ' loc " lar ' s 4%h 9- . | wards black, of two carities. fe n 
SEMINA plurima, reniformia, flavefcentia. fig. ro. | SEEDS fevdral, kidney fhaped and yellowilh./g. IO , 
R AMI alterni, cauli fimiles. 
1' GLIA alterna, longe petiolata, fubdecurrentia, ovato- 
acuta, angulo fo-dentata, hirfutie molli. 
sc TORES fubumbellati ; Petiolus patens ex intermedio 
nodorum. 
AL\ X : Perianthium quinquepartitum, foliolis o- 
vatis perfiftentibus, fructibus maturis paululum 
reflexis, fg. i. 
COROLLA monopetala, fubrotata, alba, laciniis ovato 
acutis, fg. 2. 
STAMINA: Filamenta quinque breviffima, villofa, 
zlhzfg. 4 : Anther® oblongs, flavaj, fub- 
coalitie, bilocularis, loculis apice perforatis. 
fg. 5. 
PISTILLUM : Germen fubrotundum, viride fg. 6 ; 
Stylus fubulatus, viridis, parte inferiore villofa 
fg. 7 ; Stigma fubrotundum. fie;. 8. 
A TJ PTT 71\/T U . ..a. 
AniguL wm penecL iar ecy ue given ; and, as he imagined, with great benefit to mankind ir 
the med.cal praditioner could do little more than fympathize with his diftreflbd patients ’ 
ruA , WaS . induC , e f- tomake jome expenments with the Night/hades, from reading an account of a cancerous cafe 
“ VkT A £ of dead . 1 y Nightfhade ; but not bring able at that particular Lfon of the year, to procure the 
deadly Nightfhade, lie was obliged to make ufe of the dried leaves of the Solanum nigrum, or Garden Nigltjhade here 
figuret! which he found to be very powerful m its operation ; even fo fmall a quantity as one grain irighTof the 
leaf, mfufedm about an ounce of boding water, would fometimes produce a vhry confiderable effeift : bft two or 
hree grains feldom fail d either to vomn purge or fweat the patient moderately, or toincreafe the quantity of urine 
It fometimes oecafioned a head-ach, giddmefs, d.mnefs, and drowfinefs ; but its moft common effefls were a hS or 
warm h diffufed over the whole body a few hours after taking the medicine, a plentiful fweat fucceeding this heat and 
a gentle purging the next day : if a fweat did not break out, an extraordinary difeharge of urine was the confequence 
which was fometimes followed likewife by a purging : one or more of the natural evacuations were almoft HwTvs ■ 
increased. After premifing this general account of the aftion of the medicine, he proceeds to enumerate feveral SL 
111 wblch th ! s mt . ;™ appeared to him to be efficacious i the principal of thefe were, two cafes of a cancerous 
nature j-a large ill-conditioned fore of long Handing in the leg, attended with fever and inflamation-aviolent bruife 
on the loins and h.ps;-a fwellmg and fiveral painful fores on one leg ;-feveral fcrofulous fores in the thigh and 
foot the body covered with lcorbutic eruptions ;-a malignant corroding ulcer in the back part of the throat L two 
cafes of Dropfy in feveral cancerous cafes where it was made ufe of, very little advantage was reaped. In moS 
° btbe above cafes, the garden Negbtjhadt was made ufe of, between which and the deadly, he found, as to the r 
effefts, very little difference : he found the medicine to ad differently on different conftitutions ; and it was h s 
pradhee to begin with halt a grain of the dried leaf in infufion, increafing the dofe according to its effefts and ~ 
peating it every iecond or third night. ° ' ’ 
He remarks that the Solamm nigram was formerly in nfe for many difeafes ; yet there were fome who decried the 
ufe of. t internally : and W epper gives an account of three Children poifoned by it: neverthelefs fome authors 
mention it as uled m food. But lurely it an infufion of a few grains of this plant be capable of producing fuch vi- 
olent effedts on the human body, thole authors muft have been miftaken. 6 
About rhe fame time, fome experiments were alfo made by Mr. Bromfield, Surgeon to St. Georees and the 
Lock Hcfpitals ; and as the one author feems to have written prejudiced in favour of the Medicine, fo the other feems 
to have had his prejudices agamft it ; for we find the experiments of the latter differing widely from thofe of the for- 
mer. According to Mr. Bromfield, the iymptoms were not only not relieved, but new ones were often brought 
on, and the patients health rather injured than benefited. In the feveral cafes of inflamation, ulcers &c where 
this medicine had been given, it often oecafioned pains in the fores, naufea, complaints of the head, temporary lofs 
of fight, delirium, violent vomitings, gnpingsaiid purgings, and even death itfelf to one perfon under his own in- 
lpeccion ; though the dole of the garden Nightfhade did not exceed one grain at a time. 
After giving this account, we lhall leave it to our readers to determine with what propriety it is di Regarded in 
the prefent pradice ; and would juft remark, that from the apparently inconteftible proofs of its deleterious qualities 
perfons cannot be too nice in feledhng their Pot-herbs, particularly thofe who make a practice of gathering from 
Dunghills and Gardens, a ipecies of Orach, by fome called Fat-hen, by others Lamb s-quar ten, &c. as there is fome 
diftant fimihtude betwixt the two plants, and their places of growth are the fame. 
_ The figure and defeription above given, will enable any one to diftinguilh this plant. It is an annual flowering 
m July, and producing its black berries in Autumn, which moft probably are alfo poifonous. It varies in fixe as 
well as m the hairinefs of its leaves ; and the maimer of the flowers growing from the middle of each joint is both 
fmgular and curious. J 
