50 STRAMONIUM. TOBACCO. 
membrane, which immediately invests the seeds, are 
used by the Arabians , and of these the former is much 
esteemed, and constitutes what is called coffee a la 
sultane. 
64. STRAMONIUM, 'or THORN-APPLE (Datura 
stramonium), is an annual plant, with thick round stalks, 
somewhat triangular leaves, jagged or toothed at the edges, 
large white and funnel-shaped flowers, and seed vessels large 
and beset with spines. 
Although originally a native of America, stramonium 
is now a frequent weed on dunghills, and in cultivated 
ground of our own country; and, when once intro- 
duced into a garden, it is difficult to be eradicated. 
Its smell is exceedingly unpleasant, and its qualities are 
so pernicious, when taken internally, as to occasion 
giddiness, torpor, and sometimes even death. The 
seeds are particularly injurious. Notwithstanding this, 
the inspissated or dried juice of the leaves has been con- 
sidered a valuable remedy in epileptic and other con- 
vulsive disorders. An ointment prepared from them 
affords relief in external inflammations; and smoking 
the dried leaves has lately been recommended in asth- 
matic complaints. 
The soporiferous and intoxicating qualities of stra- 
monium are well known in eastern countries, and have 
often occasioned the plant to be employed for very im- 
proper uses. 
65. TOBACCO, in the state that we see it, is a narcotic 
drug formed from the dried leaves of an annual plant (Nico- 
tiana tabacum, Fig. 11) that is principally cultivated in North 
America. 
The stalk of the tobacco plant is erect, strong, round, and 
hardy. The leaves are large, oblong, pointed, clammy, and 
of pule green colour. The flozcers, which terminate the stem 
and branches in loose clusters, are of reddish colour, and 
funnd shaped, with a long hairy tube ; and the seed vessel is 
oval, and divided into two cells, that contain many rounded seeds. 
The cultivation of tobacco is carried on to great ex- 
tent in several parts of North America. The seed, 
mixed with ashes on account of its smallness, is sown 
